This stunning 4,800-square-foot estate is on the National Register of Historical Places and is the perfect setting for your fairytale vacation. The property was built by Governor King in 1812 and has served as a hunting lodge, marine hospital, tavern, dairy farm, and now a vacation rental! Stonehouse features 5 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, 2 half baths, multiple gathering spaces both inside and out, a heated salt water pool (seasonal), and 38 acres of private gardens, ponds, fields, and woods.
It's hard to adequately describe this home and surrounding grounds on paper, it has to be experienced! This hilltop granite Gothic Revival manor is one of Maine’s most important historic homes, and while it is just minutes from downtown Bath, it feels like another world. The interior is rich in history and charm but also offers modern conveniences to ensure the comfort of our guests. Restoring this older home has been a labor of love. While we have worked diligently to bring in modern updates without compromising its character, we are constantly working on this house that has seen more than 225 years of Maine history, beginning as the country retreat of Maine’s first governor.
The first floor boasts a grand living space with double-height ceilings and antique crystal chandeliers. On both sides of the room, light pours in through ceiling-high peaked signature Gothic Revival windows that make this home an architectural landmark. Please note our historic 9-foot fireplace with an 18th-century masonry oven is closed for use due to insurance. But with ample couch space, a smart Frame TV, a seating area perfect for board games and puzzles, a cozy reading nook, and a half bath, you won't want to leave this room! Except maybe to enjoy the two other seating areas on this floor - both incredibly unique and inviting.
The first is a wood-paneled library with a collection of our family’s favorite books, a writing desk, a couch, and two oversized arm chairs. Look carefully at the wall on the far side and you'll find a secret passageway to the home's very own chapel turned meditation and yoga studio. This zen space has 4 walls of stained glass windows, a stone floor, and 4 yoga mats designed for peace and tranquility.
The next seating room is airy and bright and has many historic pictures and articles for you to read about the long history of our home. This intimate sitting area offers sunny morning views of the front gardens and features restored gold-trimmed millwork and an original cooking fireplace.
Beyond the final seating room is a spacious English country house-style eat-in kitchen with an 8-burner industrial Viking stove and oven, a butcher block island for prepping meals, a large butler's pantry, wood paneling, vintage farmhouse sink, and a door to the back deck. Even though you’ll feel like you’ve stepped back in time, our new dishwasher and refrigerator with icemaker will let you keep some modern conveniences. Just steps from the espresso maker in the kitchen, you can bring a warm cup out to the front covered porch and watch the sunrise over the gardens, listen to morning birdsong, and see goldfish swimming in the nearby fountain while sitting on a swing. The kitchen also connects to a spacious dining room with seating for 12, imported stained-glass panels, and a grand stone gas fireplace. The windows on all sides allow for incredible sunset and sunrise views. Memories of meals and conversations shared around this table will be cherished for years to come.
Outside, you have ample options for outdoor entertaining! The kitchen-side outdoor deck has a 10 seat outdoor table, propane 6-burner gas grill, and is ready for your outdoor meals outside overlooking private rolling fields enclosed by trees. Beyond the deck, there is a pool patio that will make you never want to leave (or at least come back in summer!). Open from mid-May to mid-September, our guests can enjoy a stunning 16-by-40-foot in-ground heated salt water lap pool. With safety being our highest priority, the pool patio is encircled by a fence and we installed a custom automatic pool cover that should be closed at all times when not in use. In the summer months, we also have a pergola with additional seating, lounge chairs, bluetooth music system, and more for a 5-star resort like space. We provide lawn games to use in any of the open fields during the warmer months and snowshoes you can borrow in winter for an afternoon of outdoor fun. Down the stairs from the pool patio, we have a grouping of adirondack chairs and Solo Stove fire pit ready for sunset s’mores. Acres of English-style gardens offer private nooks with seating, fishing ponds, flower-covered trellises, sculptures, crawling grape vines, and fruit planted by Governor King himself ready for picking in the fall. Across the field, nestled just below our private woods, you’ll find a second deck that is perfect for a more rustic meal, an afternoon picnic, or a nightcap under the stars.
Upstairs on the second floor you’ll find a bath with a large clawfoot soaking tub, an office space perfect for working from home, a laundry room, a king bedroom with cathedral ceilings, a private balcony, and incredible light, an additional full bath connecting the king room to the additional 2nd floor bedroom that has 4 twin beds and a stunning arch window. Perfect for little ones or adults who don’t want to share a bed. For our littlest guests, a pack ‘n play is available upon request.
On the 3rd floor you’ll find three additional king bedrooms and a full bathroom. One bedroom, lovingly called the “Art room” for its former job as an art studio is one of the spaces you won’t soon forget! With stone walls, chapel windows, vaulted ceilings, wood beams, an in-room sink vanity and rustic chandelier, this room also has a seating area for when you want a private retreat. The other two King guestrooms face opposite but equally beautiful views: on one side, you overlook the gardens and fountain that receive the best morning sunlight, and the other looks out over our rolling fields where you can see bright orange sunsets. Both rooms feature historic pumpkin pine wood floors that reflect the long history of our home.
The 4th floor has a window overlooking the art bedroom and a small playroom.
The granite Stonehouse sits high with views of the private park-like setting including perennial gardens, long hedgerows, fruit trees, forests, charming horse barns, fish ponds, all adjacent to over 300 acres of trails in the Thorne Head / Sewall Woods Preserves across the road.
You will have access to all parts of this home except for the locked basement (storage), and a couple locked linen closets. Outside, we do not currently give guests access to the horse barns for safety.
Located 5 minutes from shops and restaurants in downtown, waterfront Bath (named one of the Smithsonian Magazine's best small towns to visit in 2021), 10 minutes from shopping and hospitals in Brunswick, and 45 minutes from Portland.
Just outside of Bath, the best that coastal Maine has to offer is just a short drive away. We are only 15 minutes from Bowdoin College, 25 minutes from Popham Beach State Park, 25 minutes from Freeport, 30 minutes from Reid State Park, 40 minutes from Portland, and 35 minutes from Boothbay Harbor to the north. If you are visiting Bates or Colby Colleges, it will be less than an hour’s drive.
Car is recommended. We have room for 3 cars at the main entrance and plenty more by the secondary entrance (<5 minute walk)
Stonehouse is 2.5 hours by car or train from Boston and Logan Airport, 40 minutes by car from the Portland International Jetport, and 15 minutes by car from the Brunswick Executive Airport. Note the nearest Amtrak station is Brunswick, Maine, a 15-minute drive from the property.
Featured in Down East Magazine, The Portland Press Herald, Boston magazine, included in the Maine Bicentennial historic property tour, and listed in the National Register of Historic Places, Maine Historic Preservation Commission, and Bath Historic Register.
