But something about it felt right. When the former bed-and-breakfast and historic estate in Monmouth lingered on the market, and its price dropped, curiosity turned into a walk-through, and the walk-through into something more.

“It was built super well, built to last,” Sarah says. “The spirit of the place is amazing. We just kind of fell in love with it.”

Now, after months of renovation, the Morrills are preparing to open Waters Run Bed and Breakfast this July — a 12-room property (including newly built cabins) that blends farmhouse charm with what Sarah describes as “rustic luxury,” and a broader mission: inviting travelers to experience a different side of Maine.

Hospitality wasn’t an obvious next step. But travel has always been a big part of family life for Sarah, Chase and their four kids.

“We’re inspired by travel,” Sarah says. “And having a place where we could now welcome people in their own travels felt full circle.”

Unlike their television work, which often focuses on seasonal camps and cabins, this project required a deeper, more comprehensive transformation. The existing structure was sound, but time had left its mark.

“Not a single room in the existing structure has really been totally untouched,” Sarah says.

The updates range from behind-the-scenes essentials — electrical and plumbing — to reimagined layouts that prioritize comfort, like expanding bathrooms and reworking awkward room footprints.

They also added five new guest rooms between three standalone cabins and converted a former caretaker’s apartment into a commercial kitchen, allowing for expanded dining and future events.

Even as they modernized the property, the Morrills were careful not to erase its character.

“I think we tried to preserve every last thing that we could,” Sarah says.

That includes original fireplaces (now decorative), a vintage kitchen believed to have come from a Sears catalog, and even long-hidden elements of the landscape. Beneath overgrowth, they uncovered stone pathways and garden beds they plan to restore.

The philosophy aligns with the ethos fans have come to expect: save what you can, reuse what you can’t, and find new purpose for the rest.

Local sourcing plays a central role. Throughout the property, guests will find work from Maine artisans and craftspeople — a deliberate choice that reflects both aesthetics and values.

“It’s been really fun,” she says. “We’ve met a lot of people who make cool stuff that looks like it just belongs in our bed and breakfast.”

When guests arrive, the Morrills hope the guests feel an immediate connection when walking through the doors.

“You finally get there, and you’re like, ‘Yeah, this is where we were supposed to go,’” she says.

Breakfast, prepared by an in-house chef, will lean heavily on local ingredients like eggs, meats, cheeses, and produce sourced from nearby farms, often within a 10-mile radius with a rotating menu that reflects the region.

On the property, guests will find gardens, fire pits, lawn games, and access to nearby water for kayaking and paddleboarding. A historic barn that was once used as a harness racing training facility is slated to become an event space by 2027.

For New England travelers accustomed to heading straight for the coast, Monmouth might not be the first place that comes to mind. That, Sarah believes, is part of the appeal.

“We’re not in a specifically touristy area,” she says. “But there’s a huge opportunity to have the space to discover what’s cool about Maine — and you’re not standing in line.”

Within a short drive are lakes in nearly every direction, hiking trails, small restaurants, antique shops, working farms, and Kennebec Cabin Company, the gift shop known as “Home of the Maine Cabin Masters.” The coast is still within reach, but it’s not the main event.

“If you can go for a hike and then go for a swim and then get a great meal,” she says, “that’s a great day.”

It’s a vision of Maine that expands beyond the familiar imagery of lobster rolls and lighthouses.

“I think there’s another whole dimension of Maine,” Sarah says. “The lakes and mountains and being outside, but also the artisans and craftspeople who are doing really cool stuff.”

Sarah’s hope is that travelers feel like they are seeing something they’ve never seen before, or connecting to Maine in a deeper way.

As reservations begin to fill — helped in part by a loyal fan base — the Morrills are preparing for their first full season. While the project may have started as an unexpected opportunity, its direction now feels clear.

“I’m looking forward to meeting the people who are looking for something different,” Sarah says. “Who want to start and end their day a little bit off the beaten path.”

Write to us at startingpoint@globe.com. To subscribe, sign up here.

Last Friday, my week in hacky sack mania ended just as abruptly as it began, in the office of the orthopedic surgeon who had replaced my left hip in January, staring down at my feet as I confessed that I may have done something kinda dumb.

But let’s start at the beginning, the previous Saturday, when I overheard my 16-year-old son telling my wife that all the kids at his school were obsessed with hacky sack.

“I’m sorry,” I interrupted. “Did you say hacky sack? As in, um, hacky sack?”

Yes, hacky sack, the footbag game that was a stoner favorite generations ago. It had become a mania in the week since they returned from April vacation, he informed me, and it was all over social media.

“I have a hacky sack around here somewhere,” I declared, a tad too excitedly, and was just getting ready to start boring him with stories about Gen X when he cut me off.

“Yes, it’s in my pocket,” he said. “They’re sold out everywhere, so I had to find yours.”

Wait? What is happening right now?

It gets weirder

First thing that Monday morning, I was having hilarious phone conversations with educators around the state, each of them as delighted and confused as I was, trying to figure out how, overnight, Massachusetts high schools had been overrun with “sack.”

On May 7, I published a story about the phenomenon, which seems to be mostly among boys. It may have stemmed from a couple TikTok videos that circulated before school vacation, then exploded when the students returned, and immediately birthed an entire social media ecosystem, with seemingly every school having a hacky sack “team,” and even an Instagram account putting out very unofficial “official MIAA hacky sack rankings.”

That day also happened to be my 50^th birthday, and more surprising than the birthday party a bunch of friends threw me that night was that I would spend the party talking to all the other parents about hacky sack.

Soon, the trend spread out of New England, where the rebirth had begun, and other publications picked up on it. Who knew I’d stumbled upon a national scoop?

The ‘flying clipper’

Now let me bore you with Gen X stories, because we often lament that our kids don’t get to have the sort of childhoods we had, before social life moved online and into their pockets. And I can’t say any of us saw a hacky sack going into their pockets next to their phones, but it is hard to picture anything being more ideal for this moment. It’s unstructured play, it’s social, it’s accessible, and it doesn’t involve a damn screen.

And not to brag, but I was pretty decent when I would hack-in to a circle in my Tevas, so as I watched my kids fumble around like newborn giraffes in their first days as sackers, I couldn’t help myself. We passed around for a few moments, I was feeling it, and so like an idiot I did a move I haven’t done in 25 years where you jump up, raise one leg, and kick underneath it with the other (Google tells me this move is called a “flying clipper.”) I landed it perfectly as my kids said “I didn’t know you could do that!” and my body said “You can’t.”

Thankfully, after the X-rays came back, I was told the artificial hip looked fine, and I just had a mild case of something called “delusion.”

“Maybe leave the hacky sack to the kids,” the surgeon told me.

Gladly. I’m just amazed they want it.

🧩 5 Across: Slightly open | ☁️ 52° Weekend warming

‘Sold something that didn’t exist’: Hampshire College students and their parents are picking up the pieces in the wake of its closure news.

Local news? Why are millions of dollars flowing through a two-person Lexington news outlet? A look at the newsroom’s unorthodox business.

Crippling America: MIT warns that the nation is hurting its future by cutting research spending by 10 percent.

Gun smugglers: A group that bought dozens of weapons in New Hampshire and trafficked them into Canada using tribal reservation corridors has been toppled. US authorities said some of those weapons were used in violent crimes in Canada.

Transcending tragedy: ALS upended their young families’ lives. These two moms are spreading awareness, and joy.

Kissing the ring: What do Cabinet secretaries, UFC fighters, and baseball mascots have in common? They all paid homage to Trump in a single week.

Logan boat crash: You read that right. A 24-year-old Andover woman has been killed and three people injured in the late-night boat crash at a pier of the international airport.

The Wampanoag were right: Researchers find evidence of at least 15 early burials at Burying Hill in Bourne. (WCAI)

‘It’s an absolute total loss’: Moozy’s Ice Cream in Belmont has been destroyed in a three-alarm fire. Also, Downtown Crossing’s Scholars bar is closing, but a new place will take its place.

Red Sox: The greatest interim manager in baseball history says interim managers have a tough job. Says Joe Morgan: “Most of the time you’re taking over a lousy team.”

To save the middle class: Massachusetts wrote America’s first wage standard in 1912. “We are well placed to write the next one,” UMass Amherst economist Arindrajit Dube writes.

Susan Collins: Is the health of the Maine senator fair game in her Senate race? asks Joan Vennochi.

Public service: A trooper’s death reminds us of what public service really means, Kevin Cullen writes.

By David Beard

🎤 Guess who’s coming to town? Our summer arts guide points out the 80 best finds of the season, from Rosalia and a post-World Cup Shakira to an SNL reunion night, “The Sleeping Beauty,” and the art of Winslow Homer.

🎻 But wait, there’s more! Alec Baldwin will narrate “Lincoln Portrait” with the BSO at Tanglewood.

📺 What about this weekend? Our streaming picks include the thriller “The Lurker,” Colin Jost’s version of “Jeopardy,” and a HBO documentary with Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani, and Bowen Yang.

🍕 Get out! The weather’s going to be great. Do you want sugar pizza? Or to kick back in your choice of beer gardens? Here are the week’s most notable restaurant openings around Boston.

🐶 Love is ruff: During this week’s Blind Date, “we talked a lot about her dog, Clementine, a sheepadoodle.” Plus, in Love Letters, will this college relationship make it through summer?

💤 Better sleep: Here’s an eight-second trick to get you back to sleep in the middle of the night. (Today)

⛰️ Mount Washington: This writer first ascended to the top of the wild, gusty New Hampshire peak at age 4 — and has kept coming back. Why? “The fragrant forest, chickadees, ice cold streams, and awe-inspiring vistas,” John Dodge writes.

Thanks for reading Starting Point. Have a great weekend!

This newsletter was edited by David Beard and produced by Ryan Orlecki. Today’s hacky sack soundtrack is Two Princes, by Spin Doctors.

❓ Have a question for the team? Email us at startingpoint@globe.com.

✍🏼 If someone sent you this newsletter, you can sign up for your own copy.

📬 Delivered Monday through Friday.

Billy Baker can be reached at billy.baker@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @billy_baker.

Our readers – you folks – have really come through in sharing your ideas on what to do about taxes in New Hampshire. I am so grateful!

Now what to do. I will post this DAY 4 group of reader ideas here including a link that has the other three days worth of opinions. And will have a DAY 5 Friday because the tax ideas keep coming. Send to nancywestnews@gmail.com

This link contains links to DAYS 1, 2, 3

RON RAYNER, Concord, NH
The current system is badly broken and over-reliant on property taxes by years of neglect and the presence of Free Staters within our Legislature; the “balance” that could be achieved and should be sought for is now WAY out of control. Like the “fulcrum” on the see-saw, now badly broken.

Tax Remedies — Framework

1) Business Profits Tax — Slowly, incrementally increase the Business Profits Tax back to where it was before Sununu mucked up the works; it’s still lower than the surrounding states.

2) Dividends & Interest Tax —Reinstitute. Make adjustments such that it allows a higher base amount to be tax free; simply increase that base and return the same % tax on interest (as prior) up to, say, $50K; then increase the % tax on interest higher than $50K such that it effectively becomes a graduated tax on interest.

3) Broad-based Tax — is critical. I vote for a sales tax; Why? Because it spreads it out over a much wider base, including ALL of our tourists who utilize our infrastructure just as we residents do. The lowest sales tax in all states in New England is ME at 5.5%. If we imposed one at 5.0%, yes, that would cut into and hurt our gross sales $$. No doubt. BUT, limit it to something much lower, like 1.5% to 2.0% as a cap. Then the key becomes, just like other states have struggled with, what does it apply to? There should be wide exemptions for food and housing; clothes should have a $ limit like, say, up to $750 or even $1K is exempt; anything over is subject to the 1.5% tax. These exemptions, if done right, make it fair, even to the poorest amongst us. 

4) 3-3 Tax Plan by Andru V. — Yes, I do believe it would remedy MUCH of what is broken and would overall be fair. BUT, guess what? I maintain that an income tax, no matter how it’s structured, will FAIL. A low % sales tax will have a better (slightly) chance of passage because of A) the exemptions carved out, and B) it spreads it among MANY (i.e., out of staters).

5) Gas Tax — Leave it alone because we are already 42 years behind on maintaining our roads and the number of red-listed bridges.

6) Highway Toll Taxes — Increase all tolls for everyone to $1. Wow! A 30-cent increase for those of us with EZ-Pass; that’s a no-brainer! Is it “legal” to increase the highway toll on just out of staters? I support that, but also question that, although, admittedly, I’m not an attorney.

7) Not for Profits 501(c)(3) Organizations — They proliferate everywhere, especially in a “Capital City” like Concord. They need to contribute somehow, like some small % of their gross revenue. I can imagine the criticism, but we need to start somewhere.
RON RAYNER, Concord, NH

JENNIFER SIEGRIST
Below are my tax thoughts…
Because I read your articles and those of Garry Rayno’s, I feel I am well informed and, as such — mostly pissed off! 

Thank you for all the tireless efforts you and your entire newsroom put into InDepthNH. I truly value the coverage you provide and know you deserve every award you have all received and many more. 
JENNIFER SIEGRIST, Milford, NH

CHUCK RHOADES, Dover, NH
We recently received our property tax bill in the mail. While I don’t begrudge paying taxes for services, even those I may not use, I am alarmed at the ever-increasing property taxes and the inequality of our tax structure that it represents.

While not absolving municipal officials from their responsibility for prudent management, the fault for these increases seems clearly to lie with our elected state and federal officials. At the state level, the extremist Republican Free Staters control the state legislatures and apparently the governor too. They have eliminated the interest and dividend tax, which mostly wealthy people paid. They continue passing exorbitant subsidies for private schools, directly competing with our public school system. Our schools are fed by our property taxes to a degree greater than any other state in the country since we are dead last in state funding for education.

Less attention is paid to the effect that federal action (or inaction) has on our property taxes. Carleigh Beriont, candidate for the Congressional District 1 nomination, brings a fresh perspective to this problem. In her platform, viewable at CarleighBeriont.com, she notes that a key factor in our increasing property taxes is the federal government’s failure to fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Special education costs drive increases in local school budgets and this law promised to provide 40% of these mandated expenses. The actual allocations have never come close to fulfilling that promise.

Carleigh Beriont’s analysis of this federal obligation and her willingness to pursue this issue if elected demonstrates her thoughtful grasp of the problem. She has similarly thoughtful perspectives on other issues as well. I encourage property owners and all other voters to give her website a look.
CHUCK RHOADES, Dover, NH

BURT COHEN
I’ve long wondered if we’ll finally come to our senses and pass an income tax in my lifetime. Chances are dwindling the older I get.
BURT COHEN

CORNELIA SCHNEIDER
New Hampshire’s Fiscal Mirage

While some New Hampshire legislators wear buttons proclaiming “Taxation is Theft,” most of us believe that smart and fair taxation is the necessary price for a civilized society. Unfortunately, our current tax system is neither smart nor fair. The so-called “New Hampshire Advantage” has become a windfall for the wealthy and large corporations, leaving middle-income families, lower-income households, and small businesses behind.

To restore balance, we should reinstate the Interest and Dividends (I&D) tax, provided we include protections for seniors who rely on that income for retirement. Simultaneously, we must address the school voucher program, which is currently draining the general fund and should be repealed.

The state’s fiscal health is more precarious than leadership admits. For the first time since the Great Recession of 2008, the government has been forced to tap into the “Rainy Day Fund” to balance the budget. Without a natural disaster or pandemic to blame, the state withdrew over $67 million — roughly 25% of the fund — to cover revenue shortfalls and fund school vouchers.

The only thing preventing a deeper dip into our “Rainy Day Fund” was a one-time infusion from a tax amnesty program. We are facing significant financial trouble, yet the Governor and Concord continue to “fiddle while Rome burns.”
CORNELIA SCHNEIDER, Moultonborough, NH

ADAM FINKEL
I appreciate everyone who has mentioned the folly of eliminating the 5% Interest/Dividends tax. I would willingly continue paying it if it was reinstated. And, simply by exempting all payments under $1,000 (not dividend income of $1,000 — payments of $1,000, or 5% of at least $20,000 in dividends), the state could raise about $150 million annually (a bit less than the $160 million that was formerly collected including the small payments). Someone paying between $1,000 and $10,000 per year in passive income would have assets in the $1-2 million range or higher; surely, they can easily afford 5% of this passive income, leaving the other 95% to accumulate.

But as regressive as our overall tax system is in NH, there is one aspect that is even more slanted toward the rich: the “Current Use” rates. I support lower taxes on large open space lots, so that owners won’t have an incentive to subdivide and sell. But I had no idea (until I looked!) at just how big a subsidy a 10-acre (or more) plot gets over a smaller one. I gladly pay about $3,600/acre in tax for a small parcel next to my cabin — but if it was 10 acres or more, the tax would be about $6/acre! Not $600, not $60, but $6.

SURELY there is a price point between $6 and $3,600 — let’s call it $60/acre — where an owner would still have no reason to sell, but where the state could reap some revenue for education, infrastructure, environmental protection, etc.
ADAM FINKEL, Dalton, NH

RICH DiPENTIMA
The NH tax system is one of the most unfair in the nation. Almost every tax that individuals pay, either directly or indirectly, are very regressive and have little relationship to one’s income. For example, property taxes, rooms and meals tax, gasoline tax, and tobacco taxes have no relationship to income. Those who pay rent pay the property owner’s property taxes through their rent, which has no relationship to income. The only tax that NH has that was related somewhat to income was the interest and dividends tax, which has now been repealed.

As a result, low and middle-income people pay a much larger percentage of their income on taxes than the wealthy (see below). This is what the Republicans call the “NH advantage.” Yes, a huge advantage for the rich. And as a result, we do not get the services provided by other states, or they must be provided by the cities and towns through property taxes.

Tax Burden by Income Level (2026 Context)

• Lowest 20%: Pay the highest effective state and local tax rate, often over 3 times higher than top earners, due to high property taxes (including those in rent) and consumer taxes.
• Middle 20% ($62,300–$104,100): Face an effective tax rate roughly 2.4 times higher than the top 1%.
• Top 1% (>$721,000): Pay the lowest effective state and local tax rate, estimated at around 2.8% of their income. [1] RICH DiPENTIMA

JUDY ULLMAN
I think an income tax is the only thing that makes sense.
JUDY ULLMAN

THOMAS MAINVILLE
Here is one way to bring a lot of extra money into the state: legalize recreational cannabis and tax it. There’s so much money going to MA, VT, and ME, and it’s all taxed. There’s a lot of money to be made off it that’s just being spent in other states. If it was made recreational and was taxed, many people wouldn’t mind paying a tax since they already are.
THOMAS MAINVILLE

OWEN MCISAAC
Thank you for this opportunity to share perspectives on taxes in New Hampshire.

Our family goes back four generations in the state. We came from Canada to build roads, staff mills, and be part of the economy. None of us has been rich, but our work supported the wealthy. We thought that if we worked hard and saved money, we would be alright.

Year after year, the tax rate rises disproportionately to what used to be a middle-class income. Now, the unthinkable has happened — we will have to leave the state and find another way to survive.

We watch at town meeting and in fora all over the state, the downshifting of state expense falling on municipalities and schools. We watch as terrified people attack them. I imagine those in the State House watching it all with glee. The sleight of hand worked!

I wish that there was more empathy among lawmakers. I wish that they understood that people like us who live in one-bathroom houses with no luxuries (none of us have ever had a dishwasher) do not buy alcohol, go out to movies, dine out, or do anything other than try to survive.

Thank you for this opportunity.
OWEN MCISAAC, Webster, NH