Historic island house on 25 acres in Maine hits market

Gilbert Head, at the southern end of Long Island in Georgetown, Maine, includes a beautifully kept Federal house, another house that has served as an artist’s studio, a private deep-water dock and pier built of Deer Isle granite, a spacious boat house, and hiking trails on 25 acres of one of Maine’s surpassingly beautiful mid-coast islands. It is a historic site at the mouth of the Kennebec River for sale for $3,850,000. Along with the natural beauty of a Maine island, it has privacy as it’s accessed by water only.

Built in 1837, the 3,346-square-foot main house has the dignified hallmarks of the Federal style: simple rectangular massing topped by a hipped roof, a pedimented entry flanked with side lights, wide-plank pumpkin pine floors, and gracefully proportioned rooms featuring original woodwork.

There are five bedrooms (including a first-floor primary bedroom with an ensuite bathroom) and three full bathrooms, two fireplaces, and a large eat-in kitchen. While the kitchen is equipped with modern enmities like granite countertops, a farmhouse sink, an electric cooktop, twin dishwashers, and a large central island, it retains historic charm with a turn-of-the-20^th-century cast iron cookstove, beaded-board wainscoting, and a fireplace with original Federal styling.

The separate house known as the Studio is a one and one-half story farmhouse. Its interior is unfinished, but while it presents a building project, it retains many original features, including old flooring, wainscoting, the stairs, and fireplace surrounds. The structure includes a new roof and chimney.

The current owners, who bought the property in 2000, made significant improvements, including the kitchen updates. They built the dock, a new post-and-beam barn, a new gravel road to the dock, installed a new septic system, drilled a new well, put standing-seam metal roofs on both houses, and brought power to the island via an underground cable.

While the main house has the comforts and amenities of modern life, it is surrounded by mementoes of the past, including old stonework, perennial gardens, an ancient orchard, and waterfront meadows. A large stone bears a plaque installed in 1934 by descendants of the original settlers, John and Joanna Spinney, who moved here with their nine children in 1753.  

Notable past owners were Stephen and Elizabeth Etnier, who bought the property in 1935. He was a well-known artist; she wrote “On Gilbert Head” about their life on the island. Although the Spinneys and their descendants farmed and fished here year-round, Gilbert Head served as a vacation home for the Etniers and for the two owners who have held the property since Elizabeth Etnier died in 1994.

From here, residents can take a boat to a number of public landings in Bath, Phippsburg, Georgetown, or Popham Beach, but the property includes deeded access to a dock in Georgetown.

The house is to be sold furnished, and the barn and boathouse are full of the things you need on an island, including a John Deere all-wheel tractor and mower. Gilbert Head is essentially turnkey — all you need is a boat to get there.

Poe Cilley of Vitalius Real Estate Group has the listing.

Regina Cole writes about architecture and design for national and regional publications, with a specialty in historic architecture and the history of the decorative arts.