Blue Hill Peninsula/
Deer Isle
Pilgrim's Inn
20 Main St.
Deer Isle, ME 04627

An expanded restaurant and tavern plus updated accommodations have enhanced this Colonial-style inn, based in a dark red house dating to 1793 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Nicely located on a spit of land with a harbor in front and a mill pond in back, the inn has long been a favorite of sophisticated diners – and promised to remain so with its acquisition in late 2005 by Tina Oddleifson, an innkeeper in Brookline, Mass., and her husband Tony Lawless, a chef for 25 years who taught lately at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts.

In an effort to broaden its appeal to locals, the ground-floor restaurant was expanded and renamed the Whale’s Rib Tavern. The attached former goat barn in which it was based was upscaled and refurbished to resemble a 1793 tavern, with windsor chairs at white-clothed tables and multiple windows onto the outdoors. The rest of the lower floor was reconfigured to add a new bar and separate lounge. And a landscaped terrace was added in back for outdoor dining with a partial water view.

An expanded tavern menu offers a range of food to suit a variety of tastes and palates.  Those seeking casual fare will find authentic fish and chips, tavern burgers, and steamers and mussels to pair with a Maine microbrew. The menu adds upscale items such as grilled beef tenderloin with wild mushroom fondue and lobster and shrimp risotto drizzled with white truffle oil.  A well-priced wine list offers many choices to pair with your meal.

Upstairs, the guest rooms have been freshly redecorated in what might be called contemporary period style. Most rooms have king or queensize beds dressed with fine linens. Some have gas stoves and updated baths with vanities topped with Deer Isle granite.

A vintage house next door contains two efficiency suites with TVs and gas stoves, sharing a large deck overlooking the water. The deluxe Rugosa Rose cottage is a two-level affair with kitchenette, dining/sitting area and water-view deck on the main floor and a queen bedroom with gas fireplace on the upper level.

Breakfast includes a hot entrée such as cinnamon French toast with Maine maple syrup, eggs benedict with smoked salmon or goat cheese and red pepper frittata with applewood smoked bacon. Homemade granola and pastries, fruit and New England yogurt, and Maine-roasted coffee also are served.

207) 348-6615 or (888) 778-7505.  Fax (207) 348-6615. E-mail: innkeeper@pilgrimsinn.com.

For more information: www.pilgrimsinn.com.

Twelve rooms and three efficiency suites with private baths. July-September: doubles $129 to $209, suites $239 to $249. Off-season: doubles $109 to $169, suites $179 to $249. Closed late October to early May.

Entrées, $9.95 to $24.95. Dinner nightly, 5 to 8:30; closed Tuesday in off-season. Closed November-April.  

Material updated from Getaways for Gourmets in the Northeast, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth, copyright 2006, and from  Inn Spots & Special Places in New England, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth, copyright 2004. 

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