Harpswell Maine Vacation Rentals

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We so enjoyed staying at your house this summer. We had many wonderful nights as a family there. Special memories for us include walking down to the community dock and walking on all the rocks there, going for ice cream on the roads toward Bailey Island and also right where the turnoff was to Cundy's Harbor, barbecuing at your place and evenings in the hot tub. It was such a nice place.

-- 2007 renter

If you're looking for...

A private, peaceful Maine summer vacation house rental on ocean waterfront, yet still close to the amenities of the quaint towns of Brunswick and Bath -- and less than 3 hours from Boston?

An alternative to Brunswick hotels or Bath hotels for Bowdoin College Commencement, Reunion, Homecoming or Parents weekends?

An off-season seaside house rental starting in the Fall 2009?

A nearby place for the Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival?

We have a Maine coastal home rental in East Harpswell, less then 3 miles from the working fishing village of Cundy's Harbor, yet conveniently located 10-15 minutes from Bath and Brunswick, which are delightful towns full of shopping and excellent restaurants. This Harpswell oceanfront house rental is available for weekly summer vacation house rentals, off-season long weekend rentals, and for longer term off-season rental.

The rental property location is on Sebascodegan Island (also known as Great Island). Great Island is one of three islands, along with Orr's Island and Bailey Island, that form one "arm" of Harpswell, which is in the mid-coastal part of Down East Maine. Right out your door you can dig your own clam dinner -- after getting a permit from the town -- or rent a kayak to explore the coves along the coast.

The 2-acre property is in a quiet, private location with year-round resident homes along the private road. If a relaxing, peaceful oceanfront vacation is your goal, great! Please contact us. You'll greatly enjoy our home. If you want to be surrounded by fellow vacationers and party outdoors until all hours of the night, then please look elsewhere. (We're not asking you to be stoic vacationers -- after all, it's your vacation! -- but we want people appropriate to the setting.)

Key features of the rental property (see photos below, including a map showing the general location of the house, and more details about the property, including pricing):

1500 sq feet of living space.

Over 300 feet of ocean waterfront and 220 feet of shared frontage on a tidal basin with wonderful views of the broad New Meadows River, which is an "embayment" or a very large oceanic cove, only a few miles to the open ocean of Casco Bay. .

Full water views from the house and deck. Fishing and lobster boats are frequently in view.

Stunning sun rises (though they're best in the fall and winter).

Lots of bird life at the shore and in the yard in good part due to the nature of the water frontage. A pair of pileated woodpecker and osprey are visitors to our yard, and the shore birds feature herons, egrets, bald eagles and many others.

3 bedrooms. Sleeps 6 comfortably. Can accommodate slightly more.

1 3/4 baths. (one bathroom has tub w/shower, the other shower only)

Open-floor concept with cathedral ceiling over the living and dining room areas.

Large deck with 4-person hot tub.

Gas stove in living room.

Very large yard. Partially wooded, 2 acre lot. Very private. (only one neighbor's house can be seen)

Washer & dryer in basement.

Detached oversized 2-car garage.

Association dock about 500 feet from the property. Renters do not have "docking privileges." That is, you cannot dock a motor boat. But you're welcome to enjoy the dock or launch a kayak from it, at your own risk. Seaspray Kayaking is located on Route 1 where it crosses the New Meadows River, less than 15 minutes drive from the house.

Wireless internet access via cable modem. (Bring your own laptop.) Cable TV (roughly 50 channels). DVD. Stereo with iPod cradles.

Pet friendly. See our pet policy below.

Linen service and other basic household consumables - e.g., dish soap, laundry detergent, paper goods. (We've rented homes where we immediately had to go shopping for basic, but critical goods. We don't want you to have that experience; it's such a bad first impression. Given the short turnover time for our cleaner to ready the house, we can't be 100% certain everything will be stocked fully, but we try.)

Automatic backup generator all wired in and waiting for a power outage. This is a real nice-to-have in coastal Maine.

Where is Harpswell? Harpswell is located in mid-coastal Maine, in the Bath-Brunswick area. In addition to Cundy's Harbor, Harpswell is well known for Harpswell Neck, Orr's Island and particularly Bailey Island. (You will often see th village spelled without the apostrophe -- Cundys Harbor.) The town, which has several town beaches, has the longest shoreland of any town in Maine with its numerous inlets, coves, and islands. Nearby is Thomas Point Beach in Brunswick, which hosts a Bluegrass Festival every Labor Day weekend.

Cundys Harbor, while the lesser known of the Harpswell villages (and thus more peaceful), is a convenient 10 minutes (6 miles) from Cooks Corner with all its shopping -- Shaws supermarket, CVS pharmacy, Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Sears, Big Lots, Starbucks, and lots more. Drive 15 minutes from the house to get to Brunswick or to Bath, both with many attractions, including boutique shopping and some truly excellent restaurants.

Brunswick has Bowdoin College with its museums and summer theatre and the Joshua Chamberlain museum across the street. (Our location is perfect for those coming up for one of Bowdoin's special weekends. We do long weekend rentals to accommodate people coming for those Bowdoin events. The owner is a '76 alum.) Another 10 minutes beyond Brunswick brings you to Freeport and LL Beans. And Portland is about an easy 45-minute drive in total from the house. Mid-coastal Maine is a delight to explore, even on a rainy day. Since the Freeport LL Beans is open 24-hours a day, it's an interesting place to visit on odd hours.

Heading north on Route 1 brings you quickly to Bath, an historic shipbuilding city, perhaps best known for its Bath Iron Works. The Maine Maritime Museum is located there. From Bath you can head to the coast to Reid State Park in Georgetown or to Popham Beach State Park in Phippsburg, both great places with beaches.

Please contact us if you're interested in our property rental or submit your information through our secure form. See our calendar of availability from our VRBO listing. We are currently taking inquiries for Summer / Fall 2009 and beyond.

Photos of the property and the house are below. Please note that photos of interior rooms are difficult to take even with a 28 mm lens! We're not trying to hide anything. Really.

The House front, which faces southeast.	Note the large yard and extensive wrap-around deck.
Views of the water from the deck. Photo taken from the hot tub area.	Note the two deck tables with umbrellas. The hot tub is to the left of the yellow umbrella.
View of the deck along front of the house.	Water views from the deck and house.
Association Dock near high tide with low morning fog obscuring Three Islands.	Waterfrontage near the dock looking toward the property's waterfrontage.
The property's waterfrontage.	Holbrook's Seafood Restaurant in Cundy's Harbor
November Sunrise from the Living Room	Outhouse near the Association Dock.
Moonrise at the dock	Master Bedroom
Master Bedroom	Master Bedroom
Second Bedroom	Second Bedroom
Den with Sleeper Couch	Den with Sleeper Couch
	To the left is the small bedroom on the 2nd floor. We have a twin bed in there, which is a trundle bed. That is, a second twin bed rolls out from under the single bed. To the left as you enter is a small closet. The kids who use this room should be good friends! Below is the Portland Sea Dogs' Slugger between innings.
Living Room, looking toward the garage.	Living Room, looking towards garage.
Living Room - looking over the back of the couch out to the water	Living Room & Gas Stove - looking toward back of the house
Dining Area -- ktichen is to the left	Kitchen --photo taken from the dining area
	Alvin enjoys the water views from the living room too! (left photo)... And the views from the 2nd floor hallway looking down on the living room
A pair of pileated woodpeckers on a tree near the garage. The 2nd one is behind some leaves.	Two woodpecker chicks in a tree on the edge of the property, waiting for a meal.
A heron in flight in the tidal basin at mid tide.
Egrets feeding as the tide recedes.	Egret coming in for a landing.
A raptor in flight over our property.	A heron in flight over our property.

Bowdoin College Chapel at Sunset.	Osprey nest at Bowdoin Coastal Studies Ctr on Orr's Island

Property & Rental Details -- Got more questions?
Rental Fees for 2009	April..........................$ 800/week May.1 to 23...............$1000/week 10% discount for May 23 to June 27. ....$1400/week multiple week rental. June 27 to Sept. 12.....$1600/week Sept. 12 to Oct. 3.......$1400/week Includes linens & other basic October .................. .$1000/week household consumables. Maine sales tax of 7% is added to rental total. Rental period in peak summer season is from Saturday to Saturday, except for Bowdoin event weekends. Long weekend rentals are possible off season. For short- or long-term rentals from November to April, please contact us. A longer off-season rental for the period from Labor Day to Memorial Day is possible for 2009-2010. Please contact us to discuss pricing. Pets policy below.
Payment Terms	50% deposit required at time of contract to hold the rental period. Balance due 1 month prior to rental. We accept personal checks and MasterCard, Visa, and Amex. 5% surcharge for credit card use.
Damage Security Deposit	We ask for a credit card on which we will put a hold of $500 -- or a check -- pending review of premises upon departure and cell phone bills (see below).
Cancellation Policy	Refund of deposit in full if cancellation 60 days prior to rental period. However, credit card surcharge fee would not be refunded (if applicable).
Pet Policy	We will consider having your pets as our guest, but we do ask for an extra $100 security deposit and a $25 rental fee per week per pet for the extra wear & tear and cleaning requirements. (We're pet lovers -- our young cat, Alvin, is a visitor to the house -- but we know that some pets can do damage.) Tell us about your pets, please! If you have serious pet allergies, this may not be the house for you. (We have relatives with mild pet allergies, and they've been fine.) The house is cleaned between visits, but some pet dander is likely to linger. We can tell you the time -- and thus number of cleanings -- since the last pet guest.
Amenities	Washer & Dryer in basement 2 car detached garage Propane stove in living room Large wrap around deck with gas & charcoal grills 2 deck tables with umbrellas, 7 deck chairs Hot Tub (4 person) on deck with ocean view. Backup electric generator all wired up and waiting for a power failure.
Beds	1 Queen -- with 4" memory foam cover 1 Double -- with 4" memory foam cover 1 Twin with trundle 1 Sleeper couch with 4" memory foam cover. (We can vouch for it. What a difference from the typical sleeper couch experience.) 1 Futon couch that folds down into a Full size bed. Linen service included and we try to stock basic consumables, e.g., paper towels, tp, dish soap
Entertainment	Cable TV -- about a 50 channel package -- with DVD player in living room. 2nd TV also. Cable broadband internet with WiFi -- no computer provided Stereo with iPod cradle adaptors for all recent iPod models
Kitchen	All appliances: oven, microwave, dishwasher, refrigerator with automatic ice maker, coffee maker, cookware, dishes, glassware, pancake/waffle iron, mixing bowls, all utensils, lobster pot (of course) and lobster picks & crackers. If we're missing something, please tell us.
View/Location	315 feet of ocean frontage on the New Meadows River, an "embayment" or large cove of Casco Bay. Full water views from the east-facing house as shown in the photos. Our frontage is a tidal basin. This makes for changing scenery with the tides and lots of bird life.
Communications	Cell phone coverage is good, not great. Verizon and Cingular coverages both are good according to friends and neighbors. We have Sprint. We get an acceptable signal at the house, though it's much better on the deck than in the house. Cell coverage way down the peninsulas is poor for all services due to the hills. We provide a Sprint cell phone for our renters with at least 100 daytime and 300 nighttime minutes per week as long as the calls are made on the Sprint network. (The phone is part of our shared minutes contract for our own phones.) Roaming calls and other chargeable services (e.g., texting and 411 calls) will be assessed to renters. Obviously, in an emergency you can make a roaming call.
Other Amenities	Very large yard, good for a challenging croquet game. It has a slight slope that makes volleyball or soccer game a little tougher. Horse shoe set up. Association dock very close by, maybe 500 feet. Very private, quiet location.