Harborside~Seaglass Beach~Dock~5 min to Acadia

Harborside on Main is a lovingly restored, traditional coastal New Englander cottage located on the hillside above beautiful Southwest Harbor, just 1 mile from Quietside Acadia’s best oceanfront hiking trails. Steps outside the maritime village of SW Harbor with semi-private ocean access, seaglass beach, dock, firepit, and a short walk to all village amenities: the town pier, local bars, restaurants with live outdoor music overlooking the marina, & a private charter on a wooden Friendship sloop. The space ⛵️Harborside has shared/semi-private waterfront access just across the street, including a sea-glass beach, waterfront gazebo, fire pit, Adirondack chairs, dock and pier! It’s a fantastic place to walk the dog, sit by the fire, and have a waterfront dinner under shelter. ⭐️Amenities⭐️ ⭐️Luxury rainfall OUTDOOR SHOWER!!! ⭐️Semi-Private/Shared Ocean Access, Seaglass Beach, Firepit, Dock, Pier, and Private Water Taxi/Boat Trip to Cranberry Island for dinner at the famous Isleford Dock! ⭐️New Stainless Steel and retro appliances ⭐️Large capacity stackable washer dryer 🌊 Waterfront Access: Private Boat Trip and Dinner on Cranberry Island: From June-August, you can request a private water taxi to pick you up at your dock and head out to Isleford Dock Restaurant on Little Cranberry Island for an incredible waterfront sunset and some of the most amazing off-the-boat seafood dining in the area, and see seals at Bunker Ledge and Baker Island Lighthouse along the way! 🦞 Watch the lobster boats and sailing yachts pass by and see the fog roll in and out with the weather while listening to the foghorns as you relax in an Adirondack chair high above the harbor. ******************************************* 🏠 About our vintage coastal home: At Harborside on Main, we have retained the original antique character of this amazing space—complete with hundred-year-old wide board pine floors, original wooden double-hung windows, and a massive deck with Adirondack chairs and picnic tables overlooking Southwest Harbor across Main Street. Our efforts to preserve the historic character of this part of Mount Desert Island means you are staying in a vintage structure that has been lived and loved by generations before you—and we have endeavored to retain all of the antique charm that comes with that history while making all possible upgrades for comfort and convenience. Our home is newly furnished as to all upholstery and bedding and decorated with original family heirlooms and antiques throughout. We have installed brand-new stainless and vintage-retro appliances throughout in keeping with the antique aesthetic. ********************************************* Your host Kristen has been hosting and guiding vacationers in unique Maine experiences since she began her professional life as a Registered Maine Guide leading overnight sea kayak trips to offshore islands. Before restoring houses, she restored antique wooden Maine Friendship sloops for charter tours on the island. We've shifted gears to restoring historic Mount Desert Island cottages (that would otherwise be torn down and/or gutted, stripping them of their historic charm). We have preserved this home’s original character so that we can be part of the preservation effort, but also because we truly enjoy offering our guests the unique experience of staying in an original, antique Maine island cottage. Our restored cottages are the types of homes we seek out ourselves in our own travels around the world. ******************************************************* PLEASE READ ANTIQUE HOME DETAILS BEFORE BOOKING: This is an antique cottage on the coast of Maine. It is an antique on purpose, not by accident. So while we just put her through a four month restoration, this is a custom restoration effort—not a Home Depot special. We retained this vintage character because many people come to Maine seeking an experience that melds the beautiful coastal outdoors with our unique maritime history, New England architecture, and authentic vintage appeal. We restored this home with these guests in mind. Over a century ago, this house wasn’t built to look like any other house on the street, it was proudly custom-built by Maine craftsmen. Architecturally, the home is considered a classic New Englander construction—similar to the one next door, and others along the Maine coast. It was, however, built slightly differently than the one next door in the sense that it started its life as a sturdily-built sea-captain's house, built with a granite foundation and dressed up with decorative cornice brackets under the eves that resemble waves in color and shape. Once inside you’ll notice that the walls of this house are original restored plaster and lathe, so they are NOT perfectly square. They are not perfectly square, because they are not modern drywall. The walls were laid by hand over a hundred years ago. We restored the original plaster finish and gave everything 3-5 coats of fresh paint in neutral, historic, fresh Benjamin Moore color. To that end, we didn’t rip out the eight-inch baseboard with crown molding—we sanded and repainted it because it adds to the home’s unique character. Same with the decorative window trim that graces the beautiful original antique windows. The windows are original leaded glass, five feet tall by three feet wide. They seem to stretch from the floor to the ceiling, and they let in incredible amounts of light. We had custom-built screens made for them so you can open them to let in the sea breeze. All of the windows work—but they are all original. They are original on purpose because they just don’t make them like this anymore. Harborside’s floors are original hand-milled pine, locally known as wide-board pine and sometimes King Pine, or Pumpkin Pine. These floors are a treasured characteristic of antique Maine homes. When restoring them, we stripped them down of several layers of vinyl and carpet and paint to bring them back to that original condition, and then, in keeping with Maine tradition, we refinished the floors in traditional Tung oil. These are not glossy pre-fab plastic or vinyl floors. They are 100% Maine pine and thus imperfect after being in use for over a century. The gaps that you may see between the boards are due to the fact that when these floors were built, they were meant to expand and contract with extremes of coastal Maine weather, and they still do—125 years later. We hope you enjoy our home for the coastal Maine antique it is meant to be. If you are looking for a dog-friendly, traditionally restored, vintage coastal cottage on the coast of beautiful Acadia National Park, within walking distance to everything, please don’t hesitate to book! If you are looking for an off-the-shelf cookie-cutter style accommodation, our home may not be the right fit. If in doubt or you have questions, please ask before booking. Guest access We have the fastest (450+mbps download) Ultra WiFi available available to allow our guests to experience Acadia while staying connected.