Poland, ME

Located less than an hour from Sebago Lake, LL Bean and the Freeport factory outlets, Portland, and Bridgton, sits the 768-acre Tripp Lake in the western Maine town of Poland.

Tripp Lake is part of the Little Androscoggin River Watershed. This clean, sandy-bottom lake is about 3 miles long and has a maximum depth of 35 feet. It's one of the thousands of Maine lakes and ponds that the glaciers left behind at the close of the ice age and is roughly oriented from north to south.

Tripp Lake is surrounded by Tiger and Megquier Hills and Meadow Brook wetland to its north and west, and Black Cap Mountain, Bragdon and White Oak Hill to the south and east. It's an ideal place for small boats, canoes and kayaks. To keep the lake tranquil, residents have prohibited the use of jet skis.

Wildlife abounds in this serene area. On any given day you might spot loons and chickadees, great blue heron, Canada geese, wood ducks, black ducks, snowy egrets, painted turtles, beaver, mink, moose, deer, bald eagles and great northern owls. The lake's fishery includes small and largemouth bass, pickerel and perch. We encourage you to practice catch and release to ensure that everyone can enjoy the fishing here.

Water quality monitoring data has been collected since 1974. The Maine DEP, the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program and Tripp Lake Volunteers have collaborated in the collection of data over the years and consider the water quality to be average.

The Tripp Lake Improvement Association (TLIA), a non-profit with the mission to oversee the well-being of Tripp Lake and its surrounding watershed in Poland, formed in the early ‘70s and today is 148 member families strong. In an article in the Association's 2009 newsletter, Babs Shapiro, ex-president of TLIA, encourages folks to "learn how to prevent runoff by planting hardy plants to absorb water before it hits the lake. Use phosphorous free fertilizers on lawns and plants . . . Runoff contains sand and soil, which contains phosphorous. Too much in the lake produces algae, which can produce an algae bloom."

Tripp Lake has been a favorite recreational area for over a hundred years. At one time the Tripp Lake Pavilion on Route 11 and Tripp Lake Road was home to Saturday night dances. Sulky racing took place on the frozen lake in the 1940s and ‘50s. Bridge's Beach, originally called Maple Grove Point, was a favorite recreation spot and camping area from the late 1800s until about 1960. Since 1982, the former Scotchman's Beach on Route 11 has served as a public beach for the residents of Poland. TLIA hosts an annual public beach clean-up day there each July.

Just imagine yourself sitting on your dock watching the setting sun or boating, fishing, swimming, ice skating, cross country skiing or snowmobiling across the lake. When you consider lakefront property, Tripp Lake may just be your piece of heaven on earth.

Take a look at all the current lakefront properties for sale on Tripp Lake by clicking on the box below:

Search for lakefront properties on Tripp Lake

Poland, Maine is home to Thompson Lake, Tripp Lake and Upper Range, Middle Range and Lower Range Ponds. Ponder vacation properties while relaxing at the famous Poland Spring Resort on Route 26, just a couple of miles from many of the lakes and ponds.

Poland Spring Resort boasts the oldest resort golf course in America with its 18-hole Donald Ross design. A variety of golf packages are available. The course is in great shape and the views are breathtaking.

If golfing isn't your thing, you're sure to find something to please your interests from swimming in the oversized pool, playing tennis or bocce on grass courts to hiking the trails on the 400-acre resort grounds.

You can also go fishing in the private stocked trout pond. Other activities include an exercise room, shuffleboard, horseshoes, badminton, and volleyball, game rooms with ping pong, pool tables, indoor golf and table games, plus a reading room.

With views of the White Mountains, you can enjoy home-style all-you-can-eat breakfast and supper buffets at the resort, or lakeside dining at Cyndi's Dockside Restaurant on Middle Range Pond.

This is a resort that has it all - and a great place to use as a base of operations as you search for that special lakefront property to call your own.

Use our Lakefront Locator to look at all the available lakefront properties in the entire state, or click below to see what's currently available on Upper, Middle, and Lower Range Ponds plus Tripp Lake - all in Poland.

Search for properties on All Range Ponds plus Tripp Lake

The ongoing battle being fought against invasive plant species as well as the increased scrutiny on lakeside erosion runoff has gone a long way in keeping our beautiful lakes and ponds clean, clear, and milfoil-free. But the battle being waged is one that will probably never be won.

Those who fight this battle in the most direct sense are, at best, hoping for a draw and know that only willpower and persistence will hold the line against degraded water quality and milfoil infestation.

The quality of the water in area lakes and ponds is significantly impacted by the amount of erosion control going on around its perimeter. Soil erosion that runs off into a lake or pond adds the nutrient phosphorus to the water which acts as a natural fertilizer in the water and encourages algae growth. Algae blooms on warm summer days are not dangerous, but they do affect the quality and clarity of the water. Anything that can be done by lakefront landowners to divert water runoff away from the lake and into vegetated areas is the primary and first line of defense against phosphorus runoff.

There are many ongoing efforts by lake association volunteers to monitor the condition of private roads and driveways to lakefront properties to make sure storm water runoff is being diverted in an appropriate manner. In some cases, there is even local money available to repair poorly designed roads so that water runoff is handled more effectively.

If you're a lakefront property owner, check to see where water on your property is going and contact your local lake association to find out what you can do to be a good steward of the lake.

As far as milfoil is concerned, the challenge is big and ongoing. It seems that progress is being made in finding effective ways to remove it, but for every place there has been success, there are others that show new growth or just can't be addressed because of lack of manpower or money or both.

Again, grassroots action has gone a long way to holding the line against milfoil infestation and the local Lakes Environmental Association has played a major role in developing and implementing effective techniques to get rid of the stuff. But more has to be done.

Here is an article that reports on the recent 10th annual milfoil summit held recently in Lewiston: Summit's Focus: Containing, Waging War on Invasive, Destructive Milfoil.

Here are links to two YouTube film clips that talk about the local efforts in the Sebago Lake area in dealing with the milfoil problem.

What's So Bad About Milfoil- Part 1

What's So Bad About Milfoil- Part 2

The town of Poland sits quietly astride Route 26, about a half hour north of Portland and 10 minutes north of the Gray turnpike exit. The southeastern shore of the clean and clear Thompson Lake belongs to Poland, as well as the smaller Tripp Lake and the three gems - Upper Range, Middle Range, and Lower Range Ponds.

Poland is also home to that elevated piece of land called Megquier Hill which divides Tripp Lake from Thompson Lake and provides wonderful, elevated views of the surrounding countryside. A road trip to the area should always include a drive up Megquier Hill Road.

Here are the current lakefront property listings in the town of Poland:

Tripp Lake, 189 Bakerstown Road (Rte.11) - 2 bdrm, small lot, 85 feet of frontage, garage - $199,500.

Tripp Lake, no address - cute getaway cottage, one bdrm, great views up the lake, 70 ft of frontage - $250,000.

Upper Range, 24 Upper Range Drive - sandy frontage, great location, year round, 2 bdrm, nice - $325,000.

Upper Range, no address - 3 bdrm plus summer guest cottage, year round, 100 ft of frontage - $349,900.

Thompson Lake, 767 Megquier Hill Road - 1850s farmhouse on the road, separate lot on the water - $419,000.

Thompson Lake, 97 Heath Road - 210 feet of frontage, 1.6 acres, sunsets, 3 bdrms, year round - $479,000.

Thompson Lake, 9 Tibbetts Way - 260 feet of east shore frontage, 1949 camp, boathouse, 22 acres - $595,000.

Tripp Lake, 50 Jordan Shore Drive - 3 bdrm, 3 baths, 150 ft of sandy frontage, stone fireplace - $600,000.

Middle Range, 60 Cardinal - peninsula/island, private, loads of frontage, 3 bdrms, garage, contemporary - $899,000.