Lincolnville, Maine
Victorian by the Sea is a seaside seven-room bed and breakfast with ocean views in a quiet setting. The inn offers locally sourced organic breakfasts, and a beautiful wrap around porch surrounded by plants and flowers. Located just south of Lincolnville Beach and north of the charming town of Camden, Maine, the inn is perfectly situated for a quick drive into town, but just far enough for a quiet, secluded stay, and a taste of Maine. The inn is currently open May-October, but has been operated year round in the past.
The inn is perfect for special events, wellness functions, romantic getaways, weddings, retreats, and workshops. The beautiful setting, lush grounds and water view are what this property is all about. It’s a peaceful sanctuary!
The inn is designed with 6 guest rooms accessed by the main entrance (2 of which are suites), a cottage apartment from a separate front entrance, and the owner’s quarters to the right, occupying the entire two stories over the garage. The inn’s seven rooms accommodate up to 18 guests. Retreat organizers can hold meetings in the sun room overlooking the ocean, which has a maximum capacity of 25.
Guests can choose to have a wedding ceremony in the beautiful sun room, outside in the gardens, or at the top of the ocean overlook at the edge of the garden.
At a Glance
Inn’s Website
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Download a Property Offering
- Book 4105, Page 335, Waldo County Registry of Deeds
- Map 13, Lot 65
- 1.6 acres
- Building size: 7,548 sf finished space
- Year Built: Inn in 1881; Owner’s House built in the 1990s
- 2025 Real Estate Taxes $11,455
- 7 guest units (2 guest suites, 4 guest rooms and 1 cottage apartment with 2 bedrooms, 2 full baths), and all rooms have private en-suite baths
- Spacious common areas with large foyer with gas fireplace, sitting room, dining room, large breakfast room with gas fireplace, and wrap around porch with lounge and table seating
- Guest Pantry with sink, microwave and dishwasher
- Private inn kitchen between the guest wing and owner’s wing
- Room for expansion on the lot and in the existing building
- Heat System: Forced hot air, hot water baseboard
- Heat fuel: Propane
- Water/Sewer: Private well/septic
- AC units and mini splits
- Unfinished basement
- Wood and cedar shingle siding
- Concrete and stone foundation
- Gravel parking lot for 10 cars
- 2 car attached garage
Updates include:
- new water heater
- 4 heat pumps
- Full cottage renovation
- 2 new commercial dryers
- New refrigerator/freezer
- New Miele dishwasher
Expansion Opportunity
Currently, the guest wing is on the left side, from the turret, the cottage apartment is in the middle, and the three story section to the right of the cottage is Owner’s Quarters. Without a substantial expense, this OQ could become 3 more guest units with private baths. With a full interior buildout, the unfinished attic space could become a large, 4th guest suite.
Off the inn’s private kitchen is access to the owner’s quarters, with hardwood flooring throughout (kitchen and baths are ceramic tile) with a first floor sitting room, small deck, half bath, laundry and access to the garage. Upstairs on the 2nd floor there are 4 bedrooms and 3 full baths. Continue up to the 3rd floor and you’ll find a very large, unfinished (with rough-ins) attic space, perfect for a guest suite. This could also become the owner’s apartment, and the 2nd floor could become 3 guest rooms with private baths, creating a 10 room inn plus owner’s quarters. The Cottage Apartment could be the owner’s quarters.
The Victorian offers options!
Location
The Heart of the Maine Coast, Lincolnville, Maine is a well-kept secret – one of those “off the beaten path” places hiding in plain sight on the Midcoast of Maine. Within its boundaries are beaches, lakes, mountains, salmon streams, great places to stay, fabulous food, and countless things to see and do.
Voted one of the “top 20 Towns in the U.S.” by Outside Magazine Lincolnville was first settled in 1774 as a farming and fishing community. Over time it has become home to an eclectic mix of people that includes artists, writers, craftsmen, world-class sailors, boat builders, winemakers, lobstermen, farmers, and just about any other profession you can name.
About 75% of Camden Hills State Park is actually not in Camden, rather in Lincolnville. At an elevation of 844ft Bald Rock and its stunning view from the top, is best accessed by the parking lot at Youngtown Road, one of several entry points to the sprawling array of recreational trails that make up the park.
There is an ever-changing variety of indoor and outdoor activities in the midcoast region. Each season brings unique ways to explore our extraordinary state. From taking a ferry to Islesboro, to hiking, biking, kayaking and canoeing, swimming, antiquing to skiing Mount Battie, and let’s not forget experiencing Maine’s constantly growing microbreweries and food scene! Day trips are easy from Victorian by the Sea, making it easy to use the inn as home base and not live out of a suitcase from town to town! The Victorian is Just a mile from Lincolnville Beach and 3 miles to Mount Battie at Camden Hills State Park. Nearby airports are Knox County Airport, Portland International Jetport and Bangor International Airport.
- The inn is located:
- 5 miles to Camden
- 13 miles to Rockland
- 46 miles to Bangor
- 50 miles to Boothbay Harbor
- 70 miles to Freeport
- 70 miles to Bar Harbor
- 70 miles to Acadia National Park
- 87 miles to Portland
- 114 miles to Kennebunkport
- 135 miles to Moosehead Lake
Lincolnville is also home to Cellardoor Winery, a must see, world class experience!
Lincolnville Beach
A Bit of History
Built in 1889 as a summer home for the wealthy Francis Sawyer family of New York City, Victorian by the Sea, like many old homes in the area, provides both an interesting history and a unique literary connection.
Francis Sawyer was a Boston importer who later made a home for his family on the Upper East Side of New York City opposite Central Park. Francis and his wife, Ethalinda, had five children – four sons and a daughter. The youngest, Ruth, would grow up to become a popular children’s author. Ruth’s love of storytelling came from her Irish nurse who taught her to always leave a story “better than you found it.”
We know much about the Sawyer family and their summer home, now known as Victorian by the Sea, from Ruth’s autobiographical novels for children. Ruth was nine the year Francis built the family’s ‘summer cottage’ on the Maine coast between Lincolnville Beach and Camden. Ruth loved her summers in Maine, especially the surrounding woods. Through her later writings, we learn that her brothers teased her endlessly but allowed her to sail, camp, and hunt with them. She recalled some of the adventures of these summers in Maine in the book, Daddles, The Story of a Plain Hound-Dog (1964), which reflected her love of dogs and enjoyment of seaside pleasures.
When Francis died unexpectedly in 1894, the family, uncertain of their financial circumstances, closed their home in New York and moved to Maine. Because they had to dismiss all their servants and Ethalinda had never learned to cook, Ruth, who was just 14 at the time, became the family’s gardener and cook. Their kitchen is described in great detail in her book, The Year of Jubilo (1940), which chronicles the year spent in Maine.
The Sawyer family taught themselves how to live off the land. Salmon and lobster were bountiful right off the shore and even today, early risers can see the lobster boats pulling their traps. They planted and ate from a large vegetable garden, which the current owners have revived.
Ruth Sawyer traveled to Cuba in 1900 to teach storytelling to teachers organizing kindergartens for children orphaned during the Spanish-American War. She returned to New York to study folklore and storytelling at Barnard College where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1904. Ruth’s first published work was The Primrose Ring (1915), of which a movie was made in 1917 starring Loretta Young. She won the Newberry Medal in 1937 for her best known book, Roller Skates. Another tale, Johnny Cake Ho!, written in 1953 and illustrated by Robert McCloskey, was a Caldecott Honor Book.
Sawyer also wrote non-autobiographical novels for children, such as The Enchanted Schoolhouse (1956) and The Year of the Christmas Dragon (1960), and a scholarly work, The Way of the Storyteller (1942). She published a number of collections of folktales, such as This Way To Christmas (1916), which featured an illustration by a young Norman Rockwell and My Spain: A Storyteller’s Year of Collecting (1967). In 1965 she was awarded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for her work.
Ruth Sawyer married Albert Durand, a physician, and they had two children. Their daughter, Peggy, a children’s librarian, married Robert McCloskey, the beloved children’s book author best known for Make Way for Ducklings and Blueberries for Sal. Collections of both Sawyer’s and McCloskey’s books are available at the inn for guests to enjoy during their stay.
The Sawyer home has been a B&B since the 1980s.
The Owner's Quarters
3 1/2 BATHS
LIVING ROOM
LAUNDRY ROOM
KITCHEN
TWO CAR GARAGE
UNFINISHED BASEMENT
Off the inn’s private kitchen is access to the owner’s quarters, with hardwood flooring throughout (kitchen and baths are ceramic tile) with a first floor sitting room, small deck, half bath, laundry and access to the garage. Upstairs on the 2nd floor there are 4 large bedrooms and 3 full baths.
Continue up to the 3rd floor and you’ll find a very large, unfinished (with rough-ins) attic space, perfect for a guest suite. This could also become the owner’s apartment, and the 2nd floor could become 3 guest rooms with private baths, creating a 10 room inn plus owner’s quarters.
The Victorian offers options!
Could this be the property and lifestyle for you?
