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B&B HOPPING ON CAPE COD AND BAR HARBOR
By Si Liberman
Frankly, B&Bs had never been our cup of tea. On the surface, they seemed rather incongruous: four poster beds, floors that creak from old age and gussied up bathrooms to satisfy 21st century tastes.
During a recent visit to Cape Cod and Bar Harbor, Maine, my wife, Dorothy, and I stayed in four Bed & Breakfast inns, each unique in its own way and each owned and operated by individuals who had abandoned professional careers. We came away tired from the long drives but impressed by the innkeepers and what they had created virtually from scratch.
On Cape Cod, the Abbey was hardly what we expected. Until three years ago, the red brick inn was an abandoned Catholic church on the verge of becoming an eyesore. Today it is an architectural treasure in the village of Sandwich, the oldest of the Cape's 16 towns. And there we were comfortably ensconced in that hundred-year-old building that had undergone a remarkable makeover with stained glass windows, beamed cathedral ceilings and steeple intact with a few modern touches thrown in.
Credit owner Christopher Wilson, a former bank trust officer and estate planner who also owns the adjacent three-story, nine-room Belfry Inne (formerly the church parish), for this extraordinary reincarnation.
"I had my eye on the property, and it took several years of planning and $790,000 to buy and remodel it," said the 42-year-old bachelor owner. "Takes lots of sweat."
Later the thin, dark-haired innkeeper sheepishly confided he'd enjoy sharing the experience with "a 38- to 43-year-old blonde or brunette with a great smile, high energy and who enjoys entertaining, tennis and loves people."
Ours was one of the Abbey's six second-floor rooms named after days of the week, Monday to Saturday, to conform with the Bible's version of the creation of the universe. The wine-colored, air conditioned room had a queen-size bed, armoire, gas fireplace, built-in small TV set, stained glass window, balcony and a simulated marble bathroom with a jacuzzi-like bathtub and fluffy, white terry cloth bathrobes.
A kitchen, bistro café and buffet breakfast room for Abbey and Belfry Inne guests takes up the entire first floor. Salvaged oak woodwork line the walls and ceiling. The bar is fashioned from the church's pews and the fireplace is trimmed with oak.
Breakfasts included juice, dry cereal, French toast, eggs, rolls and coffee.
Because the Abbey dining room was closed the Sunday and Monday nights we were there, we dined around the corner at the historic Daniel Webster Inn. According to local lore, this was where its namesake, the 19th century senator with the golden voice who championed the Whig Party, entertained his mistress.
Veal and salmon entrée portions were tasty and generous. Had we been home, doggie bags would have been called for. The next night, Monday, we settled for hamburgers at the Webster Inn's bar after a light lunch at the nearby English-style Dunbar Tea Shop which has a delightful, flower bedecked outdoor dining area.
And, of course, not to be missed was the Heritage Plantation in Sandwich, a 76-acre complex of museums, gardens and meandering paths donated by the family of drug maker Eli Lilly in honor of one of his descendants, Josiah Kirby Lilly Jr.
Three large round barn-like buildings house Lilly's collections of 35 shiny antique cars, including a yellow 1930 Duesenberg convertible formerly owned by Gary Cooper, thousands of glass-enclosed tin soldiers in battleground and parade regalia and an operating 1912 carousel that my wife gleefully sampled with the unbridled enthusiasm of a teen-ager.
A half-hour drive from Sandwich, we found ourselves in Chatham, a beachfront village of upscale homes and lush greenery situated on the elbow of the 80-mile long arm-shaped Cape. A pair of smiling British female interns checked us into the Captain's House Inn, a 19-bedroom establishment. After an escorted tour of the first-floor kitchen and adjacent breakfast room where help-yourself coffee, tea and cookies are available night and day, the girls grabbed our luggage and hauled it upstairs.
The bedroom reflected its circa 1800s age with a four-poster queen bed, real and faux antiques, dark carpeted wooden floor, desk, fireplace, armoire and a few windows. A window air conditioner, TV set and bathroom with shower facilities and terry robes brought us back to the new millennium.
Co-owner Dave McMaster greeted us as we worked over our usual home-away-from-home breakfast the next morning - orange juice, fruit, toasted English muffin and coffee. The 62-year-old founder and former president of Gateway Communications Inc., a publicly-owned computer networking company, was taken aback when his diet-conscious guests opted to pass on the morning's breakfast specialty, fresh fruit souffle..
Since acquiring the two-story, L-shaped, 161-year-old building in 1993, McMaster said, he and Jan, 56, his England-born, art schooled wife, have poured $3.2 million into dressing up the 2 1/2-acre property. Almost all the furniture was replaced, three luxury rooms were added as were 13 fireplaces, five whirlpool tubs, 15 TV/VCR combinations and new landscaping.
"The toughest problem has been recruiting and keeping good employees," he said. "Almost makes you wish we had another recession. But having a grouchy guest who has fought traffic all day to reach us on a Friday and then see his smiling face on Sunday saying 'we enjoyed ourselves and we'll be back' is worth all the frustrations."
Maine and its highly touted lobsters beckoned.
After a seven-hour drive up Interstate 95, we landed in Bar Harbor's Mount Desert Island with a reservation at the Ledgelawn, a comfortable 96-year-old, 31-room B&B and wasted no time feasting on lobster and corn outdoors that night at Rupununi, a popular downtown restaurant named after an Amazon river.
Our take on the steamed lobsters? Good, but no tastier or more tender than ones we get at Jersey seafood houses.
The next day we were able to get a reservation at the town's only AAA-rated four diamond establishment, the Balance Rock Inn, a turn-of-the-century property on Frenchman's Bay and a two-block walk to downtown. Balance Rock and Ledgelawn, it turns out, are owned by the same couple -- Michael Miles, 59, a former radio announcer and advertising account executive, and his wife of 24 years, Nancy Cloud, 60, a former psychiatric social worker and administrator of a children's developmental clinic.
Our first-floor room was a bright, high-ceilinged chamber with a small porchlike terrace, overlooking the sea and gardens. It had yellow floral wall coverings and color- coordinated drapes, matching sofa, club chair and thick maroon carpeting. The proverbial, four-poster king-sized bed had elaborate carvings and its matching walnut, marble-topped dresser with built-in twin crystal lamps, desk and fireplace exuded early American elegance. The bathroom had marble walls and a whirlpool tub. That, plus the TV/VCR combination, air conditioning, telephone and king-sized mattress that could be made firmer or softer with a flick of a switch were welcome modern conveniences.
Each bedroom is different," co-owner Miles explained one morning while watering flower beds between the veranda and heated swimming pool. He said he and his wife purchased the 3-acre, 23-room property in 1986 for $375,000 eight years after they had picked up Ledgelawn for $72,000, also an early 1900 structure. He estimated they've spent about $4 million more over the years repairing, remodeling, enlarging and refurbishing both B&Bs.
Once the summer home of a Scottish railroad builder, the three-story shingled Balance Rock Inn is named after a big, tilted boulder at water's edge that's believed to be an Ice Age remnant. They became enamored with the property and location while renting a carriage house on the site. The carriage house is now a fitness center for guests.
Miles, a whiskered, stocky-built Jack of all trades, did much of the carpentry, decorating and landscaping work himself. He also wears a chef's hat, making breakfast buffet entrees like steak and eggs, Belgian waffles and crepes. "In this business, you do lots of things yourself," he said. "Have to."
"Hardest and most frustrating part of this job," his wife added, "was building a business from scratch with no experience."
Before departing, we spent a good part of the day at Acadia National Park, only three miles from Bar Harbor and a $10 fee for a week-long vehicle pass. The drive over a winding 27-mile long park loop road culminated at Cadillac Mountain, the 1,530-foot summit and highest Atlantic coast mountain east of Brazil. From Cadillac's broad granite vista, you see a vast section of Maine's rocky coast and have panoramic views of the park, Bar Harbor and Frenchman's Bay.
Most of the 40,000 acres of parkland were by donated private benefactors, including John D. Rockefeller Jr., who built many of the roads and bridges crisscrossing the Mount Desert Island property.
There are 165 different native plants, 60 species of land and marine animals and 150 different breeding birds, an Acadia brochure boasts..
We saw maybe two or three birds, no animals but hundreds of human species like ourselves hiking, driving, eating.
Still, it was a day well spent and a nice change of pace for a couple who were becoming B&B junkies.
IF YOU GO. . . .
The adjacent Abbey and Belfry Inne, 8 Jarvis St., Sandwich, MA 02563. Open all year. Double room: $95-$165. Breakfast included. Tel. 508-888-8550. FAX 508-888-3922. Email: Info@belfryinn.com
Captain's House Inn, 369-377 Old Harbor Rd., Chatham, MA 02633. Open all year. Double room: $165-$375 peak season, $145-$295 off-season. Breakfast included. Tel. 508-945-0866. FAX 508-945-0866. Email: capthous@capecod.net
Ledgelawn Inn, 60 Mt. Desert St., Bar Harbor, ME 04609. Open May To October. Double room: $75 t$275. Breakfast included. Tel. 207-288-4596 & 800-274-5334. FAX: 207-288-9968. Web: http://www.barharborvacations.com. Email: barhbrinns@aol.com.
Balance Rock Inn, 21 Albert Meadow Rd., Bar Harbor, ME 04609. Open May to October. Double room: $145-$545. Breakfast included. Tel. 207-288-2610 & 800-753-0494. FAX: 207-288-5534. Web: http://www.barharborvacations.com. Email: barhbrinns@aol.com.
Heritage Plantation, Pine and Grove Sts., Sandwich, MA 02563. Open Mother's Day till late October. Adults: $9, Seniors $8, Youths $4.50. Children under 5 free. Tel. 508-888-3300. FAX: 508-833-2917. Open Mother's Day till late October. Email: Museumcc@aol.com.
Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Mount Desert Island. Open all year. Entrances from Routes 3 and 233. Fees: $10 per vehicle for one week, 12-month pass $20, persons with disabilities, free.
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