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The Settlers House is the oldest remaining home on Schoodic Peninsula. The home has a warmth & serenity that is difficult to put into words. Except for all the modern conveniences it feels like my Great-Grandmothers house once felt. Even though we love staying here ourselves it's easier to let our guests comments speak for it.
The cape cod portion of the home is the oldest section. This style with its sturdy post and beam construction was very popular with the early settlers. During a more recent renovation just decade ago in which I added the dormer windows I found that the roof is actually put together with wooden pegs instead of nails. I also found fragments of newspapers used for insulation prior to the civil war. One piece had an ad for rewards for escaped runaway slaves. A date on another of the fragments was Thursday, March 21, 1839. No one really knows when it was built but, the year 1765 is carved into one of the timbers under the living room walls. The Settlers House has been added too and renovated probably dozens of times but its simple beauty, charm and colonial aura remains and are inescapable.
Sitting right off the exit road from the park. The home sits between the fishing villages of Prospect Harbor and Winter Harbor. It's about a 2 mile walk to either town unless you walk 100 feet to the old stone fence in the back yard which is the Winter Harbor town line. It's also four or five miles to the fishing villages of Corea or South Gouldsboro.
In the immediate area there are 4 restaurants, a few takeouts, an old fashioned 5&10, 2 grocery stores, craft, art & antique shops, a few piers and and allot more. There's a nine hole golf course on Grindstone neck that overlooks Winter Harbor on one side and Frenchmans bay on the other. If you enjoy the ocean take a sailboat cruise, lobster boat trip, kayak the bays and meander through the coves. Ride out and see the seals basking on the rocks on the other side of Turtle Island, the osprey nesting near the Halibut Hole, the lighthouse on Mark Island or the eagles at the town pier in Winter Harbor.
Schoodic Peninsula has one of the most beautiful rocky stretches of coastline in the whole state or for that matter the country. We've had many artists vacation with us over the years and one thing they all keep repeating is that the area is an artists dream come true. If you are willing to walk or drive a mile or two in any direction you will see many beautiful vistas.
The home is about a mile from Acadia National Parks boundary where you can bike or hike the trails. The first thing you will come to after you enter the park is Fraziers Point public picnic area overlooking the harbor and the town of Winter Harbor. There is a pier with a float attached that many fish for mackeral, bluefish and stripers when they run. From here you'll get a spectacular views of the mountains, Mark Island Lighthouse and you can watch the harbor porpoises, gulls, osprey, terns and of course the lobstermen pulling in the days catch. If you are lucky you might see a whale. The vistas are nothing less than magnificent and many have spent the entire vacations right there. The gray and pink granite coastline is a sight you won't soon forget.
Next, hike or drive to the top of Schoodic Mountain to see some breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. When you get out to the point relax or picnic and gaze straight out into the Atlantic Ocean. It can be really spectacular if there has been a storm at sea. People will come from all around to watch the waves break over the rocks.
There is freshwater swimming and canoeing at Jones Pond (5 miles away). Or enjoy fishing for landlocked salmon, brook trout, lake trout and bass.
If you just can't get relaxed and need a little more excitement you can always take the ferry to Bar Harbor. Along the way you will see seals, porpoises, ospreys and round many small islands. If you go early in the morning you might see deer coming out to the rocks to lick the salt. You could also see a moose swimming between the mainland and the islands. There are also bald eagles, sea turtles, whales. And, some of the cottages, camps and cabins out there on the islands can really take you back in time. It's a really beautiful trip and the views from the ocean give you an entirely different perspective.
Anyway, where ever you vacation this year. Hope it's a great one. ~ Wes
http://www.settlershouse.com
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No Smoking
Swimming
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