The Dyce Head Lighthouse has overlooked the waters off Castine for nearly two centuries, and behind it, an attached cottage has housed a series of lighthouse keepers, a local artist and, for the last 13 years, a schoolteacher.
But an increasing number of residents want to change that. They have pushed the town — which owns the site — to end its lease to tenant Tracy Lameyer this month and turn the cottage into a short-term rental. They argue the property could bring in more revenue through tourism, as a nightly stay or weeklong accommodation billed as a New England lighthouse experience.
The grounds are public, and the Coast Guard maintains the light itself, but the cottage remains a private residence.
To Lameyer, the short-term rental proposal — which she said seems like an increasingly personal and controversial conversation — is representative of changes in the town and its values, particularly post-pandemic. Those who want to rent out the lighthouse to vacationers counter that the town needs more revenue other than property taxes to help fund expensive municipal projects.
While it’s unusual for a town to be a residential landlord, this particular case has highlighted a thorny ongoing debate over how best to use land in Maine’s priciest coastal regions, where vacation rentals are increasingly lucrative ventures but housing shortages have made living increasingly unaffordable for local workers.
At the annual town meeting on June 7, Castine voters will have the choice to authorize the Select Board to negotiate and enter a three-year residential lease for the property, according to the warrant article. The terms of that lease would then be discussed in an open board meeting, at which point they could be changed.
If voters decide to turn the cottage into a short-term rental, Lameyer feels local knowledge and history of the site as a “beacon of Castine” will be lost. She said the proposal seems to reflect a shift in the town’s culture and values since the pandemic. Historically, tenants have hosted events there; people know where to find her at the lighthouse, and she welcomes them in.
“You start getting rid of people that have the stories, that hold those stories … you’re going to lose something,” she said. “Maybe that means nothing to the new people that come in, maybe it does mean something. I don’t know, but it’s definitely a shift in the paradigm.”
Lameyer has lived in Castine since 1989 and started renting the keeper’s cottage for consecutive three-year leases after one of her family friends, Nancy Carr, who previously did so for many years. Lameyer works as a pre-K and kindergarten teacher at the town’s public elementary school, where she’s taught for three decades.
She always knew the lighthouse belongs to the town and never expected to stay there forever, she said. Conversations about renting the cottage to a long-term tenant have turned testy throughout her tenure and Carr’s before her.
The community has also periodically affirmed the importance of the property. In 1997, residents voted overwhelmingly to keep town ownership of the lighthouse despite an outside group’s proposal to make $350,000 worth of repairs and restoration in exchange for the right to rent out the cottage to vacationers at “resort prices.” Voters also weighed and turned down proposals to create a museum or hire an outside agent to manage short-term rentals there, the Bangor Daily News reported at the time.
When the lease last came up for renewal in 2022, Select Board members said they felt it was in the town’s best interest to continue renting to Lameyer, who they called a good ambassador for the quasi-public property and a tried-and-true tenant.
The decision came after public discussions that Lameyer said became heated and personal. Once a single mother, she recently remarried and her husband has a home in Blue Hill, which she believes has changed public sentiment.
“Take the emotions out of it and make this a business,” a local realtor said at a 2022 board meeting, the BDN reported.
The town office gets regular calls from people who want to stay in the keeper’s cottage or use it for special events, according to Town Manager Derik Goodine, which he believes has helped keep the idea alive.
“I think it’s just the same old thing it probably was three years ago,” said Goodine, who started his job last August.
Proponents say a switch could bring in more money than the current $1,200 monthly lease. That amount is low for a high-end coastal area and could be raised if Lameyer’s lease is extended. This year, historic Castine was voted “Best Small Town” in the Northeast, third best coastal town and eighth best historic town by USA Today, which could be a boost for tourism.
On the other hand, turning the cottage into a vacation rental could increase wear on the building and add expenses from cleaning fees, according to Goodine.
Select Board Chair Roberta Boczkiewicz said that, like other small towns in Maine, Castine is always looking for new revenue streams.
“Castine has several large and costly infrastructure projects that we are looking to tackle in the next few years, and raising property taxes cannot be the only answer,” she said.
She has “no idea” where the proposal will lead, she said, but noted it’s been discussed for years. Boczkiewicz said the conversation is not representative of a cultural change nor is it personal to Lameyer, whom she described as a beloved teacher.
Lameyer’s contract with the school is already renewed for next year, and though she wants to stay part of the community where she teaches, she hasn’t found a house in town that she can afford. Every year, parents of students ask for help finding places to live so their kids can stay in the school. The town’s 2024 comprehensive plan calls housing accessibility a “near crisis” due to rising costs since 2020.
“I’ve been very fortunate to be able to live here this long,” Lameyer said. “I just want the town to know that this is definitely theirs. Their house, their town, their vote, but I am proud to be an ambassador of it. That’s such an honor to be.”
She suggested other ways it could bring in money without ending her lease or changing the “essence of the lighthouse,” such as a museum, public tours or a gift shop.
She’s trying to prepare for the possibility of leaving and steeling herself for the conversations ahead, but said the most difficult part is not knowing what will happen.
“I’ll sell ice cream from these windows,” she said in the cottage’s living room late last month. “I’ll do anything.”
