Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
A unique, turreted home for sale on a Maine island has a storybook look and a storied past.
The home, which is being sold for $440,000, is known as “The Abbey” because it was built in 2004 by and for a pastor with a lot of help and donated materials from Islesboro residents, listing agent Wendy Huntington Evans said.
The property they built — two homes on one and a half acres in North Islesboro — is where the pastor would go on to open a summertime retreat for people with substance abuse disorders and live there, said Huntington Evans of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Northeast Real Estate. The agent even thinks the pastor ran a restaurant out of the property for some years.
“She was a very good baker,” she said.
That pastor has since retired and relocated to a different area of the island. For years, The Abbey has been used as a private residence, Huntington Evans said. The agent actually considered buying the property herself when she moved here more than five years ago.
“It was so unique and interesting and artistic,” Huntington Evans said. “The turret and the stained glass windows are beautiful, the floors are beautiful.”
The property has two buildings: One is a simpler structure consisting of a studio apartment on the second floor and an office space on the first, and the other is a 4-bedroom home with four stories and unique features like a walkway between bedrooms, stained glass windows and a prominent turret topped with a cross. It is being sold furnished.
Outdoors, the property has been landscaped by the current owner and has a gardening shed, chicken coop, wood piles and mature plantings. Massive rhododendrons, apple trees and peonies can also be found on site.
Its current owners bought the property two years ago and completed numerous repairs and upgrades including new decking and stairs, fresh paint and a new roof. They’re moving on because they have a young son and want to be closer to family, Huntington Evans said.
The property, which is going for around the island’s median home value but far less than its median listing price, was offered for sale in 2018 at $299,000 and again in 2023 at $300,000. It’s a popular place: Huntington Evans said when it was last offered for sale in 2023, she got 20 offers on the property.
Something that makes the property that much more attractive to prospective buyers is its rental income potential. The Abbey has three living spaces that could be leased out short- or long-term, Huntington Evans said.
The property was listed this week. Its whimsical look, recent refurbishment and the appeal of island living have drawn a lot of interest, Huntington Evans said. So far, the prospective buyers have been a real mix of out-of-staters and Mainers who live on and off the island.
“No one is looking at it as a vacation home,” the agent said. “Mostly it’s people who want to live there and make a little extra income renting out a unit or two.”