Elmer’s Barn is what happens when a flea market, an antique shop, a junkyard, and 150 years of New England hoarding get together and decide never to throw anything away. Three floors, more than thirty vendors, so much stuff to see. Opened in 1976, it has been quietly absorbing the contents of Maine ever since.

It’s a glorious monument to the belief that absolutely nothing is worthless, especially if it’s rusty, broken, mysterious, or hasn’t been touched since the Eisenhower administration. You enter looking for nothing in particular and emerge three hours later carrying a dented lunchbox, somebody else’s grandmother’s photograph, a lobster buoy, and a farm implement whose original purpose is unknown.

Locals say you haven’t really understood Maine until you’ve been here. And somewhere in that magnificent chaos, you’re absolutely certain there’s something you desperately need. You just haven’t figured out what it is yet.

Bring cash, bring a sense of humor, and call ahead for hours. Elmer’s Barn operates on its own schedule,  and under the firm conviction that someday, somebody is going to need that broken toaster.