by Colin Sargent

(click on any picture to see larger images)

Seascape
Bar Harbor $3.5 million

Imagine brushing about in your own “Seascape.” Offering startling views of Frenchman Bay and the Porcupine Islands, Seascape is a picture-perfect stone fantasy crafted in 2000 by Balance Rock Inn owners Mike Miles and Nancy Cloud “to hearken back to Bar Harbor's cottage era,” says listing agent Kim Swan of The Swan Agency, a Sotheby's International Realty affiliate.

Miles and Cloud, who are spending a lot of time in Florida now, “are so into the Bar Harbor mystique that Seascape is an amalgamation of the best parts of their other properties,” Swan says, “as well as their own hopes to capture the ideal frame for this view.”

Boldly facing the ocean at 10 South Graff Road in Bar Harbor, this 4,632-square-foot landmark has “four generous bedrooms and luxurious bathrooms in the main house, and two bedrooms and bath in the adjacent Carriage House” for guests.

“It's an entertainment dream,” she says, “with a grand living room, dining room, media room, and library.” But it's the covered porch defined by picturesque turrets that will knock guests out, because this slice of shoreline between Sol's Cliff and Compass Harbor absolutely wins the plaid rabbit. Views of the luxury Cunard liners QM2 and QE2 as they shimmer into port here are routine. “It's like those cruise ships are docked right in front of your house, just hanging out. It's amazing.” Now that's curb appeal.

“You are very, very close to the ocean, and the sellers wanted to have this feeling that there's no obstruction between you and the ocean from, say, a hot tub.” Having the covered deck closed off in glass almost bottles the summer for fortunate guests.

“They've been using it as a weekly rental for the last two or three years. It's always filled up, and it's expensive—$8,500 per week at the peak of summer. This is without doubt the best view on the island, looking out at the Porcupines. This is Bar Harbor. I grew up on that side of Bar Harbor; I've lived there all my life. You see [Acadia National] Park Land and George P. Dorr's old summer place. You can go out into this 10 times and you still find yourself stopping short and saying, “Holy moly.” Taxes are $28,622.

Starboard Lane
York Harbor $8.95 million

The year is 1917, and Starboard Lane, with its sunken rose garden, pergolas, and slate terrace, has just been carved out of York Harbor's granite seashore above Harbor Beach. Lookout nooks hewn into stone offer views of the harbor's mouth and beyond it, the Atlantic. With your Stutz Bearcat parked by the pool out front, World War I is a world away.

Ninety-one years later, it's the Iraq War that seems far away. And Starboard Lane is for sale, two restorations later, for $8.95 million.

“It was built for the Reid family; he was a big New York banker on Wall Street,” says listing agent John Scribner, of LandVest's Portland office. “Members of the Reid family still live in the neighborhood, across the street.

“Chris Connors, the seller, a former bond trader on Wall Street who's lived here four or five years, took out the tennis court—there are plenty of tennis courts available in the immediate area—and put in the granite swimming pool in 2002. He lives in Maine full time now—his wife is from northern Maine—and he loves fixing beautiful places like this. In fact, he's just bought the old Spencer Estate, a Tudor house in Boothbay built in the early 1900s, to restore as his primary residence. He also owns some property in Northeast Harbor. But he's really become part of the community here and been generous with his philanthropy, including getting involved with York Fire/Rescue as a volunteer. He's also donated to the police department”—it's very much noticed in the area that “beyond just heading to the art museum,” Connors organizes his gifts around the area's greatest needs.

Here at Starboard Lane, “visitors love the stunning wallpaper going up the winding staircase” on the main entertaining floor, “and because the house is perched like a captain's home, the wallpaper's nautical theme captures the sense of early shipping on the York River.

“But my favorite place has got to be the stone terrace,” Scribner says. “You walk in the big front door and see the spiral staircase with water views. But then you step onto the blue stone terrace and you're swept up in all the waterfront activity on the York River, and it's breathtaking.”

There are echoes of the mansion's original owners “in the deep basement, where the stone grotto room has a huge roaring fireplace where the Reid children used to come in from the beach and wash up before coming into the house. You can see where the remnants of the shower used to be.”

Throughout the house, fantasy touches like coppered sinks in the butler's pantry, radiant-floor heat in the sunroom, paneled walls and two fireplaces in the 35-foot-long living room with double glass doors to the stone terrace, and four built-in cedar closets in the master bedroom suite are there to make you feel suitably beautiful and damned.

The 1.2-acre lot is bordered by a “13-foot stone wall going around the place.” Adding to the castellated drama, “Chris put some gargoyles out there.” There's also a garden house with pergola off the swimming pool with “stonewall doorway, slate floor, and a sink.”

Nobody ever asks for a World War I kitchen. “The kitchen has the latest and greatest of all the stuff, with slate and hardwood floors, marble counters, window seat, Viking stove plus grill with hood and double oven, Viking 48-inch refrigerator, two Viking dishwashers, and a Viking beverage cooler. Accent lighting makes everything seem even more spacious,” Scribner says. “All of the house operating systems are circa 2002.” Taxes are $29,208.

Greystones Hall and all of Fisherman Island
Boothbay $7.25 million

In 1929, just before the Stock Market plunge, Greystones Hall, styled after a medieval Scottish manor, was constructed on the highest point of Fisherman Island off Boothbay with Gatsbyesque élan. Today, the 68-acre island and seven-bedroom stone mansion together are for sale for $7.25 million.

Intrigued? You're in good company. The Fine Living Network recently named Fisherman Island the No. 1 summer-destination listing in America.

“You're right at the entrance into Boothbay Harbor, with incredible views in every direction,” says John Saint-Amour of LandVest Luxury Real Estate's Portland office. Picturesque yachting traffic swarms around this hideaway all summer long, while “an underground cable to the mainland” keeps you and your guests eminently plugged in.

First inhabited by Native Americans, Fisherman Island became home to “colonial settlers…in the 1600s as a fishing outpost,” Saint-Amour says, “but it was abandoned in 1675 at the start of King Philip's War.” Centuries later, Victorian and Edwardian visitors would feel as though they'd discovered the exquisite sand beach out here, as well as The Hypocrites islands to the east, “a small pair of rocky outcroppings which are also part of the parcel, as well as the home to many families of seals.”

With no fewer than 12,000 feet of shorefront surrounding rolling meadows, wild rose bushes, and granite ledges, “this airy retreat has commanding 360-degree views of the mainland, several lighthouses, and the surrounding Atlantic Ocean,” Saint-Amour says. A very early original structure still stands out here, too, an “historic fisherman's cottage…a wood-frame cape with ell in need of total restoration” that dates to the 1700s.

But it is Greystones Hall that captures everyone's fancy. On the first floor, “the stone ‘chapel entrance' opens to a large great room…with cathedral ceiling and hand-hewn beams, a massive stone fireplace, interior stone walls, and many windows providing magnificent views of the surrounding sea. The great room also features a bay window with diamond-pane leaded-glass windows, a window seat with built-in bookcases, a staircase leading to a small balcony just above the entry, and a powder room.

“The dining area has a fieldstone fireplace and a painted-wood-beamed-ceiling,” Saint-Amour says, and by now you get the drill. Every airy fishermen's retreat needs a “gourmet kitchen with a large center island with granite countertop, a professional-grade Viking 6-burner gas range with copper hood, Sub-Zero refrigerator, soapstone sink, a walk-in pantry, and a large built-in china cabinet. The sun-drenched kitchen is also highlighted by two sets of French doors and a rear staircase that provides access to the second level.” This is truly roughing it after the manner of Teddy Roosevelt, or maybe William Randolph Hearst.

While the kids play Dungeons & Dragons, you can practice surf casting down the “long center hall, 54 feet in length, which offers entry to the master-bedroom suite…with water views and a master bath that includes a steam shower and an adjoining dressing room with sauna.”

Including the 1998-vintage “guest house or caretaker cottage” (with its own vaulted ceilings) located steps away from the mansion, as well as the estate's heated saltwater Gunite swimming pool, furnishings in all the buildings, a pier and float fronting deepwater anchorage, a 25-foot Parker cabin fiberglass power boat, a 21-foot Parker, a tractor, and a John Deere riding mower, you're good to go out here for some wonderful family gatherings–not to mention inviting Sean Connery and the entire League of Extraordinary Gentlemen over for a splash of 18-year-old single-malt Glenfiddich. Taxes are $38,311.

by Mackenzie Rawcliffe & Emily K. Sears

Lubec
$169,900

Coast along Main Street through Lubec (pop. 1,652) as it juts into island-studded Johnson Bay at Canada's doorstep. “Go past the Quick Shop and then continue up the hill,” says United Country Bold Coast Realty broker Debbie Holmes. “When you hit Eureka Street, you'll know you've found it.”

Heading down the side of a hill, with sweeping views of Cobscook Bay to your left and Campobello Island to your right, this stark red three-bedroom cape, built for a sardine-factory worker “in 1900,” sits pretty with soaring water views, hardwood floors, wood paneling, white shutters, sturdy basement with forced-hot-air furnace, and a screened porch that's almost dizzy with dazzling views of Johnson Bay and Eastport.

“Most of the factory homes around here don't have views of the water–they worked on the water every day, so they didn't care about seeing it,” says Holmes.

Now that their business has become our pleasure, the ocean is a more precious commodity. “They don't make more waterfront,” she deadpans. “The sunsets [see photo] are absolutely spectacular.”

Not to mention the cultural resurgence here includes Summer Keys performances in the nearby congregational church that are so vibrant “you can probably hear it from the porch.” Taxes are $722.82.

5 Eureka Street, 720 sq. ft.
Debbie Holmes, United Country Bold Coast Realty, 733-4344, www.boldcoast.net

Jonesport
$195,000

"In Jonesport (pop. 1,408), turn left after Stewart Gas Station and left again at the stop sign. Passing Church's True Value, keep going for another mile, and turn right,” says Justin King of Iossa Realty. A forgotten sardine cannery, now “Commercial Lobster Wharf,” fills the sky to the left. To the right, everything's coming up blue.

Fronting Moosabec Reach is a “small gray cottage originally owned by a gentleman who worked on one of the sardine boats.

“That's Beals Island right in front of you. This is the best spot for watching the World's Fastest Lobster Boat Race,” King says.

The two-bedroom, one-bath abode was built in the 1940s and still has an “old-style kitchen with beadboard cabinets, a window overlooking the water, and pine floors in the living room. It's right in the heart of town,” says Paul Iossa of Iossa Realty.

Not only that, it's also “in the boating district–you ought to see it at night.” Taxes are $709, with owner-financing possible.

Justin King and Paul Iossa, Iossa Real Estate, 497-2818, jonesport.com/iossarealestate.html

Weston
$159,900

Past the sign that reads “Million Dollar View” on Route 1 in Weston (pop. 198), go down the hill and make a right. That's Deering Lake out there in front of you. The house is the rustic modified ranch on dead-ended Chucks Drive with a wraparound deck hanging over the water.

“It's a four-bedroom, one-bath cottage with wood-planked bar and knotty pine cabinets in the kitchen, the perfect place to call home year round,” says Andrew Mooers of Mooers Realty in Houlton.

“To me, it's just rural enough but not Mayberry. People wave at you; you don't have to lock your doors. Best of all, you're in the front-row seat. The stars are brilliant and the lake is clear.” Taxes are $1,134.

38 Chucks Drive,
Andrew F. Mooers, Mooers Realty, 532-6573, mooersrealty.com

Lubec
$98,500

There's only one main road into Lubec, and only one way out,” broker Debbie Holmes explains. “Now, continue straight up the hill past the Quick Shop, take a right onto Sommersville Avenue, and drive until the pavement ends.” Keep going. “Surrounded by apple trees near the top of the hill, this white clapboard cape with black shutters, built in the late 1800s, is our next stop.”

There's a sense of cloister here, and privacy, until you see the ocean looking through your window.

“There's Johnson Bay to the south, and Campobello Island, West Quoddy Head, and Sparkplug Light out in Lubec Channel.”

Holmes admires this two-bedroom family homestead for its “hardwood floors and an open floor plan downstairs.” And then there are the bells from one or more of the four churches built up here so close to eternity: “I've been [here] at noontime and heard beautiful chimes.”

Even if there's only one way out, once you've seen this private historic home on the edge of the world, you may never leave. Taxes are $922.12.

Hamilton Street, 1,080 sq. ft., .17 acres.
Debbie Holmes, United Country Bold Coast Realty, 733- 4344, www.boldcoast.net

Jonesport
$169,500

Built in 1900, this two-bedroom home off West Main Street in Jonesport on the harbor side of the road has a bay window, shingle siding, and hardwood floors,” says Bill Milliken of Jonesport Realty. The wraparound deck takes in the view “from the western limits of our harbor, out to the ocean beyond the islands.”

There's a lot of history in here. “One previous resident of the house took advantage of this view to watch for her husband coming home from the sea where he served on Seguin Island Light during World War II and later as a lobsterman,” broker Julie Farris says. Taxes are $1,155.

48 West Main Street, 2 BR, 2 BA, .28 acres.
Bill Milliken, Jonesport Realty, 497-5725, jonesportrealty.com

Addison
$45,000

From Columbia Falls, turn south onto Addison Road. Clam Shell Lane is off this road, to the left,” Billy Majors of Water's Edge Realty in Machias says. “You can't miss it…” This one-story white ranch hugging the coast enjoys stunning views of Pleasant River as it spills into Pleasant Bay.

“Thirty years ago, this place was a clam shack. You'd come in here to buy and sell clams [wholesale].” He goes silent. “Look–there's no deck, no dock, there's indoor/outdoor carpeting throughout–even in the kitchen and bathroom–just yucky.” He does not elaborate on the “wood paneling and white vinyl siding.” Still, you've got to think long and hard about heaven's half-acre with 95 feet of waterfront for $45,000.

Majors says, “There's no furnace. It's something you'd have to put in,” but the listing sheet indicates a wood stove and fireplace, with “unknown” insulation.

The seller, William Herrick of New Hampshire, is an unsuccessful flipper who bought the house six months ago and wants out. “I live virtually in another time zone. This project is for someone else.”

Asked about improvements or a tear-down, code enforcement officer John Matzilevich says, “If a home is grandfathered and is nonconforming [as this house is], as long as you're not adding more than 30 percent square footage or volume to the property you can make modifications.

“If you tear down the structure, it would be up to the planning board to find the most desirable area to rebuild–they may recommend the structure moved farther back from the water. And there might be shorefront setback issues pertaining to bird migration. If you satisfy all the zoning issues and didn't enlarge the property, you could probably build on the original footprint.”

Hey, don't hate this place because it's beautiful. Taxes are $604.80.

Billy Majors, Water's Edge Realty, 546-7581, werealty.net