Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
This $1.9 million home for sale in the midcoast town of Alna is a rare find on Maine’s real estate market.
It sits on 83 forested acres and offers 2,400 feet of frontage along the Sheepscot River. But the thing that makes it the most unique is that it was built in the 1980s from salvaged parts of three different, derelict capes built 200 years earlier.
“It’s just so unique,” said listing agent Bonnie Stone, an associate broker with Drum & Drum Real Estate Inc. “When you walk inside, you really think that you’re in the 1780s, yet you’ve got the modern, 1980 concrete foundation, wiring and plumbing.”
The cozy property is full of rustic touches that hearken back to the colonial era. The woodwork throughout the home, including its exposed, hand-hewn beams, wide floor boards, wainscoting and trim, is original to those three 1780s capes, which were in Whitefield. Other attractions include its new roof, full-house generator, air conditioning, heat pump and a two-car garage.
The property, which would suit single-floor living, was constructed by Maine couple Hope and Fred Angier in 1986. Hope is a contemporary Maine artist whose original artwork depicting colonial life and well-known Alna buildings is hand-painted on walls around the home.
The current owners have had the property since 2019, according to local property records. The hope is that whoever buys it next will preserve its antique features and pristine forested land, Stone said.
“They’d love for someone who is conservation minded, who really wants to appreciate the privacy and the beauty of the natural landscape,” Stone said. “It’s going to take somebody who really appreciates and has that love for historic properties, and also for preservation of land.”
All but a half-acre of the property is forested. While it’s not in a conservation easement, there’s a restriction on the property that would prohibit it from being subdivided and turned into a neighborhood, Stone said.
For that reason, the property might be well suited for a city dweller with a penchant for historic homes who wants to escape the hustle and bustle, the agent suggested. But while the property is expansive and rural — offering hiking, kayaking and sledding opportunities on site — it’s close to nearby towns.
“You’re only 10 or 15 minutes at the most to the village center of Damariscotta, with all the conveniences, the hospitals, the schools, everything that you’d want,” Stone said. “But yet, when you’re there, you feel like you could be 100 miles away.”
The property was listed in mid-January. Though several prospective buyers have shown serious interest in it since then, Stone said it might take a little longer to sell given that it’s a slower time of year for real estate and it’s been a snowier winter, prohibiting some prospective buyers from flying in or driving up to see the property.
“We’re coming right into the prime selling season,” Stone said. “Once things start to green up and the leaves bud, I think buyers will start feeling like they’d like to take a trip.”
