Second homes: Live among natural beauty, native charm on Maine's coast
— -- The southern Maine coast has a long history as a second-home hotspot. (After all, Kennebunkport is nearly synonymous with the region's most famous part-time residents, former president George Bush and his wife, Barbara.)
But the 50-mile strip from the New Hampshire border to Portland, Maine's largest city, is also one of the oldest inhabited regions in the country. Many of its towns bear native Abenaki Indian names, including Kennebunk, Saco and Ogunquit, which means "beautiful place by the sea." Most were settled by the English in the early 17th century. Kittery, the southernmost town on the coast and self-proclaimed "Gateway to Maine," is the state's oldest incorporated town, 1647.
The main appeal is natural beauty, chiefly in the summer and fall foliage season. Each small town along the coast typically contains a village center, some expensive ocean frontage, and more affordable inland sections.
"The coastline is spectacular, and there are beautiful beaches the entire way, plus nine little harbors throughout," says Rick Griffin, senior vice president of Legacy Properties/Sotheby's International Realty in Kennebunk. "There are beautiful walking paths along the cliffs, and all the resort amenities: golf courses, great restaurants and fishing and sailing on the ocean."
Though York Harbor, York Beach, York Village, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport each have a slightly different character, price ranges tend to be similar, Griffin says. Each has a most expensive section, such as Kennebunkport's Cape Arundel, where the Bushes live. Because most of the waterfront sites have been built up for more than a century, there are almost no large or planned developments along the water. The cliffside communities, known as shore towns, tend to have bigger homes than the beach towns, which have more cottages.
"You can get a condo or small home off the water in most of these towns from $200,000 to $250,000 and enjoy the benefits of the area," Griffin says. "When you get to the ocean, the entry point is about a million. Five million will get you a spectacular house" — cheaper, he says, than vacation homes in Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard or eastern Long Island.
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