The City of Rockland has always benefited from a unique combination of geography and economics that has made it one of the most beautiful and practical destinations on the coast of Maine. Its nearly 8,000 residents live at the heart of Midcoast Maine, an area world famous for its mountainous and rocky shore with hundreds of harbors and inlets, and for some of the best cruising waters anywhere for sailing and boating for pleasure or sport. A nearly mile-long granite breakwater protects Rockland Harbor and lighthouse making it one of the finest shipping and recreational boating harbors on the East Coast of the United States.

Shipbuilding, lime processing, granite quarrying, and commercial fishing and lobstering have all figured in Rockland’s industrial past. Since the 1850’s, the City has served as the commercial center of Knox County and is the County Seat. An historic Main Street forms the core of retail shopping, while large modern outlying shopping centers provide the diversity required by today’s modern mobile customers. Both areas are active and diverse adding to the convenience of shopping in Rockland. The community’s proud past survives in many ways, including a newly restored and enlarged Carnegie library, traditional but modernized health care facilities, new and renovated schools and an incredible mix of traditional residential styles of architecture that rivals the historic homes of many larger cities.

All of these factors combine to make Rockland, Maine a nearly perfect headquarters or temporary home base for visiting and exploring the natural and built environment of Midcoast Maine. Lodging is plentiful, dining opportunities abound and day trips in any direction provide ample rewards. There are museums for rainy days, Penobscot Bay to sail when the weather is fair on one of our many windjammers, islands to discover, mountains to climb in the spring and fall, and winter activities as well. Here you can return to the more simple life you may have never lived. Rockland people have always worked hard to provide for themselves and their families, but have always welcomed visitors and treated them with friendliness and respect. So whether you are coming to explore or hoping to settle and become a part of Rockland’s diverse resident population, here you will find a quality of life that will make you want to stay forever!