Why I Live Here

Jesse Pierce's daughter sits in front of the six-foot-tall windows in the sitting room of her North Yarmouth home

From our Summer 2022 issue

In Jess Pierce’s North Yarmouth sitting room, massive windows immerse her family in nature (and a disco ball glams up kids’ performances).

“I came to Maine from New York in 2011, looking for a change of scenery, a place to spread my wings, and an opportunity to pursue my love of photography. The following year, attended the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies at Portland’s Maine College of Art & Design, and met my now-husband, Stewart. We got married in a beautiful barn in Buxton and settled in Portland’s West End. When we decided to have kids, we went looking for more space. Driving in North Yarmouth one day, we spotted a for-sale sign at the end of a long curvy driveway that led to a Cape-style house we couldn’t see from the road. Built in 1980, the house has good bones, but it was the 10-acre lot scattered with fields, apple and birch trees, flower and vegetable gardens, and a horse barn that sold us. In the southwest-facing sitting room, we watch the birdfeeders through the six-foot-tall windows, and my grandmother’s cork table, with a disco ball overhead, serves as a stage for kids’ performances. Celebrating the views has always been our goal. We keep the walls white, allowing our art and photographs, and the everchanging seasons, to be the color.” JESS PIERCE

Does your Maine home have a sweet view and a good story to go with it? Send a photo of the view from your porch, window, or yard, and a brief explanation of why you’ve chosen to live in this spot, to sarah@mainehomes and we may feature you.