Dear Reader,

Summer is here – finally.

Almost overnight, it is tough to find a place to park in Boothbay Harbor and visitors to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens must park a bit further from the visitor's center.

Our friends from away seem to be finding their way into our restaurants and shops giving the operators and their seasonable workers a bit of hope for a profitable summer. We wish them all the best.

Last weekend, a very happy bunch of the region's golfers finally got a chance to play the renovated back nine at the Boothbay Harbor Country Club and loved it. In fact, before the first Friday evening scramble, more than 70 golfers gave a round of applause to thank owner Paul Coulombe for his hard work and major league investment in the old course.

Many of them noted last week’s story in the Portland Press Herald about his plans to spend some $30 million to turn the old golf course into a top tourist attraction.

Of course, you already knew that; for the last year and a half, readers of your favorite newspaper have read dozens of stories explaining Coulombe's involvement with the golf course and about his other investments in our community.

As could be expected, the Portland Press story generated a bit of a buzz. Some folks praised him for investing in our community while others criticized him for daring to change the landscape.

While lots of folks see his investment as a way create jobs and additional tax dollars, others don't like change for any reason at all. Some seem to want our town to stay the way it was on the day they moved here.

But if you step back for a moment, it seems the Boothbay landscape is always changing.

Case in point: across the street from the golf course is Ocean View Cemetery. I suppose it has that name because in years gone past, you could see the ocean from its hillside.

During the war of 1812, they say folks sat on this hill and watched British and American warships battle in the waters off Damariscove Island. How could they see the ocean from that cemetery hill? The answer is because the forest was gone.

Remember, one of the first things early settlers did was to chop down all the trees to build homes, fill their fireplaces and craft wooden sailing ships. Over the last hundred or so years, the forests grew back. They changed.

Once upon a time, our coastline saw large wooden hotels on the shore and a nearby island. Except for one hold out, the old hotel structures are gone now, along with other things, like the pogie factories and ice cutting ponds and, sorry to say, a thriving ground fishery. Things change.

Coulombe and others have talked about the need to attract additional investment to our little community. Many have noted it has been more than 25 years since a new hotel was built in our town. Will his golf project attract other like minded investors?

No one knows the answer. But, while some sit around talking about the need for investments and jobs, Coulombe is plowing forward, investing some $30 million in the old country club.

And for the Internet critics who questioned his motives, the Portland Press Herald story noted he said he didn't expect to recapture his investment.

Meanwhile, in late August, the country club's redesigned front nine will be opened for play and Coulombe's focus will shift from the golf course itself to the proposed clubhouse and its new entrance off Route 27, which was just approved by the Boothbay Planning Board.

You can expect to follow future details of these changes in the pages of your favorite newspaper. If you can't wait until Wednesday for the latest news in print, check out boothbayregister.com and wiscassetnewspaper.com every day.