Sarah’s Blog

Orono House Tour

Maine Places

Here are the two things I knew about Orono before my sister-in-law and her family moved there: it is home to the University of Maine, the state’s largest higher-education institution (and only research university), and it’s the birthplace of Pat’s Pizza, a chain that has become as synonymous with Maine cuisine as the Italian sandwich. […]

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Stone Arch

Romancing the Stone

Home Design

As a kid, my brother, Ethan, was an escape artist. When he was two, he absconded from our Buxton backyard, kicking off a daylong search that involved the police and fire departments and culminated when a neighbor discovered him sleeping in the woods. Later, an obsession with My Side of the Mountain inspired a few […]

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The Summer Rush

Maine Places

Whoever coined the phrase “lazy summer days” must not have lived in a place where bona fide warm weather lasts a mere three months. Far from remaining idle, most Mainers I know view this fleeting window as a call to action — like summer is a massive melting ice cream cone and we must race […]

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Stonington on My Mind

Maine Places

You know that moment when you arrive in a beautiful Maine town and start plotting how you might move there? This phenomenon is not limited to those who live out of state. We locals experience it all the time. I have mentally relocated to coastal villages and mountain towns all over Maine, but the place […]

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On the Road

Maine Places

I have seen many spectacular stretches of highway in my travels around Maine, but my heart belongs to Route 3. And, no, I’m not talking about the much-lauded loop around Mount Desert Island, which serves up natural beauty in staggering proportions. “My” Route 3 is the western leg that starts in Augusta and intersects with […]

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Readers’ Favorite Photos

Maine Places

Last week, I unveiled the judges’ picks in our inaugural Reader Photo Contest; now it’s time to reveal the readers’ choice winners. We kicked off this contest with the question, what does a dream home in Maine look like to you? And while images poured in of houses of all sizes and architectural stripes, the […]

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Reader Photo Contest Winners

Maine Places

In between the travels and events I write about here, I have many weeks that feel more like Groundhog Day than a grand adventure (wrangle children into the car for school/camp, work, pick up children, recommence wrangling, repeat). During these times, the photos you submit of beautiful places around the state buoy me. And when […]

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Deer Isle Day Trips

Maine Places

For the last three years, I have kept a daily one-sentence journal. Every night, I write down something funny one of my kids said, or something we did, and relive memories from previous years. (There’s one page for each day of the year and each page holds five years’ worth of entries — or three […]

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The Great Outdoors

Maine Places

Here’s my camping conundrum: I want to curl up with my family like a wolf pack in a wooded, secluded spot — that is also accessible by station wagon and within a stone’s throw of running water. In the three years Mark and I have been tenting with our kids, we’ve found plenty of conveniences, […]

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My Favorite Resources

Living on an Island

Our Building On An Island writer, Laura Serino of Island Apothecary, gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy earlier this month and is now settling in with him on picturesque North Haven island (shown). Before embarking on this journey, she put together this handy list of home suppliers and pros you may want to […]

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