Most people already know the Boothbay region boasts an abundance of natural beauty, but take a closer look and you'll soon discover all the cute, quaint and downright adorable spots on this peninsula.

Readers beware: this article will smother you in cuteness.

Kitten Island

An island named after a cuddly ball of fur is sure to please the daily beachgoer. Sheltered by Southport's Hendricks Head lighthouse, Kitten island provides the perfect place to hunt for sea treasure. The only thing that could possibly make this island any cuter would be a small nest of kittens sipping milk and chasing yarn.

Insider tip: Kitten island only accessible at low tide, when the kids crawl on it like an army of fleas.

Bayville Post Office

At the heart of Linekin Bay is the quaint village of Bayville. Bayvillians are naturally cute themselves, but what really tips the cute scale is this charming little post office.

Rather than pedaling their adorable little bikes all the way to East Boothbay to get their mail, Bayvillians built the Bayville post office around 1920. The post office still operates in the summer and provides Bayvillians with plenty of Bayvillian things to do, like read books and play board games, like Scrabble, Yahtzee and Hungry Hungry Hippos. (I made that last part up, because there are very few things cuter than Hungry Hungry Hippos).

Every week a different Bayvillian family opens the office, and hoists the American flag, which is not only cute, but patriotic. God bless Bayville!

Little House in the harbor

This Little House is way cuter than Hungry Hungry Hippos. A short stroll past Boothbay Harbor Shipyard will bring you to the Little House perched on the corner of Sea Street. The Little House is surrounded by a little fence, and on the little fence is a little sign literally confirming the size of the little house. Colorful phlox, daisies and black-eyed Susans burst from the little gardens that bloom with color all summer long. No one answered my knocks on the little door, but one can only hope a little family inhabits the Little House.

A Place Like Home

What other Boothbay Harbor business features a vintage kitchen bakery, a Wi-Fi cafe and a Victorian tea house all in one?

Tea cups and trinkets galore, A Place Like Home gushes with cuteness. The shop features roly-poly dolls and demitasses, jars brimming with colorful ingredients, and even a Christmas themed room, all the while the owner, Roseanne Taylor sporting a motherly apron, bakes pies, breads, and brownies below a sign saying “Cookies fix everything.”

Whether it's a quick snack, a bag lunch, or a place to host a business meeting, Taylor wants her customers to be relaxed and happy, enjoying all the amenities of home-cooked meal.

Mushroom Cottage

Ride forth to King Phillips Trail to the not so distant shores of Ocean Point, and there you'll find Mushroom Cottage in all its glory.

Middle Earth does exist, according to David Lee, who said he built the enchanted house in 1998 after reading the Lord of the Rings series.

Lee said he never intended to design the house to look like a mushroom, “it just came out that way.”

Inside the mushroom house are hand carved wooden hinges on all the doors and cabinets, and a special masonry heating system with a furnace built right into the stone work.

“You think it's cute?” Lee said, questioning the cuteness assertion. “Middle-Earthian is not quite cute.”

Although the cuteness factor has not yet been fully confirmed, Lee is willing to give this reporter a tour. So stay tuned, because things might get mystical.

Blue Moon Cafe

Nestled between Tugboat Inn and the Indian Trading Post is the Blue Moon Cafe, a seaside hut where guests dine on omelets and homemade corn beef hash, as the harbor comes alive.

Behind the counter is affable Fred Munro. Munro said he never changed the original menu when he purchased the cafe in 2006, but he did add a few of his own creations, such as “Fred's most excellent Bloody Mary's.”

Bloody Mary’s for breakfast or not, this place meets all the criteria of cute, from the bowl overflowing with plump muffins, to the hanging plants bobbing in the salty breeze. 

All photos RYAN LEIGHTON/Boothbay Register