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Southern Maine For starters, consider the architectural features of this beautifully restored 1812 mansion: an octagonal cupola, a suspended elliptical staircase, blown-glass windows, trompe-l’oeil hand-painted doors, an eighteen-foot bay window, a hand-pulled working elevator. The inn is so full of historic interest that public tours are given in summer. You’d never guess that it was converted in 1978 from a boarding house for senior citizens. Guests can savor all the heritage that makes this a National Historic Register listing by staying overnight in any of the sumptuous guest quarters and enjoying hot cider or iced tea in the parlor or games beside the fire in the large and formal Gathering Room. Rooms on three floors have been carefully decorated by Bev Davis and her husband Rick Litchfield, whose innkeeping energy and flair are considered models by their peers. Every room has a fireplace, much in demand in the autumn and winter. All have updated baths (though some created from closets are rather small), and the corner rooms are especially spacious. Extra touches like sewing kits, Poland Spring water, and trays with wine glasses and corkscrews abound. Bev makes pincushions and needlecraft "Do Not Disturb" signs for the rooms and oversees a small gift shop on the main floor. The prime quarters seem to change with every upgrade, of which these peerless innkeepers never seem to tire. They first opened an annex called Phoebe's Fantasy with four more guest rooms, all with king or queen beds and fireplaces. Guests here take breakfast at a seven-foot harvest table in a gathering room with a chintz sofa, fireplace and television. Lately they have made remarkable enhancements in the main building, particularly in terms of bath facilities. The first-floor Merchant Room was expanded into a deluxe suite with king canopy bed, two fireplaces, and two extravagant bath areas with heated marble floors, a ten-jet hydro-massage waterfall shower, double jacuzzi beside a fireplace, a bidet and three vanities. The Mary Lord and Excelsior rooms on the second floor gained renovated baths with heated Italian tiled floors and double whirlpool tubs. The Champion became a two-room suite with a mini-bar and a clawfoot soaking tub. The Lincoln gained a king bed and a bath with heated marble floor, marble shower and oversize antique vanity. The third-floor Mousam became a two-room suite with queen canopy bed and a new bath with a heated black granite floor and double-headed shower for two. The mansion’s basement summer kitchen with big fireplace is now a second common room that doubles as a conference area and contains the inn’s TV. Breakfast is served family-style at large tables in the country kitchen, with overflow seated in the Gathering Room at a centennial Chippendale table and chairs that belonged to the original Lord family. It includes fruit, yogurt, whole-grain muesli, a changing entrée (perhaps cheese strata, quiche or apple-cinnamon pancakes), freshly-ground coffee with a flavor of the day, hot muffins and sticky buns. Bev’s zucchini bread is renowned, as are some of the hors d’oeuvres she prepares for wine gatherings for guests at Halloween and New Year’s. Eighteen rooms and two suites with private baths. June-October and weekends through December: doubles $248 to $389, suites $259 to $499. Rest of year: doubles, $133 to $339, suites $133 to $389. Two-night minimum weekends. For more information: www.captainlord.com or www.phebesbedandbreakfast.com
Material excerpted 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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