A house that sits in the shadow of the tallest bridge in Maine is being offered for sale for $595,000.
The Prospect property is among the closest to the landmark bridge and has 745 feet of frontage on the Penobscot River — along with a very visible placement along Route 1.
“It is very unique,” listing agent Erica Brooks said, noting that its location means it’s not for everybody, but also offers unique opportunities.
Though the house is very visible to northbound travelers on Route 1, she said the house is more oriented toward the river and is set back from Route 1 with a long driveway and private dead-end created by the state easement process.
The 5.82-acre property was once next to the Sail Inn, a restaurant and bar operated by the Dyer family for decades. It stood at the approach to the 1930s-era Waldo-Hancock Bridge, the first to connect the two counties over the Penobscot River
The restaurant opened in 1948 in a converted schoolhouse in response to an increased number of tourists seeking views of the old bridge after World War II, according to the Penobscot Marine Museum.
But 55 years later, in 2003, the state took the restaurant through eminent domain as construction of the Penobscot Narrows and Observatory got under way next to the older, deteriorating bridge; three years later, the Sail Inn was demolished.
The Dyers sued the Maine Department of Transportation over the amount the state offered them for the property, according to Bangor Daily News archives. They later challenged the legality of the state taking about 5 acres, too, saying that most of the property wasn’t needed for construction and the restaurant wasn’t demolished until shortly before the new bridge opened.
The state had argued the restaurant would be a traffic hazard once the bridge opened, and said one of the reasons a larger amount of land was taken was that more space was used during construction and the project required serious blasting across the road, presenting a safety risk.
The family settled the suit with the state for $725,000 in 2008.
The house for sale is where the restaurant proprietor Vera Dyer lived. It was spared and stayed with the family until 2022, according to Brooks.
The current owners added a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment above the detached garage. Other updates include a renovated kitchen, updates to bathrooms and the sunroom, new windows, electrical upgrades and mini-splits, or ductless heat pumps, for heating and cooling.
The listing also highlights possibilities for other investment uses due to its visible location on Route 1. Many summer travelers drive by on their way to Acadia National Park, and Prospect is also a short distance from the midcoast and Bangor.
Brooks said the property and its expansive lawn has potential to become a wedding or event venue, for example, and could work for other commercial uses with town approval.
The large garage could be turned into a commercial kitchen, she said, and the “huge” lawn overlooking the river and the bridge is an added attraction.
At night, the property is illuminated by lights on the bridge and gets a breeze off the river, Brooks said.
