Come visit and enjoy the open layout and expansive design of our rental home! This home provides you with a unique experience of nature and the cycles of tides and wildlife in a secluded garden setting, yet you are conveniently close to attractions in the area as well as a wide variety of stores and restaurants. The floor to ceiling windows facing the bay bay allow viewing of the yard, ocean bay and the wildlife from almost every room. This allow for you to enjoy the ever changing vistas the bay because of the changing tides. You might catch the eagles, ospreys and seals feeding as the incoming tides brings in their food. At low tide when the bay empties out, the herons, and gulls feed in the exposed mudflats. The house is secluded from the road with a nearly quarter mile-long driveway, and you will have difficulty seeing any other shoreline houses from your rental home. Watch the sunrise and sunsets while relaxing on the back deck or you can get closer to the wildlife by strolling down to the nearby shoreline using the well-maintained paths and steps down to the water’s edge. There is a professional quality, full-sized billiard table located in our formal expansive recreation room that can be used with for a fee during your stay. A ping pong top can be placed on this table for you by our staff if you choose to play ping pong instead of pool. You can choose one or the other, not both. Please contact us about the fees at the time of your booking of this rental if you are interested in either of these options.
All rooms of the house have central air conditioning/heating units, and most rooms have ceiling fans. There is a bedroom with a queen bed on the first floor. On the second floor there is one bedroom with a queen bed and a second bedroom with two twin beds. The 3 bedrooms offered do not have “en-suite” attached bathrooms. The full bathrooms on each floor are located down the hallway from the bedrooms. There is a second floor TV room and an open loft area for stretching and exercising. The kitchen is well supplied with cooking utensils and equipment. The formal dining room is spacious and inviting. There is a breakfast nook table in the kitchen area.
Please be aware that this spacious rental home has rooms and furnishings that are not included in your rental. These areas serve our maintenance staff’s needs, as well as storage areas for rental equipment and supplies. These rooms are well marked and locked. They include the rooms off the rec/pool room, the basement, the garage, the utility rooms attached to the garage, and the garden shed. We do not allow renters to use of our electric piano, the gas fireplace inserts, and the jaccuzi tub in the 2nd floor bathroom. Base rental rates include up to four guests. There is an added daily charge for each additional guest after the initial 4. There are driveway cameras for security and safety purposes only.
Off the back deck, there is a roomy screened-in gazebo with a large dining table and seating for 5 guests with views of the bay. It has overhead lighting and an electric power outlet. There is a propane gas grill in the gazebo you can use. On the large back deck and patio area are fully reclining lounge chairs as well as swivel deck chairs and patio tables. Explore the pristine tidal inlets and the larger bay by kayaks if you can bring them with you, or you can rent them. You can only kayak when the tide is coming in and during high tide, as the bay's mud flats are exposed during low tide. Thus there is a limited window in which to kayak each day, weather permitting, and so you should check the tides and weather out before comitting for a kayak rental. There is a kayak rental company about a mile down from our driveway with free delivery. Please inform us if you are thinking about kayaking off our shoreline, as we have important info about the tides and water and shoreline safety. The rental home is located on the shoreline of Taunton Bay which is a ocean tidal bay, and thus the ocean water comes and goes twice daily with the tides. It goes without saying that the rocks and shoreline areas are wet and slippery at all times, and especially when the tides goes out.
Mount Desert Island is where the town of Bar Harbor and Acadia National park are located. The island is driven onto using a causeway which is about a 14 mile drive from your rental. Acadia National Park's Hull's Cove Visitor center is 22 miles from your rental, about a 35 min drive depending on traffic. The scenic Park Loop Road for cars and the famous carriage trails for bicycles and walking begin there. The area-wide free shuttle bus system called Island Hopper, which stops at the Visitor Center. The town of Bar Harbor with all of its restaurants, whale watching tours and craft stores is only a couple of miles further from Hulls Cove. Bangor Intl Airport is 39 miles from your rental; about a 50 min drive away, depending on traffic, which can be heavy and slow during the busy summer/fall seasons.
Acadia National Park also includes a recently enlarged sister park on Schoodic Peninsula, 23 miles away from your rental house and in the opposite direction from Acadia National Park’s Mt. Desert Island location. The Schoodic section of Acadia National Park is a less crowded than on Mt. Desert Island features 7.5 miles of hiking trails and 8.3 miles of biking/carriage roads. There is a 6 mile one-way paved loop road that goes around the entire park along the ocean shoreline with spectacular ocean views, just like the loop road on Mount Desert Island. Your rental at our place is thus conveniently located half way in between these two National Park destinations!
The house is well situated away from the traffic and pedestrian congestion and noisy distractions and 6 am Lobster boat engine noise that can come with renting on Mount Desert Island. BUT IF your family and guests wants to be nearer to the center of Bar Harbor's bustling activity, its ice cream and numerous restaurant offerings, craft stores and touring outfits, then perhaps our rental home is not ideal for your needs. The rental is about 24 miles (35 min drive) from the town of Bar Harbor, so this needs to be factored into your plans. Our rental is conveniently close to the Ellsworth/Hancock town areas (5-7 miles) and these towns offer you a great variety of restaurants, such as Mexican, Asian, Italian, and many other restaurants and fast-food places. There are nearby larger grocery stores, a super Walmart, pharmacies, and other merchandise stores in Ellsworth only a few miles drive from your rental. There are local lobster pounds and fresh farm produce farm stands are within 3-5 miles and many more lobster restaurants are located on the drive onto Mount Desert Island.
In addition to Schoodic part of Acadia National Park, there are nearby terrific day hikes just a few miles from our rental home, such as Tunk Mountain and Schoodic Mountain that offer nearly 360-degree views of the ocean and inland, as well as other state parks further north to the Canadian Border. The Roosevelt's historical family retreat, Campobello, is located just over the Canadian border from the town of Lubec, ME. As the entry way into the Bay of Fundy, the town of Lubec is an artistic and historical place to visit and is 78 miles away or about an hour and a half drive, an easy one-day excursion from the rental. So you see, there are a lot of things to see and do near your rental, as well as within a 2 hr drive range!