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Greenville/ High up Blair Hill overlooking Squaw Mountain and Moosehead Lake, this small hostelry sets a standard for low-key luxury in the wilds. The 1917 Shingle-style Cape Cod Colonial is a light and airy refuge of rustic elegance and luxury. From the ultra-comfortable common rooms and guest quarters to some fairly exotic meals, guests are in for a treat. As you enter the foyer with its artful arrangement of fishing creels and other piscatory accessories, you know this is no ordinary inn. The foyer with its original gleaming silver maple hardwood floors leads to a broad living room. Here, windows open onto a full-length deck where you can look down on the lake activity in the distance and watch a sunset that's apt to be spectacular. Here and elsewhere, the high-style lodge decor is striking for flair employed with restraint. Adjoining the comfortable living room, filled with books and magazines, is a smaller parlor/library called the Keeping Room. Beyond is a summery dining room where breakfast and, at certain times, dinner are served to houseguests. Opening onto a patio on the lower level is the Moosehead Room, a large game room with English darts and a billiards table, puzzle table and large-screen TV. A neat little "Gone Fishing" sign, complete with a miniature rod and two tiny wooden fish, hangs gracefully on the door of each of the five bedrooms and three suites. The lodge’s version of a "Do Not Disturb" sign, it flips over to say "In Camp." Utter comfort with a wildlife theme prevails within. Each room has a TV/VCR in a cabinet above a gas-lit fireplace outlined in stone, a bath with jacuzzi for two, hand-carved four-poster queensize beds with fine linens, plush sitting areas and such amenities as toiletries, hair dryers, ironing boards, terrycloth robes and little Coleman ice chests. Our quarters in the Bear Room came with plush carpeting, an assortment of loveseats and wing chairs richly upholstered in woodsy fabrics, and a private deck. Small black climbing bears were carved upon each bedpost. The mirror in the bathroom, with a bear head on top, was carved to match. Whimsical bear accents (such as small needlepoint rugs depicting black bears, one on either side of the bed) enhanced the room at every turn. The sophisticated decorative scheme adopts different wildlife motifs in other rooms. There are loon books and a loon-patterned table in the Loon Room, pillows in the shape of fish in the Trout Room, and antlers holding the valances in the Moose Room. Expect to find such decorative accents as a twig birdhouse in a corner, twig branches and pine cones outlining the hall windows, and full-length curtains draped smartly like an upside-down L in the bedrooms. The latest handiwork is twig stenciling – twigs running around the tops of walls in intricate patterns. These are the designs of which decorator magazines are made. The ultimate accommodations are three fireplaced "retreat suites" in the adjacent structure, a converted boathouse. On two levels, they have sunken living rooms with lake views through sliding glass doors that open onto a deck and, below, a landscaped patio set into rocks and gardens along the hillside. Our recent stay in the Katahdin included a step-up bed with a moose antler canopy and a large, mirrored bathroom with double vanity, double jacuzzi, fireplace and crystal chandelier. Birch branches formed decorative molding around the vaulted ceiling. The other two suites are notable for unique queensize beds hung on boom chains from the ceiling and swaying lengthwise to rock occupants to sleep. "It rocks like a cradle and you sleep like a baby," one guest told Bruce. A deer bounded across the back lawn as we prepared for breakfast the next morning. The host served a "wake-up cocktail," which turned out to be a small mixed berry milkshake in a wine glass, and soufléed eggs garnished with cantaloupe, pineapple and wild blueberries. A choice of juices and toasting breads awaited on a side table. Other entrées include apple-walnut pancakes, breakfast pizza and stuffed french toast with cream cheese and fruits. Dinners are offered Friday-Monday 6 to 8 in season and weekends only from November-May. The night's menu is recited, and the five-course meal is prix-fixe ($55).
(207) 695-4400. Fax (207) 695-2281. E-mail: innkeeper@lodgeatmooseheadlake.com. For more information: www.lodgeatmooseheadlake.com Five rooms and three suites with private baths. Early June to
mid-October: doubles $250 to $350, suites $425. Rest of year: doubles
$205 to $275, suites $350 to $375. Two-night minimum stay. Children over 14. Material updated from Inn
Spots & Special Places in New England, by Nancy and
Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2004. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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