Jan, my wife, and I live a quiet retired life in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina. We live in a big old house and I use my extensive handyman skills to fix up the house. Jan is a bookkeeper/ accountant (useful if you are managing a vacation rental) and recently got a job. I am so proud of her. How many 70 year olds could walk into a job paying $17.50 per hour.

I take my handyman skills to Flye point every other September and work on the Flying Jib. I got back on October 20th 2015. (the day before yesterday as I write)

The big changes are: I had two roofs replaced. I rebuilt the boardwalk down to our beach, I rebuilt the garage doors (mostly cosmetic), I did some major reorganization in the kitchen, I cleared out a lot of overgrowth, especially along the Herrick Bay path.

It is beautiful in Maine in the Fall. But it was getting cold as I was leaving, the third week of October.

Final note: The money in rentals in Maine is in July and August. But the actual season is much longer. I can give renters a real deal in the off season months. I would rather break even than see the cottage empty. Ask about June and September and even May and October. (pool closed, of course)

John Brigham purchased this cottage in 1920

There are many hundreds of miles of rural roads in the Acadia area. There are hundreds of miles of coastline with even thousands of seaside houses. What makes Flye Point different and so special?

Flye Point has an unusual history. In the 1600s land in the Acadia area of Maine was given to the Flye family. It quickly became known as Flye Point. The Point has been largely sold and disbursed, but the very tip, the 30 acres at the very end of the point, are still in the Flye family. The land is private, but is almost like a park. The seacoast is essentially open to the public.

Butch Smith, a grandson of Lettie Flye, is the owner and superintendent of this little sanctuary. He runs Flye Point like a very large scale bed and breakfast. The center of all this is the Lookout Inn, with rooms and a very fine restaurant.. But there also are eight little cabins and a large house with rooms. The space is large enough to accommodate medium sized weddings. It is all sort of like an exclusive private country club.

The geography is an important factor. Flye Point is a narrow peninsula, about a quarter mile across and coming to a sharp point. This makes it a closed community. You cannot get to Flye Point without driving down Flye Point Road driving past the Flying Jib. But that does not mean there is lot of traffic. Flye Point has about fifteen houses in addition to the Lookout.

Why do we keep coming back to the same place? It is not about the scenery, but about the very long connection we have with the people at Flye Point.

We love it and know you will too.

Every evening I walk the three hundred yards out to the shore. I sit on the rocks and watch the birds and sea and listen to the sounds. The tide goes in and out an incredible twelve feet and the ocean is always different.

I was on Flye Point for many weeks this fall while working on the Jib. If I was lonely I could wander over toward the Lookout and find somebody to talk with, either an old friend or a new one. I had breakfast at the Lookout several times and went into Brooklin and had breakfast at the Morning Moon cafe.

To the Brighams, Flye Point has a sense of being a real place with a real history you can see and feel and real people.

The Flying Jib is burned into the collective Brigham psyche. For better or worse, the cottage is only now being run as a business so that others can enjoy it.