February/March 2015 | view this story as a .pdf

Discovering the ‘new rustic.’

By Colin W. Sargent

WHAT IF “Lake & Lodge” coffee, the dark, earthy brew by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, were not inspired by lakes and lodges? Instead, what if a magic sip of the deep, rich java is inspiring a new demographic to create getaways on Maine’s lakes and lodges? After all, aren’t we the general contractors of our fantasies?

Who could have imagined back in September that L.L. Bean boots would make such a splash during the holidays, with demand so high the classic footwear was scalped at a 300-percent markup by Christmas Eve? Was this exclamation point in demand just a new group of latecomers ‘plagiarizing the authentic,’ or has a reappreciation for rustic truly touched down as a genuine need to get real (or at least sample reality)?

Whatever it is, real-estate brokers are sensing and stalking ‘the new rustic.’ A fresh crowd of buyers is rifling through the Maine Multiple Listings in search of the dreamiest lodges in which to put their Bean Boots and perhaps a faux moosehead. Here are three to consider.

Arden House in Boothbay is a carillon of rustic bells and whistles. First, amid showy interiors, some of which excite as architecture, it features rough-hewn, reclaimed wood in a cathedral of posts and beams. It has a “prominent Boston architect, Ed Hodges, managing principal at DiMella Shaffer,” according to listing agent Kim Latour, who’s offering it for $2.845M. “The landscape architect is Kerry Lewis of Newton.” For site location, how about “four acres of land with towering pine trees and trails meandering along the 1,300 feet of shelter waterfront and granite ledges on Townsend Gut.” Your rustic stone and timber retreat, with “two-car heated garage…four-plus light-filled bedrooms…large gourmet kitchen, and first floor master bedroom suite” has its own private dock. Behold the new rustic: something that will do in a scrape.

Ocean Point on scenic Linekin Bay is the windswept setting for a post & beam getaway on Elbow Road that fits new rustic to a T. “There’s 50 feet of frontage, a dock, and a float,” says Marion Mullander of Tindal & Callahan Real Estate. The trick of balancing desire and reality is, “it has to be rustic and not rustic” at once. “It’s new [2002],” with three bedrooms and 3.5 baths. “You have privacy, security, it’s roomy, it has a gourmet kitchen–all custom, stainless everything.” Slide out to your deck from your first-floor bedroom and see how easy roughing it can be. Or warm yourself to a romantic fire from the enormous stone fireplace below the woodsy cathedral ceiling, with interior logs for additional charm. Listing price is $1.55M, with taxes at $7,609.

While it’s not a new rustic imperative, it doesn’t hurt if your retreat can boast of adorable wooden bear cubs climbing the porch posts as you approach 24 Perley Mills Station Road in Denmark, northwest of Sebago Lake. Built in 2006, this 10-room, 4,489-square-foot lodge backs up to bright blue, 79-acre Perley Pond–a plashy idyll with the kind of isolate beauty Henry David Thoreau calls “the eye of the world.” What’s special here, is a screen of evergreens gives the property a theatrical quality that makes the owners the stars. Ready with your espirit de l’escalier? “The mammoth stairway going to the second floor is fashioned from exquisitely stripped and varnished logs, made more perfect for their imperfections,” according to Ana Paprocki of the David Banks Team at RE/MAX By The Bay. The moosehead on the stone fireplace is so mood-enhancing you expect him to start talking. Another nice touch: The warm color palate dances into the beadboard kitchen and bay windows. Talk about luxurious, campy fun. Listed at $1M, the taxes are $5,511.

As for whatever happened to the old rustic, you don’t even want to know. Example: Young Frank Sinatra was discovered singing at The Rustic Cabin, a nightclub perched on the edge of the Englewood Cliffs palisades over the Hudson River, back when this sort of stuff was all the rage. (In those days, there were different sorts of security systems available.) Now it’s the Rustic Cabin Exxon.