Camden
Hartstone Inn
41 Elm St.
Camden, ME 04843

Built in 1835 by a local merchant, this house at the edge of Camden 's business district is now an expanded inn with a destination restaurant.

After operating gourmet restaurants for luxury hotel chains around the world, Mary Jo and Michael Salmon wanted to pamper guests on a smaller scale in an historic setting. They looked for a location for fifteen years. “Once we found Camden we stopped looking and started saving,” said Mary Jo. “It was our dream come true.”

They have markedly upgraded the guest rooms in the main house and added deluxe suites in outbuildings.

In the main house they offer eight bedrooms, two with fireplaces and all with queen beds covered with feather duvets. They perked up the decor, shunning the former country style for a more traditionally elegant look. All rooms have CD players, tiled-floor baths and triple-paned windows to muffle street noise.

Rooms vary from the cozy Tally-Ho, which looks like an English den with equestrian prints and accents and a red brick fireplace to the spacious third-floor Mansard Room, which yields a glimpse of the harbor. Hand-tied French lace curtains and a high, step-up lace-canopied bed, plump chair and loveseat convey a French look here, as do the Quimper china and accessories. TV and a jacuzzi tub are up-to-date amenities. Antique teacups  from around the world are displayed on a shelf near the fireplace in the Teacup Room, whose bed beneath the skylight is dressed with a Victorian Ralph Lauren duvet and plump pillows. A collection of blue Jasperware Wedgwood is displayed in the Wedgwood Room, sedate in blue and white.

A restored carriage house in the rear offers two bi-level suites. Done in contemporary barn style, they have dark beams tempered with light walls and skylights. Their fireplaced living rooms have sofabeds for an extra guest and TVs hidden in armoires. The loft in one has a kingsize bed. Private entrances overlook the gardens in which the Salmons grow herbs and vegetables for their dining room.

Tucked away in a flower garden are two new suites with sitting rooms created in 2003 when the Salmons vacated their quarters and moved to an adjoining property they now call the Manor House on Free Street . The Cottage Suite has a queen poster bed, fireplace and bath with whirlpool tub. The Manor House contains two more large guest rooms, one the summery, cathedral-ceilinged Arbor with kingsize mahogany sleigh bed, gas fireplace and TV/VCR.

Back in the main inn, a formal parlor harbors a fireplace and a rear library is stylish in leather. There’s a small game room on the third floor.

An extravagant breakfast is served in the dining room or the adjacent enclosed porch that the Salmons added. The morning of our visit began with a poached pear and pound cake with blueberry-walnut sauce. A prosciutto baked egg with spinach tortilla followed. Michael’s recipe for lobster and asparagus quiche was requested by Gourmet magazine.

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

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