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Schoolhouse
Southwest Harbor, Maine, United States
Schoolhouse
Southwest Harbor, Maine, United States
Historic Schoolhouse Expansion in Acadia National Park
Minett, founder of WAKE Design + Architecture, and the creator behind other Boutique favorites including Garage and Harlem Brownstone, retained the school’s original footprint and ridgeline and expanded the space by popping out dormers upstairs for more bedroom space and creating a double-height living/dining area at the home's heart.
A south-facing deck makes for easy outdoor living, and a new, tightly designed garden annex adjacent to the home creates even more space for spreading out or working remotely. Interiors include designer furnishings such as a Hay dining table, a contemporary gas stove for cozy living in the cooler seasons, and vividly patterned Ann Sacks tiles and original local art. Outdoor details include a refurbished flagstone patio with a firepit and landscaping, a Vespa charging station and Loll Design porch furniture.
AROUND
A block from the harbor in Manset, within Acadia National Park, the former public school sits on the quieter side of Mount Desert Island. The small village of Manset is located in the Southwest Harbor area of Maine’s Mount Desert Island (MDI), about a half hour from the better-known Bar Harbor. One of Southwest Harbor’s five principal villages (Southwest Harbor, Manset, Seawall, Wonderland and Pemetic Hills), the picturesque port opens up along Maine’s Route 102 and the waterfront Shore Road. Mount Desert Island is best known for Acadia National Park, which encompasses some 60 miles of the region’s Atlantic Coastline and offers 33 miles of scenic roads and hundreds of hiking trails. Maine’s largest offshore isle, MDI’s Southwest Harbor area is known as the part of the isle that’s less traveled. Cycling, hiking, kayaking and sailing opportunities are numerous in this area—check out sailing lessons at Mansell Boat Rentals, grab a free cruiser bike on Main Street in Southwest Harbor, board a vintage 1966 wooden lobster boat or take a ferry around Cranberry Cove. Villages in these parts are of the quintessentially New England small town variety, offering galleries, restaurants, and artisanal boutiques and markets as well as local fine dining in and on historic inns and piers. History tells us that the region of Southwest Harbor and Manset on the Somes Sound was visited by indigenous peoples since as far back as 4,000 BC, though the site’s name was given to the first settlement by a person of European descent, Abraham Somes, who fished and sailed the area in 1761. Bear Island Lighthouse marks the sound’s entrance.
AROUND
Southwest Harbor, Maine, United States. Nearest airport: Bar Harbor, 20-30 minutes; Bangor, 1 hour
BEST TIME TO VISIT: April to October
