You Could Live Here
Maine Places
In the first chapter of the novel The Way Life Should Be, Christina Baker Kline describes her protagonist gazing up at a bulletin board in her New York City office:
I read these lines for the first time a week ago and keep returning to them in my mind. Living in Maine, I know that it’s far from a fantasyland. (As does Baker Kline — she spent part of her childhood here and owns a home in Southwest Harbor.) And yet, when I look at certain remote, old, Maine cottages I too feel a sense of calmness wash over me — as if the sheer beauty of the place, and constancy of faded shingles and slanted floorboards that have sheltered and supported so many hardy souls, can cancel out life’s complexities. Of course, nothing can do that. But I believe some Maine houses can make your troubles feel pretty far away. In this roundup of current real estate offerings, I’ve attempted to harness that sense of otherworldliness and those pansies-spilling-from-a-window-box feels.
7 Mt. Tom Road, Pembroke
Setting: Renovated 1860 cottage on the Pennamaquan River. 693 sq. ft., 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, propane stove. .64 acre
Asking Price: $117,500
Photos courtesy of The Christopher Group
47 Luther Street, Peaks Island
Setting: 1900 village cottage. 1,152 sq. ft., 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, fireplace, glassed-in porch. .099 acre
Asking Price: $299,000
Photos courtesy of Port Island Realty
39 Hickok Lane, Long Island
Setting: 1900 cottage on Casco Bay. 1,175 sq. ft., 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, fireplace, wraparound porch, area boat ramp. .22 acre
Asking Price: $430,000
Photos courtesy of Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty
206 Rose Hill Road, Swans Island
Setting: 1919 seasonal gambrel cottage on Jericho Bay. 1,456 sq. ft., 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, fireplace, deep-water anchorage. 4.5 acres.
Asking Price: $525,000
Photos courtesy of Acadia Realty Group
1 Heliker Road, Cranberry Isles
Setting: 1910 farmhouse on Cranberry Harbor. 1,008 sq. ft., 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, woodstove, covered porch. 5.86 acres.
Asking Price: $715,000
Photos courtesy of The Knowles Company
131 & 112 Windward Lane, Sedgwick
Setting: 1917 seasonal cottage and 2006 winterized carriage house apartment on Walker Pond. 3,573 sq. ft., 8 bedrooms, 6 baths, stone fireplace, wraparound porch, portable dock and swim float. 42.5 acres.
Asking Price: $1,200,000
Photos courtesy of The Christopher Group