We’ve all been islands this past year, yet sirens still sing to us from those alluring rocks where sky meets sea.

BY PATRICIA HOWE & ANNE STEVENS

Sheephead Island $7,975,000
East Penobscot Bay, Deer Isle 65 Acres
When Frank Veneroso drove up from Harvard in his “Battlestar Galactica” (1959 Chrysler Imperial) seeking “a saltwater farm with a lot of privacy on the Maine coast,” he hit the jackpot with an island he could drive to at low tide that “was a farm from 1794 to 1884.” Veneroso purchased Sheephead Island in 1979 from Stanton Garfield, President James A. Garfield’s grandson, and restored it to look like a 19th-century farm, adding two main houses, a guest house, and an artist’s studio. “We wanted a house with lots of light and views, but that looked like it had been there for two hundred years.” Irresistible when in bloom with rugosa roses, two-hundred-year-old lilacs, and enough lupines to send Miss Rumphius into a swoon, Sheephead “is all of Maine by the sea.” Taxes are $10,701.

Pine Island $1,230,000
Long Lake, Naples 1.2 Acres
“It’s like a cathedral of trees,” says owner Jay Bailey of Pine Island on Long Lake. Yet nearby Naples offers onshore dining, art galleries, and gift shops to explore. “Long Lake is a hot spot and always will be.” A short boat ride from Naples Causeway, Bailey’s retreat is 750 square feet (grandfathered for a 30-percent expansion) of heart-stopping sunrise and sunset views. Children can jump in the clear water of the sandy, shallow swimming area. Taxes are $7,400.

See the full story in the digital magazine above.