Blue Hill Peninsula/
Deer Isle
Blue Hill Inn
40 Union Street
Box 403
Blue Hill, ME 04614

This trim white Colonial inn has been a landmark in the heart of Blue Hill for nearly 170 years. Long known for comfortable accommodations, it has been acclaimed for “extraordinary hospitality” under new innkeeper Sarah Pebworth, who took over the inn in mid-2007.

Guest comments give her “E” for effort and enthusiasm as well as hospitality, which suits Sarah just fine. She left the corporate hospitality business in eastern Massachusetts to purchase and run an inn near Deer Isle, where she had lived for five years and vacationed since. “I wanted to get back up here,” she said. So her hospitality training and the Blue Hill location made innkeeping “a good fit.”

Sarah hosts guests in twelve accommodations with Federal period furnishings, plush carpeting, new wallpaper and modernized bathrooms. Four have fireplaces. Some have sitting areas converted from small bedrooms. 

Our rear bedroom – occupied the previous night by Peter of Peter, Paul and Mary fame following a concert for Paul Stookey’s hometown fans at the Blue Hill Fair Grounds – was comfortable with a kingsize bed, two wing chairs, colorful bed linens, plump towels and windows on three sides to circulate cool air, which was welcome after a heat wave.

The other rooms we saw also were nicely furnished with 19th-century antiques and traditional pieces.

A luxurious Cape House efficiency suite next door was fashioned from the former innkeepers’ quarters. The cathedral-ceilinged Cape House has a kingsize canopy bed plus an antique “bed in a box,” a fireplace, living room with telephone and TV, kitchen and a rear deck for enjoying the back yard.

Back in the main inn, a small library-game room is furnished in antiques. The larger main parlor, where classical music plays in the background, has a fireplace and a ten-candle Persian chandelier. This is where hors d'oeuvres (perhaps smoked bluefish or local goat cheese) are served during a nightly innkeepers' reception for guests.

Breakfast is a culinary event. Ours started with the usual juices, a plate of cut-up fresh fruit and a wedge of apple-custard pie that one of us thought was dessert. The main course involved a choice of eggs scrambled with garden chives in puff pastry, an omelet with avocado and smoked salmon, belgian waffles with fresh strawberries or blueberry pancakes. Excellent french-roast coffee accompanied.

Outside, guests enjoy the perennial garden with lawn furniture, a hammock and in season a profusion of huge yellow lilies. 

Ten rooms and two suites with private baths. Mid-June to mid-October: doubles $168 to $195, suites $205 and $295. Off-season: doubles $148 to $185, suites $175 and $245. Two-night minimum on weekends. 

(207) 374-2844 or (800) 826-7415. Fax (207) 374-2829. E-mail: sarah@bluehillinn.com.

For more information: www.bluehillinn.com

Updated from Inn Spots & Special Places in New England, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2004.

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