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    A Famed Travel Writer Lists His Remote Island Retreat in Maine for $1.3 Million

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    Around 23 years ago, Paul Theroux picked up a private retreat off the coast of Maine. Now the Hawaii-based travel writer and prolific novelist of more than 50 books—among them The Mosquito Coast, which was adapted into a 1980s movie, as well as a more recent TV series starring his nephew Justin Theroux—has decided to part ways with his longtime Calf Island home, hoisting the place on the market for a relatively affordable $1.275 million.

    Tucked away on a seven-acre parcel offering sweeping coastline views paired with more than 3,000 feet of waterfront footage on Wheeler Bay, the property features a post-and-beam main home and separate guesthouse that were handcrafted in the late 1970s by late contemporary artist and furniture-maker Duane Paluska. In addition to a combined four bedrooms and two baths in a little more than 1,700 square feet of living space, there are also pathways meandering through serene spruce-lined meadows, a mix of sand and pebble beaches, and a ramp leading down to a floating dock with a row boat.

    The floating dock houses a boat used for padding to the nearby mainland.

    Kate Sfeir

    Highlights of the primary dwelling include a window-lined living room displaying rustic hardwood floors and a vaulted wood-beam ceiling, along with a simple, “functional” kitchen that has an accompanying dining area warmed by a wood-burning stove. Per the listing, which is held by Joseph Sortwell of Christie’s International Real Estate, a large open room upstairs also has plenty of space for a bedroom and a living area.

    Elsewhere is the wood-shingled guesthouse, which has two bedrooms, a bath, and an open living room sporting a loft and another wood-burning stove, plus its own porch. A small shed and boathouse also can be found on the premises.

    The main home has an open-concept great room housing a living and dining area, plus a kitchen.

    Kate Sfeir

    “Being a coastal New Englander really shaped my life,” the 83-year-old Maine native once told National Geographic. “I would find it almost impossible to live in an inland city or town. I simply can’t do it. I need to live where there’s the smell of the sea, where there’s water.

    “I also like the idea of forest next to a sea—like the Maine coast or the California or Oregon coasts,” Theroux added. “Where there’s sea and forest going up to the sea. That’s heaven to me.”

    Click here for more photos of Paul Theroux’s private island retreat.

    Kate Sfeir More

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      in Luxury

      The Tom’s of Maine Founders Are Selling Their Longtime New England Estate

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      Back in the early 1980s, Tom and Kate Chappell acquired a historic estate in the heart of Kennebunk, a charming coastal city in the southern reaches of Maine. There, in what is often referred to as a “true piece of Kennebunk Maine’s history,” the founders of Tom’s of Maine raised five children who are now grown and married, and they became widely known as artists, authors and philanthropists.

      The couple also sold a majority stake of the successful natural oral and personal care product company that they launched together in 1970 to Colgate-Palmolive in 2006 for a whopping $100 million. Now, 40 years later, the Chappells are finally ready to part with their longtime home, putting the 20-room structure up for sale at just over $2 million.

      Originally built for merchant Nathaniel Frost in 1799, and meticulously restored and upgraded during the Chappell’s tenure, the Federal-style premises were also occupied at one time by New Hampshire Sen. Charles Cutts, who was elected as the U.S. Secretary of State in 1814.

      Built in the late 1700s, the Chappell’s Federal-style house is often referred to as a “true piece of Kennebunk Maine’s history.”

      Photography by Peter G. Morneau

      Sited on almost an acre of land dotted with organic gardens bearing apple trees, herbs and vegetables, the property includes a main house and guest quarters—for a total of six bedrooms and a matching number of baths in nearly 7,500 square feet of living space boasting no less than eight wood-burning fireplaces throughout. There’s also an attached three-car garage that resembles a big red barn.

      Especially standing out on the main level is a double-height entry foyer displaying a curving traditional staircase, which flows to a living room on one side and formal dining room on the other. A traditional arched door off the foyer leads to the rear of the home, which holds a classic kitchen outfitted with leathered granite countertops, a French Lacanche range, slate farmhouse sink and walk-in pantry.

      In the formal dining room, homeowner and artist Kate Chappell has painstakingly matched the original stenciling done by Moses Eaton.

      Photography by Peter G. Morneau

      An adjacent octagonal-shaped sunroom is currently being used as a casual dining area, and sports a vaulted wood ceiling, freestanding gas stove, and sliding glass doors spilling out to a wood deck and grassy courtyard; and elsewhere are an office, a family room and study, plus a trio of upstairs en-suite bedrooms that each have a fireplace.

      As for the guest quarters, two separate apartments come complete with a total of three bedrooms, as well as their own living room and kitchen. The property also is powered with solar panels, and warmed by a geothermal heat system and energy-efficient heat pumps; and per the listing held by Andi Robinson and Elaine Prendergast of Sotheby’s International Realty, the Chappell family likes to say, “The home is all natural.”

      Click here for more photos of 99 Main Street. More

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      in Luxury

      John Travolta Lists His 20-Bedroom Maine Mansion for $5 Million

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      Even before Kelly Preston passed away last summer, two years after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she and John Travolta began to change up their sprawling cross-country real estate portfolio. In 2017, the longtime Scientologists added a $3 million waterfront spread in Clearwater, Fla., the headquarters of Scientology, and in the fall of 2019 they plunked down another $2.65 million for a 7,500-square-foot Mediterranean residence in the celeb-favored and ever-more expensive LA suburb of Calabasas. And then, in early 2020, they sold the family’s long-time estate in a particularly prestigious pocket of the L.A.’s tony Brentwood neighborhood in an $18 million off-market deal to music manager (and next-door neighbor) Scooter Braun.

      The Gotti star, who co-starred last year in Kevin Hart’s series Die Hart, on the spectacularly flamed out mobile platform Quibi, also maintains a sprawling, airport-like residence at the Jumbolair fly-in community near Ocala, Fla., where the licensed pilot parks his fleet of planes, including a Boeing 707, in the backyard. However, the twice Oscar-nominated movie star has now decided to part with the family’s beloved getaway on the exclusive, ferry-accessed island enclave of Islesboro, Maine, putting the secluded waterfront hideaway on the market at $5 million.
      The hip-swiveling Saturday Night Fever icon first visited the semi-remote island more than 30 years ago with his longtime showbiz pal (and fellow Scientologist) Kirstie Alley, who has long owned a waterfront property at the south end of the island. Looking for a place they could put up their extended families over holidays, the then newly wedded Travoltas jumped at the opportunity to scoop up their idyllic 48-acre estate and its hotel-sized mansion in 1991.
      The manse measures 10,830 square feet.  Realtor.com

      At the end of a gravel driveway that passes under a canopy of trees and through stone pillars before it circles up around a perfectly conical pine tree, the shingled “cottage” was designed by the architecture firm Peabody and Stearns and built in 1904 for “the scion of a prominent banking family,” according to Architectural Digest, who featured the somewhat quixotic 42-room mansion in 1999 after it was done up for the Travoltas by classically trained decorator Christopher Boshears in a festively colorful, pattern-mixing manner than befits an elegant English country house.

      The foyer operates a little like a hotel lobby with intimate conversation areas and a fanciful bar, while a double-sided bubblegum pink damask sofa whimsically anchors the center of the vast living room in front of a rustic fieldstone fireplace.

      The margarine-hued dining room will comfortably seat more than a dozen around a polished wood pedestal table long enough to play shuffleboard.

      The estate spans some 48 acres.  Realtor.com

      A second-floor sun porch, one of two in the house, has serene views into the surrounding woods and features an explosion of pastel colors with tons of mismatched floral throw pillows and cozy lap blankets that allow for the comfortable enjoyment of sunny but crisply cold autumn afternoons and dewy spring mornings.
      Glass-fronted cabinets in the huge pantry are stocked with dozens of delicate teacups and vintage cake stands, while the sun-filled country kitchen is simply outfitted with butcherblock counters and expensively equipped with chef-grade equipment.
      The mansion’s 20+ bedrooms share just 7.5 bathrooms spread out over three floors. Large enough to accommodate a sitting and a private dining table, the main bedroom has a vintage-style bath of its own, along with a fireplace and private sun porch.

      The home comprises 20 bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms.  Realtor.com

      Fourteen guest bedrooms share just four bathrooms on the second floor, while the third floor was converted to Fantasyland children’s wing complete with a schoolroom and library, a diner, a theater space with a built-in stage, and four themed bedrooms: a Princess Room and Peter Pan Room among them, according to A.D.

      The rambling residence sits a good distance from the shore, but the property includes a stunning stretch of thickly wooded water frontage with a deep water dock on humorously alliterative Sabbathday Bay. The secluded estate also includes a carriage house, where the automobile (and airplane) collecting actor once kept a vintage 1977 Rolls Royce for joyriding around the island, and a swimming pool set in a sunny clearing below the back of the house.

      Check out more photos below: More