maine

Those who have been with me for a few years on this estate-of-the day journey might remember this one. I first looked at this home back in 2006. Far from the Wolf is perhaps the grandest of the summer "cottages" built on Grindstone Neck in Winter Harbor, Maine. The home was built in the early 1890s by John Godfrey Moore, who developed the Grindstone Neck area as a getaway for New York society. This gorgeous shingled home is on 4.6 acres and has 10 bedrooms, each with a private bath.

One of the benefits of this beauty is that it boasts both water and mountain views. It has been lovingly restored and updated and features several large fireplaces and lots of beautiful woodwork in native woods including cherry, ash, birch, whitewood and oak. In some of the spaces the wainscoting extends nearly to the ceiling giving the home the appearance of a large wooden boat. Another great detail is the small tea house which sits on a granite cliff at the shoreline and has a granite fireplace.This home was listed at $9.65 million but is now listed at $7.9 million with LandVest.

In addition to Ernest Hemingway's safari hunting rifle that we wrote about on Wednesday, a rare gold-inlaid Browning 12-gauge automatic shotgun that was presented to president Richard Nixon in 1970 will be offered at James D. Julia Auctioneers' Important Firearms sale in Fairfield, Maine on March 14. The gun, estimated at $50,000 – $75,000, is also historically significant in that it was the two millionth Browning shotgun made. At one time destined for the Smithsonian, Nixon returned the gun to Browning Arms where it resided in their archives until it was given to the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

A remarkable double-barreled elephant gun made by London's Westley Richards in 1913 that belonged to Ernest Hemingway and was used by the famed author on safari in Africa is being offered for auction on March 14. The impressive .577-caliber Nitro Express, the starring lot at James D. Julia Auctioneers' Important Firearms sale in Fairfield, Maine, comes with the original case and accessories and is expected to fetch between $150,000 – $200,000. The 16-pound rifle, engraved with rhinos and tigers and designed to bag the biggest game, has its own chapter in the new book Hemingway's Guns: The Sporting Arms of Ernest Hemingway.

Maine magazine, the stylish bible of "more than just lobsters and lighthouses", has debuted its 2011 guides to the best the Pine Tree State has to offer. This year in addition to the Eat Maine edition launched last year they've added Art Maine and Home Maine versions with help from sister publication Maine Home + Design. Indispensable for both visitors and natives alike, the pocket-sized booklets act as a Baedeker to the best in dining, decor and the arts around the beautiful northern and easternmost bit of New England. Of course they do list the best lobster rolls in the Eat edition but that's just the tip of the icecap. The guides are priced at $5.95 and come free to subscribers; alternatively they can be found at many Portland businesses and are also available from the magazine directly.

In July the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick, Maine will stage an exhibition of paintings and watercolors produced by famed American realist Edward Hopper during his many sojourns in Maine. Hopper spent several summers there beginning in 1914 and painted many Maine scenes, including the lighthouse at Two Lights, above, in Cape Elizabeth, from 1929. For Edward Hopper such weather-beaten landmarks "symbolized the solitary individual stoically facing the onslaught of change in an industrial society." Organized with the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, which has a major Hopper show running through April, the Bowdoin exhibition includes over 80 works from both public and private collections.

Freeman's Sporting Club, the men's shop on New York's Lower East Side that's a bastion of rugged All-American style, has collaborated with Maine's Corvus Watch co. to create a stunning limited edition diving watch. The FSC edition of Corvus' iconic Bradley Dive Watch (above) is limited to just 50 examples priced at $1,750 apiece. The tough-as-nails timepiece is inspired by U.S. Military history, designed in Maine, engineered in Germany and made in Switzerland. Based on the first two dive watches ever commissioned by the U.S. Navy, the 1958 Bulova and the 1961 Blancpain, the FSC version features a date function at 4:30, black PVD coating and a specially designed Horween Black Shell Cordovan strap. Powered by an automatic Swiss movement, the watch's "Kolsterized" steel case is five times harder than regular stainless steel and has a depth rating of 1,000 ft.

The Samoset Resort, in Rockland, Maine, is fairly remote and offers a comfortable retreat from the frenetic pace of city life. Located a tad more than three hours from Boston, it's a great place for people looking to disappear for a few days, either to swing a golf club or simply to hide from the realities of everyday life.

To truly appreciate what this property has to offer, though, you need to walk through the main building, across the golf course and along the water a bit. Or, you can have someone give you a lift in a golf cart, which might be a bit easier.

The Flume Cottage sits apart from the rest of the resort, resulting in seclusion within seclusion. This1,500 square foot cottage, refurbished in 2010, sits right on the water, with a back deck that sports drop-dead views of the breakwater, with its lighthouse at the end. And, you can soak in the sights from the Jacuzzi that's out there. Since the only adjacent action on land is golf, you don't need to worry about the slightest noise intruding on your getaway, except, perhaps, a knock at the door when your meals arrive.

Summer is just beginning but if you are planning an end of summer getaway you might want to consider the Migis Lodge, a destination resort on Maine's Sebago Lake. The resort is offering a Lakeside Luxury Getaway package for a romantic Maine vacation that starts at the beginning of August. The Migis Lodge Lakeside Luxury Getaway package is available from August 1st to September 5th at a rate of $1,360 (normally $1,720) and from September 6th to October 10th at a rate of $960 (normally $1,320.) Rates are based on double occupancy for two nights and subject to availability. Stay in a cottage with a king bed covered in handmade quilts and a porch with lake views and enjoy three meals a day, two massages and a bottle of wine chosen by a sommelier each night from the Migis Lodge cellar. Friday nights bring a lakeside lobster bake during June, July and August. For lunch on Wednesdays during the summer season, guests travel by boat to a private island for a steak roast. The lodge is a 40-minute drive northwest of Portland, Maine and sits amid 125 acres of pine forest. Sailing, kayaking and other Maine summer options are at the ready.

Here's a hotel deal you can feel good about. The eco-luxury Inn by the Sea in Cape Elizabeth, Maine will reduce their rates on their seaside two bedroom suites by 50 percent, Sunday through Thursday, this spring in support of a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. Inn by the Sea will be supporting "Hospitality for Humanity 2010 ", a program sponsored by the Maine Innkeepers Association which will raise money in May for Habitat projects in both Maine and Haiti. Guests can rent two bedroom seaside cottages at Inn by the Sea at half the regular rate, Sunday through Thursday, May 2nd through May 27th in exchange for a $35 donation check written out to Habitat for Humanity.

'Hospitality for Habitat' began in 2004 and has raised over $30,000 to build homes for low income families in Maine since its inception. In 2009 Inn by the Sea raised $2,200 for Habitat for Humanity with the help of their guests through the program. This year, after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, a portion of the funds will also be directed to Habitat projects in Haiti. A tax deductible donation check made out to Habitat for Humanity should be given to Inn by the Sea on check in. Every dollar raised will be donated to help build habitat homes.

The Inn by the Sea on the Maine coast is Maine's first hotel heated by biofuel and the first in the state to be carbon neutral. The hotel also has five acres of indigenous gardens certified as a Wildlife Habitat. They also offer green weddings and green meetings.

Some of the listing pics on today's Maine estate could be turned into postcards, they're that pretty. Sea Cliff commands a rocky outpost on Cape Elizabeth. The shingled home was built in 1915 and has four bedrooms. Large windows and decks offer views of the shipping channel and Portland Head Light. The rooms are large and gracious and many have their original brick fireplaces. This home was listed at $5.995 million a couple of years ago but now sits at $4.75 million.

This home is on Winslow Homer Road and faces a scene that could have inspired one of the great artist's paintings. Clipperways is a grand shingled home on the water perched on Prouts Neck in Scarborough, Maine. This home was built over one hundred years ago and reflects traditional New England style. It has six bedrooms and large rooms for entertaining, kept cozy with stone fireplaces and hardwood floors. The traditional kitchen has beadboard details and a large pantry. Porches run along the front of the house offering ample space to take in the ever-changing ocean views. This home is listed at $5.5 million.

Today's home, an idyllic Maine retreat is the property of Bob Metcalfe. Metcalfe co-invented Ethernet, founded 3Com and formulated Metcalfe's Law, a telecommunications guideline which states that the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users. The law explains many of the network effects of communication technologies and networks such as the Internet, social networking, and the World Wide Web.

When he's not knee-deep in technology Metcalfe heads up to Kelmscott Farm, a pastoral home on around 150 acres in Lincolnville, Maine. The home is surrounded by hills and has views of Ducktrap Mountain. The expansive farm features open pastures, stone walls, woods, expertly designed gardens, and frontage on Pitcher Pond.

The farm has a historic main house that has been completely renovated and expanded with an eye toward classic New England style. Exposed wood beams offer a rustic touch and large windows take advantage of the enviably private setting. The property also includes two additional barns and a three-story bunkhouse with offices and living quarters all for just $2.5 million.

[Thanks, Chris!]

While I enjoy summer in New England, there are few places prettier than Maine in the early fall. Today's estate is a 7,200 square foot home on Cousins Island, an island which is part of Yarmouth and connected via a bridge to the mainland. The home sits on 7.4 acres and faces beaches and ledges and has its own separate smaller private island. There are six bedrooms and the style of the home is classic Colonial with modern updates. Charming details include tile-surrounded fireplaces, a curved staircase and a large sunroom. It also has a matching guest house with a small balcony. This home is listed at $7.5 million.



Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

Care for a little alfresco dining? A pair of New Hampshire and Maine farms along with four award-winning chefs combine for one fabulous evening that includes a four-course meal and event held in the fields of Weston's Farm on the Saco River. August 29th is the date for the Second Annual "Fields on the Saco", an event that offers up the best of the season's harvest in a lavish feast for 100 under tents set up in the field. The menu will be accompanied by paired wines and Maine Cold River Vodka and will be presented by Chef Bryant Alden of the Chef's Market in North Conway, Executive Chef Brad Southwick of the White Mountain Hotel and Resort, Chef Jonathan Spak, co-owner of the Oxford House Inn, and Chef Jim Harrison of the Flatbread Company.

Hors d'oeuvres will include sweet corn fritters and scallops wrapped in pancetta with an Amaretto reduction. The meal begins with an appetizer of roulade of pork gratin with braised baby beets and butternut-apple coulis. The salad is baby spinach with grilled peaches and goat cheese with a maple pecan apple cider vinaigrette. The entree will be a mixed grill of tournedos of beef, lamb sausage, and chicken kebob with summer vegetables on a potato nest. The meal finished up with a blueberry polenta pound cake with honey and chevre semifreddo.

The event actually begins at 1 p.m. in the afternoon and includes far more than the dinner. There are guided farm tours, farm stores showcasing foods, flowers and local products. Cold River Vodka and complimentary wines will be offered with live music provided by Jazz Meisters and a "wet art" auction (wet art refers to paintings created on site). Winners of the Art-A-Ron-Dack Chair judging will be auctioned, offering bidders the chance to take home a unique chair and artwork combined. A Border Collie exhibition at Nerefield Farm on East Conway Road and a bonfire will round out the schedule. Each person attending the dinner will take home a beautiful Lead Wine Glass by Cristal d'Arques of France and a gift bag. Tickets are $125 each and the event will be limited to 100 people. Info on ordering tickets can be found on the Mount Washington Valley website.

Many top drawer people in the Northeast spend summers in Maine's preppy enclaves. Photographer Sarah C. Butler's new book Portrait of a Maine Island is a love letter to one such locale, Northeast Harbor.

In this never-before-seen collection, Butler showcases her extraordinary art portraits of Northeast Harbor's local inhabitants, architecture and stunning land and seascape, as viewed from properties like this 2006 Estate of the Day.

60 people and places are brought to life through original photographs that "convey and identify what it is that makes Maine culture so distinctive." Martha Stewart, who has an estate on nearby Mount Desert Island, often uses it as inspiration.

Butler doesn't just focus on the well-heeled summer residents however. A post-mistress, mechanic, carpenter, lobsterman, librarian and artists are all included, as well as a visual journey through the area's coves and rocky necks.