Wiscasset Waypoint Celebrates a Year of Food and Fellowship

A waypoint is a stop along a journey, often defined by latitude and longitude. Used in navigation to denote a physical location, a waypoint can also be a moment in time or a symbol of progress.

Feb. 1 felt like a fairly typical Sunday at Panacea, an unpretentious chowder house located at approximately 44.0024° N and -69.6653° W. on Route 1 in the heart of Wiscasset. But it marked a year since proprietor Chauncey Erskine dedicated himself to bringing people together over a bowl of soup or a grilled cheese sandwich or a game of cribbage or a shared love of music and poetry.

At 11 a.m., a group of friends gathered to warm up over soup and coffee after an icy plunge at the Wiscasset town landing, part of their Sunday tradition.

Around noon Laura Timm met her son and grandchildren for lunch and a game of cards. Panacea is almost halfway between their home in Bath and hers in Rockland.

First-time customer Mike Mallen, of Boothbay Harbor, saw the open sign and stopped for lunch on his way to Elmer’s Barn, a multi-level antique store in Whitefield.

“Seems like a good chowder day,” he said of the 10-degree weather and the piles of plowed snow.

At 3 p.m. lifelong Wiscasset resident Betty Applin met Hope Rowley, of Westport Island, for a game of cribbage.

Applin and Crowley are members of Panacea’s loosely formed cribbage league that pairs players randomly and provides them the place and the time to sit and play.

“Even if I get beat every time I’m meeting new people,” Applin said.

The cribbage league is one of Erskine’s favorite additions to Panacea’s offerings.

“All these strangers are just meeting each other once a week, having deep philosophical sometimes combative but beautiful and grounding and growing experiences with someone totally new,” he said.

Another favorite is the old Smith-Corona typewriter in a window. Erskine recently started keeping a running tally of donations on the page in the carriage. That tally tracks customer purchases made in advance to buy a meal for an absent friend or for anyone who may be in need of a warm bowl of chowder.

These are the kind of everyday interactions and innovations that mark Panacea as a waypoint for so many people either passing through Wiscasset or drawn to the open flag and the nautical adage on the awning that welcomes people in need of sustenance of all sorts.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The space may be small, seating less than 40 customers but “the way I always look at it is it’s like a boat,” Erskine said. “You can get a lot of stuff done, pack a lot of people on and make a lot of magic happen on a boat.”

That nautical theme is carried throughout the establishment with ship-shaped knickknacks, maps of local waters, and what may be the largest collection of sea captain figurines in the country. Erskine bought most of them in a single lot from a man in Boston who needed to downsize the collection he’d built over 37 years.

“I still send him photos of them sometimes because he was pretty heartbroken,” Erskine said.

The menu also celebrates Maine’s sea-faring heritage. It’s built around classic New England fisherman’s chowders, with additional offerings like the flotsam and jetsam salad, the spinnaker sandwich, or the Captain’s mac and cheese.

Panacea is also licensed to serve beer and wine and while Erskine never wants to be a coffee shop he said “I always want to keep bean juice on hand. For me and for the people who need it.”

Erskine planned a handful of low-key activities to recognize the restaurant’s one year anniversary.

Nine-year-old Olive Ackerman took advantage of the box of assorted heart stickers and glitter laid out on the long pumpkin pine table to make Valentine’s Day cards. Erskine wants to deliver them to residents of the Edgecomb Green, an assisted living residence in the neighboring town “because there’s nothing better than opening up a little bit of love when you maybe don’t have some,” he said.

At one of the half-moon wooden tables along the wall Stevie Trevino wrote poetry to order from 2-4 p.m. Trevino came to Maine from the upper peninsula of Michigan with her tiny house in tow to sell poetry by donation on the streets of Portland.

“She has a way of breaking down barriers with human beings and connecting to their raw emotions and their spirit with words and it’s really compelling,” Erskine said.

For him poetry is “a form of communal connection that’s like the antithesis and maybe antidote to TikTok. It’s captivating, and it’s real and raw, and it brings you in and allows you to connect on such a deeper level,” he said.

The sun began to fade and Olive Ackerman lit the candles on the lemon blueberry cake she and mom, Lucy Oyster had made to celebrate the day. The candles sparkled, fizzled and relit and she helped Erskine blow them out one by one.

As the snow moon of February rose over Wiscasset a second wave of customers entered Panacea’s frost-coated glass door.

The pumpkin pine table was shifted to the side to make room for Erskine and Panacea regular Joe Lugosch to set up a karaoke machine. Griffin Han-Lalime tuned his guitar, a live accompaniment for anyone who wanted to sing.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Erskine billed the event as a “shanty-oke” in keeping with the restaurant’s maritime vibe. For the next two hours the small space would be filled with voices.

Holly Zeller belted out a dramatic rendition of the Whitney Houston classic “I Will Always Love You” while Jamie Beaton stayed true to the theme with “Sam’s Gone Away.” The traditional sea shanty’s call-and-response approach got the whole room singing.

Panacea has become both a personal and professional waypoint for Erskine. For the first four months he was a solo operation but word of mouth brought enough business that he now has two full-time and one part-time employee, as well as what he calls “a break glass in case of emergency” backup staff member.

He said he wants it to be a waypoint for others too, “a spot that you stop in (before) you go enjoy the rest of what Maine or your life has to offer.”

Panacea is not the first place Erskine built for such a purpose and it’s not likely to be the last. His first venture was Maine Booch, a beloved kombucha bar in Damariscotta that closed in 2023. And he’s already making plans for the next evolution of his community-centric vision.

But for now he’s focused on Panacea.

“I think that there’s an undercurrent to life that you just need to kind of surrender yourself to. And this is the right thing for me right now,” he said.

It’s the right thing for his customers too.

“People recognize and talk about and connect with his community spirit,” said Trevino of Erskine as she typed out a new poem.

He’s created a space here that’s just very welcoming and people need that now more than ever,” said Kelley Garthoff, of Whitefield, who came for the karaoke. “It’s just a fun place to hang.”

Panacea, at 100 Main St. in Wiscasset, is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Monday for the month of February. For more information, follow Panacea on Instagram.

(Bisi Cameron Yee is a freelance photojournalist based in Nobleboro. To contact her, email cameronyeephotography@gmail.com.)