In early Autumn, life’s sweet in the south of Maine

It is one of Maine’s great ironies that by the summer’s end, just when the crowds leave, the ocean reaches a temperature approaching inviting. In fact, I find much that is inviting during the off season on Maine’s South Coast. I enjoy the perfect weather, the unclogged roads, and the good prices. Primarily, however, I am delighted to find myself taking a vacation the ways vacations used to be.

YORK BEACH

York Beach is as old-fashioned as it comes. Most attractions are open at least Thursday-Sunday through Columbus Day in a setting that would have caused my parents, and even my grandparents, to feel nostalgic. The Goldenrod on York Beach still pulls and cuts its saltwater taffy kisses to order just as it has since 1896. Before leaving the area, I head out to see the circa 1879 Cape Neddick Light Station — its friends call it “The Nubble”— one of the prettiest and most photographed of Maine’s 64 working lighthouses.

OGUNQUIT

Ogunquit is an arty town. Fine art can be found in the galleries in and around Ogunquit’s working lobster port, Perkins Cove, so pretty it looks like a watercolor come to life. Later, I admire Maine painter Winslow Homer’s seascapes in the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, also known for works by Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, Walt Kuhn and Thomas Hart Benton.

Food is also art in Ogunquit. For old time’s sake, I hit the Ogunquit Lobster Pound, where, as a 6-year-old, I met my first Maine lobster, the start of a long love affair.

More time travel is available at Barnacle Billy’s, directly over the water in Perkins Cove, where people stand in line to pick up some steamers and an ear of corn so sweet it tastes like candy. Billy has barely changed anything in his 48 years in business, making it feel like home to return visitors.

At the other end of the spectrum, Arrows, in a farmhouse just out of town, recently ranked 15th in Gourmet’s list of “America’s Top 50 Restaurants.” Arrows is open from April 11 through New Year’s Eve, and it is infinitely easier to get a reservation in the off-season.

KENNEBUNKPORT

If Ogunquit feels arty, Kennebunkport is Ivy League. Wealth is everywhere, from sprawling sea captains’ and shipbuilders’ homes overlooking the sea to the shops in Dock Square, which offer fabulousness rather than bargains.

Some of that wealth, of course, belongs to the Bush family, which has summered on Walker’s Point in Kennebunkport for a century. From the political to the peaceful, I make my way to St. Anthony Franciscan Monastery, just around a bend — and a world away — from Dock Square. The 66-acre grounds were landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted, architect of New York’s Central Park and designer of Atlanta’s Druid Hills neighborhood.

A group of Lithuanian Franciscans — displaced persons after World War II —received the estate from the wealthy Campbell family. The eight remaining friars operate a pleasant and very affordable guesthouse.

After fueling up on fried clams at Alisson’s Restaurant, which, despite its tony Dock Square location, offers good value, I head to the Seashore Trolley Museum.

I board a trolley car that carried passengers in Manhattan and the Bronx from 1939 to 1947, then spent time in Vienna as part of the Marshall Plan. Perched on an old-fashioned wicker seat, we clang- clang-clang along a 3 1/2-mile track, past vintage Burma Shave signs and through deep woods. Afterward I check out the more than a dozen trolleys on display, part of a 250-vehicle collection.

The Trolley Museum closes for the season at the end of October, but reopens for two weekends in December during Kennebunkport’s annual Christmas fest, when snow dusts Maine’s southern coast and Santa Claus comes to town in a lobster boat.

IF YOU GO

Accommodations

• St. Anthony Franciscan Monastery Guesthouse. Rates start at $69 for standard room; $92 in summer. In 2009, continental breakfast included; full breakfast $6. 26 Beach Ave., Kennebunkport; Phone: 207-967-4865; www.franciscan guesthouse.com.

Dining

• Alisson’s Restaurant. 11 Dock Square, Kennebunkport; 207-967-4841; www.alissons.com.

• Arrows. Closed Jan. 1-mid-April. Tough to get a reservation in summer. Berwick Road, Ogunquit; 207-361-1100; www.markandclarkrestaurants.com.

• Barnacle Billy’s. The original opens at 11 a.m. and closes for the season Oct. 19, reopening in April. Barnacle Billy’s Etc. opens at noon and closes for the season Nov. 2, reopening in May. Perkins Cove, Ogunquit; 207-646-5575; www.barnbilly.com.

• The Dining Room at the Cliff House. Closed from Dec. 6-April 4. Shore Road, Ogunquit; 207-361-6206; www.cliffhousemaine.com.

• The Ogunquit Lobster Pound. Closed Oct. 25-April 1. 504 Main St., Ogunquit; 207-646-2516.

Information

• Kennebunk-Kennebunkport Chamber of Commerce. 207-967-0857; www.visitthekennebunks.com.

• Ogunquit Chamber of Commerce. 207-646-2939; www.ogunquit.org.

• York Chamber of Commerce. 207-363-4422; www.gatewaytomaine.com.