Rome, Maine

Rome wraps around the northern and western shores of Great Pond, the largest lake in the Belgrade Lakes chain. This is summer camp country, a landscape of pine-scented evenings, loon calls at dawn, and the splash of canoe paddles that has defined Maine lake culture for generations.

Great Pond covers over 8,200 acres, reaching depths of 69 feet, and offers some of the best fishing in central Maine. Bass fishermen work the coves and weed beds, while trollers pursue landlocked salmon and lake trout in deeper waters. The lake’s clarity and size have made it a destination for anglers since the early resort era, and the fishing remains excellent today.

The town’s name reportedly came from early settlers who hoped their community would become as great as ancient Rome, aspirations that settled into something more modest but arguably more pleasant. Rome never became an empire, but it became something better: a place where families return generation after generation, where summer camps have operated for a century, and where the rhythms of lake life continue largely unchanged.

Those summer camps are central to Rome’s identity. Camps with names that appear on registration forms across New England have operated here for decades, teaching swimming, sailing, and the outdoor skills that define a Maine summer. When camp is in session, the lake hums with activity; when it ends, Rome returns to its year-round residents and the quieter pleasures of fall fishing and winter ice.

The Belgrade Lakes region, which the 1981 film “On Golden Pond” made famous, though it was filmed in New Hampshire, draws visitors throughout the summer. Rome sits slightly removed from the commercial activity in Belgrade Lakes village, maintaining a more residential character. The town has no downtown to speak of, no commercial strip, no tourist attractions beyond the lake itself. This suits its residents, who came here for the water and the quiet, not for shopping or entertainment.

Year-round living in Rome offers lake access at prices lower than more developed lake communities. Augusta and Waterville are both within twenty miles, providing employment and services while allowing residents to return home to the water. Ice fishing takes over when the lake freezes, and the surrounding forests provide hunting during fall seasons.

Great Pond connects to Long Pond and the other Belgrade Lakes, allowing boaters to explore an interconnected system that offers variety without the crowds of more famous Maine waters. Eagles and ospreys fish the lake, loons nest along protected shores, and the sunsets over the western hills remind residents why they chose this place. Rome may not have achieved the ambitions its name suggests, but for those who love Maine lakes, it achieved something better.