The Heirloom Edit №19

Plans and dreams for a lake and sea summer

We recently added a poll to Instagram asking which you prefer: lake or sea? Sea won by a landslide, which surprised me, given how much buzz the Mallard Lodge project has been getting on that platform. But when I thought about my own answer, I realized I genuinely couldn’t choose.

I grew up in a town with seven lakes, including the one where the Lodge sits, and the one where my grandparents had their cottage. My kids carry that same history, generations of camp on both sides. Lake life is deep in our bones.

But I’ve always loved the sea. Our summer trips to Ogunquit, Maine with those same grandparents were the absolute highlight of my year. Walking the Marginal Way, poking around in tide pools, swimming in the ocean, stopping at Perkins Cove Candy, the thrill of the drawbridge going up as boats left the cove. Those are core childhood memories I cherish, and ones I’ve been lucky enough to repeat with my own children at those very same spots.

That coastal pull is part of what inspired Salt & Flowers, a free-to-subscribers coastal novella coming to Substack starting this Memorial Day (catch the first chapter here!). I made a vow when I was eight years old that I'd live on the ocean someday, and sometimes I wish my great aunt would simply materialize with a house in Rye — which, not coincidentally, is the basis for Samantha's coastal wonderland in the story. That's ultimately my dream for my writing: that this career will help manifest that ocean house.

That dream hasn’t fully come to fruition yet — though I’m holding onto the yet — but we live close enough to reach any number of New Hampshire and Southern Maine beaches in under thirty minutes. And we often do. As I type this, my son is at a local beach watching the sunset with the rest of his senior class. Building his own memories near the water.

So rather than choose, I’ve decided we’re having a Lake and Sea summer. Part of the beauty of New England is that you don’t have to pick. It’s easy enough to have both, which is basically the entire business model of L.L.Bean and Lands’ End. I once dreamed of opening a shop called Lake & Sea. Maybe I still will. But for now, I’ll divide my time between the two and take in everything our beautiful corner of the world has to offer.

If you have a story of your summers by the water (or somewhere else!) please share them below, those have been some of my favorites over the years.

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