CAMDEN, Maine — Five years ago, when Netherlands natives Raymond Brunyanszki and Oscar Verest bought the Camden Harbour Inn, they had one big worry: winters in Maine. “We thought it was going to be brutal — dark and dead,” says Brunyanszki. There was no need for concern.

Camden, unlike many Maine seacoast towns, doesn’t shutter when the mercury drops. Many one-of-a-kind shops, classic country inns, and locally owned restaurants are open, and decked out in twinkling lights and winter finery. “It’s nice here in the winter,” Brunyanszki says now. “It never feels too quiet.”