A seaside cape, once called home by the author of the hit novel that inspired the television series “M*A*S*H,” is on the market in midcoast Maine for $1.3 million.
The 5-bedroom, 2-bathroom home on an 8-acre plot is tucked into a cove in Bremen, a small coastal town in Lincoln County. For more than 100 years, the property was owned by the Hornberger family, including H. Richard Hornberger.
Inspired by his experiences as an Army surgeon serving in Korea, he wrote the popular book “MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors” under the pseudonym Richard Hooker. Hornberger’s novel was the basis for a feature film, “M*A*S*H,” and the long-running television series by the same name starring Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers.
The home’s current owners, Chuck and Ellen Peters, say the Hornberger property was first settled in 1763 and farmed with sheep and dairy cows. The house itself was built around 1830, Chuck Peters said, and purchased in 1863 by Hornberger’s maternal great-grandparents. It remained in the Hornberger family until 1982.
Hornberger, a Bowdoin College graduate, found inspiration in Maine and wrote “MASH” while waiting on patients in his Bremen office, according to the Maine State Library. Broad Cove — the inlet the home is on — was the inspiration for Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce’s hometown, Crabapple Cove, in the book and adaptations, Chuck Peters said.
Though it’s been modernized, the historic home still has many of its original features including an antique parlor stove and period newell post and bannister, according to its online listing. Other features include its wood-burning fireplace and a four-season sunroom with views of the cove.
The property has 1,400 feet of water frontage; a vintage, 19th-century post-and-beam barn offering ample storage; and an orchard stocked with apple, pear and cherry trees.
“The fields, adjacent woods, and extensive tidal flats provide ample opportunities for wildlife watching, and the bridge at the corner of the property is listed as [an eBird] Hotspot,” Chuck Peters said, referencing an online birdwatching database.