Maine Places

Photo courtesy of Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty

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:

Tacked to the gray synthetic fabric is a photo, torn from a magazine, of a weathered elfin cottage on the Maine coast. Several times a day my glance strays to this photo; the image has become totemic, as unreal a place as Middle Earth. Just looking at is soothes me, the way sound machines of waves or rain can calm your nerves. I have never been to Maine, but in my imagination life there isn’t so complicated. I picture a lump of dough rising under a tea towel on a kitchen counter; pansies spilling from a window box; seagulls the size of small dogs, circling in slow motion overhead.

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.

Pembroke cottage

Pembroke cottage waterfront
Pembroke cottage woodstove
Pembroke cottage livingroom
Pembroke cottage garden

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

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Peaks Island cottage

Peaks Island cottage sun porch
Peaks Island cottage living room
Peaks Island cottage kitchen
Peaks Island cottage bedroom

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

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Casco Bay cottage

Casco Bay cottage porch ocean view
Casco Bay cottage kitchen and dining room
Casco Bay cottage front entry
Casco Bay cottage bedroom

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

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Jericho Bay cottage

Jericho Bay cottage ocean view
Jericho Bay cottage dining room
Jericho Bay cottage kitchen

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

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Cranberry Harbor farmhouse

Cranberry Harbor farmhouse garden
Cranberry Harbor farmhouse living room
Cranberry Harbor farmhouse woodstove
Cranberry Harbor farmhouse bedroom

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

Sedgwick house on the water

Sedgwick lake home lake view porch
Sedgwick lake home living room
Sedgwick lake home bedroom

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

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