A Mount Desert Island home designed to look like a lighthouse — but isn’t one — is for sale for nearly $1 million.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom single-family home in Tremont offers 2,150 square feet of living space. The property, listed last week for $999,000, comes entirely furnished, aside from a few sentimental items, according to Megan Moore of The Knowles Company, the listing agent for the property.
The home sits on the southwest side of Mount Desert Island, roughly 19 miles, or a 30-minute drive, from downtown Bar Harbor.
The owner, Tim Lunt, grew up in nearby Southwest Harbor and bought the property in 2020 from his friend who built the house in sections decades ago.
The friend built the “somewhat normal-looking” main home in 1998 with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, then had an idea to build an addition that looked like a lighthouse tower more than a decade later, Lunt said.
The friend, who works year-round as a lobsterman, woke up in the middle of the night with the idea to add the lighthouse tower and called Lunt to tell him, Lunt said.
“He said, ‘I’m gonna put in a lighthouse on the side of that thing’ and I asked if he’d been drinking, but he swore up and down that he hadn’t,” Lunt said. “I thought he was out of his tree, but sure enough, he’s the kind of guy that when he has something in his mind he’s going to get it done.”
The mock lighthouse tower that was affixed to the home holds a two-car garage, an office space and the home’s third bedroom that’s accessible by a metal ship ladder, Moore said.
The property, known locally as “The Lighthouse,” offers partial water views that are best viewed from the cupola of the faux lighthouse, Moore said.
“The ocean view is the crown jewel of this property,” Moore said. “It’s not every day you can say, ‘I’m going to drive into my lighthouse, walk up the stairs and go to sleep at the top of it.’”
Both the inside and outside of the home have been decorated and furnished to fit the nautical theme. This includes anchor motifs on the window shutters, a lobster trap coffee table, a bell buoy in the driveway and a dinghy perched on a rafter in the living room.
Aside from the home’s themed decor, the property sits on roughly a half-acre and features a large deck, arched windows, heat pumps and a woodstove.
Lunt, who also lives in North Carolina, occupies the home during the winter, then rents it out in the summer. He’s selling the house because he wants to be in a single-story home as he nears retirement.
While the house could be a year-round home or an investment property for someone looking to rent, Lunt’s ideal buyer for the property would be a family with young children who would enjoy the whimsy of the home.
“It’s a fun house and I’m sad to be selling it, but I hope the next owners get as much fun as I’ve gotten out of it,” Lunt said. “I’m 53 and I still have a ball going through that house.”
