Abigail's Inn A Bed and Breakfast Camden, Maine

2009-03-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

The temperature has risen, the sun is out, the skies are blue and the snow is beginning to melt…..it must be the start of spring in Maine which of course leads happily into a beautiful Maine Summer. This year Abigail’s Inn is partnering with the Schooner Timberwind to offer our two-night dinner package, discounted by 10%, at the start or end of a 3, 4, or 6 day Windjammer cruise and the Windjammer cruise is being offered at a 10% discount as well. With this package you get the best of Maine from land to sea.

The Timberwind is a National Historic Landmark Vessel that holds up to 20 passengers. The schooner has no inboard engines so the wind will lead you on your adventure. You can sail as far south as Boothbay and as far Down East as Bar Harbor, stopping each day in some of Maine’s most beautiful harbor villages and islands. The Timberwind leaves from Rockport Harbor a short 5 minute drive from the inn.

Why not start or end your trip with us at Abigail’s enjoying our wonderfully comfortable guest rooms, delicious breakfasts, and a gourmet dinner in one of Camden’s fine restaurants all at a discount. We can’t wait to see you this summer.

For more information on this special package please give us a call at 800-292-2501 and for more information on the Timberwind you can visit their website http://www.schoonertimberwind.com/.

Pemaquid Point Lighthouse

2008-08-05T13:40:00.000-07:00

This is a post that I have been meaning to put up since Mother's Day but needless to say busy season hit and I am now just getting a chance to do so.

For Mother's Day this year Kipp and the boys treated me to a day away from the inn and down to Pemaquid Point Lighthouse which is located close to Bristol, Maine and is about an hour and fifteen minute drive from Camden. The drive is pretty and takes you through some nice villages like Darmiscotta and New Harbor. We have seen a number of lighthouses since moving to Maine but I have to say that Pemaquid is truly a special place and is amazingly beautiful. Of course the day that we went the weather was spectacular with crystal clear blue skies and a slight breeze. Pemaquid is slightly more touristy than some of the other lighthouse we have visited, but once you get there you can see why. The lighthouse sits on a rocky bluff and is a brillant white and red. The waves crash along the jagged rocks, which look as if they have been placed in neat rows. You can picnic on the lawn or tables and walk down the rocks to the ocean. If you want an ice cream cone and a sandwich there is a cute little stand next to the lighthouse where you can get both. We spent about two hours sitting and enjoying the view and letting Colin run about. This is the kind of place that you could spend hours reading on the lawn or just staring out at the beautiful blue ocean.

Why I love Maine

2008-08-05T12:31:00.000-07:00

Moving to Maine was a big change from living in Washington, DC. We moved up here for a change of life but did not really know how completely different our existence would be. We had an idea of the obvious differences such as no commute to work except down our stairs, no regular paycheck (this was a huge change), no working for anyone else, no shopping malls in close proximity, but all of these things we gave up knowingly and happily to live a different life.

The things that we gained by this move have been amazing and simple. We live in one of the prettiest villages in the Northeast, Camden, ME. We have the mountains behind us and the bay in front of us. Our 1847 house is a gorgeous structure with wonderful lines and character. We have a huge front porch and an expansive backyard where we have raspberry and blackberry bushes. I never imagined that I could walk into my backyard and pick fresh raspberries and blackberries. We can hike trails in the summer months and eat our weight in blueberries which Colin and I did last week. We can drive out into the countryside to local farms and purchase newly picked cucumbers, squash and zucchini simply by leaving our money in a jar -- amazing. We can walk the children in the morning to Laite Beach and let them run, collect shells and splash in the water --simple. Finally, I can grow a blue flowering hydrangea bush and have fresh hydrangea from July until September -- amazing and simple.

These are just some of the reasons why we moved to Maine and why I love it.

Kipp's Birthday

2008-04-17T13:22:00.000-07:00

April 8th was Kipp's birthday and we decided that we would take the day off and actually try to enjoy some of the great sights Maine has to offer. We made our way up to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. The weather was absolutely gorgeous with pristine skies and warm temps, at least for Maine.

It took us about and hour and half to get to Bar Harbor which at this time of year is pretty quiet, in fact it makes Camden look really busy. Only certain parts of Acadia National Park are open so we hit the highlights, Sandy Beach, Thunder Hole, and Jordan's Pond. All of these are located on the park loop road. Sandy Beach was spectacular. It is a beautiful stretch of beach surrounded by mountains (eastcoast mountains). The waves were crashing and the sun sparkled on the water. The sand was warm enough to walk barefoot, however, the water was a wee bit cold about 40 degrees. After soaking in the sun and smell of salt air we drove over to Thunder Hole named as such because when the waves break it is supposed to sound like thunder. The view is amazing. There is a parking area and you can walk down to the rocks and look over on the ocean. I can't say that I heard anything that sounded like thunder but it still was worth seeing. From there we continued to drive on the open sections of the park loop road. The secenary is lovely. We drove along Sargent Road which runs next to Sommes Sound an area that looks like something from the Swiss Alps. We found Jordan's Pond which was still frozen but nonetheless beautiful. The park has tons of hiking trails and plenty of scenic overlooks.

The drive up to Acadia is beautiful and it was a great way to spend Kipp's BirthdayIt was nice drive up and certainly making what my Aunt would call a "diamond day". We loop road is partially open

Spring is coming - finally!

2008-04-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

After a very long winter with over 100 inches of snow it seems that spring is slowly making its way to Abigail's Inn. The true signs of spring are that the 10 ft snow pile in the backyard is melting (should all be gone by June), the crocus have bloomed by the library and the swamp weed is alive in the side yard, much to my chagrin.

Another good sign that spring is here is that the temperatures are warming and the days are much longer. I think we currently have 12 hours of daylight which should help in getting the rest of the plants and flowers blooming.

Kipp and I are planning our outdoor priorities. Cleaning up the backyard where the willow tree was taken down after a fierce storm in November and raking and weeding the side yard in preparation of planting new flowers and shrubs. Hopefully, we can get all of the work done before the busy season hits.

The New Sign

2007-07-09T19:00:00.000-07:00

Our new sign arrived in June, and boy were we happy with it. Thumbs up to Chuck Dorr at Dorr Woodcarving and Sign in Rockport (obligatory local plug) for such great results. We went to see Chuck back in the early spring with our original design. He took it from there and really blew our expectations away.

So far we are getting all sorts of great feedback from people that have been driving through Camden and have seen the new sign.

We've entered the modern era

2007-06-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

... well sorta - We took the plunge in May and finally upgraded and expanded our washer n dryer situation and well got a nice new fridge at the same time. Some might say so what. But, have you ever tried to replace major appliances like these in a 160 year old house? Always a challenge.

1st - energy star/efficiency a must

2nd - expanding from 1 set to 2 sets in the existing space

3rd - get the frig in the kitchen and out of the wash room

4th - front loaders that don't shake the old structure to pieces and vibrate the guests out of their beds (and oh can self level on a floor that has a couple degree tilt to it ;)

5th - is there enough juice in the existing electric panels

6th - make new dryer vents

...

ahh the list went on, and we looked for a few months. And many solutions were available, but ... would they fit, would they shake us too much ...

Well - our local appliance guys at Kelsey's in Rockland came to the rescue and had the answers for us. Not only were they helful, but their prices beat the big box stores - (go local plug).

Anyways - what did we get - Whirlpool Duet Sport - pretty awesome. Fridge - Amana - big thumbs up from Consumer Report, lots of capacity without a big footprint, and oh yeah - great leveling legs in the front (of course in our kitchen we have a little slant going on the floor).

Now for the fun - getting the old fridge out - tilted floor and narrow doorway - not fun; electric supply wasn't really sufficient for the current set-up - so all new electric had to be run; new dryer vents had to be cut (gotta love old construction - wall is about 12" thick - let's see 1" cedar panelling, over 1" of old plaster and lathing, followed by 8" insulation filled void, 1" cedar outer sheathing, .5" of cedar siding, and finally the vinyl siding - oh yes, cedar - unbelievable - smelt great cutting the hole - oh and did I mention make sure to miss the posts in the wall - 8"x8" hardwood posts - oh yeah hardwood - they weren't messing around back in the day), and lastly expanding the fresh and waste water lines (thankful for front loaders this wasn't a problem considering that the 2 new machines combined don't use as much as half a load in the old machine), ...

So - all is in - we are enjoying the fruits of the upgrade (not doing laundry 24 hours a day and not having to walk into the wash room to get to the fridge). And as with all our projects at the old house - we shake our heads and laugh at how much work it took to do something that is a no-brainer in a modern home.

Finally, a curtain that will work!

2007-03-07T11:49:00.000-08:00

In our last blog installment we were lamenting the fact that we could not find curtains to go in our newly redecorated Jefferson Davis Room-well the search has come to an end. After receiving two different shipments of curtains from discount websites we decided that discount was not necessarily the way to go. So this past Saturday we drove to Portland and paid a visit to Pottery Barn where we found just the right curtains but we only were able to find three panels of the curtains. I was beginning to think that I had some really bad curtain karma. I asked the salesman, Sabine, who was very helpful, if he could check the Pottery Barn website but the company has a policy that their salespeople cannot get on the site inside the store. So, thinking on my feet (unusual for me), I decided that while Sabine was checking other stores I would call my dear mother and have here look on-line for the curtains.
Here is how the conversation played out.
Beth -"Mom, could you get on the computer and look up Pottery Barn's web page and check their curtain section for the Silk Dupioni mini strip curtain?"
Mom's response- "Oh, sure let me get the computer started. Ok, ahh-what the heck is this page that came up? Kipp is going to have to fix my computer because this silly email page keeps coming up. Well, hold on just one minute let me type it in the address again P-O-T-T-E-R-Y-B-A-R-N.com. Oh, this stupid mouse won't work. I don't know what your father has done to it. I think, oh no I don't have it. Hold on a minute."
Meanwhile, I have aged about 10years and Sabine, fortunately, was able to find the curtains at another store. The following is the end of the conversation with my mother.
Beth-"Mom, don't worry about it. We have it taken care of. I'll call you later."
My mother- " But I can do this just wait one more minute."
Beth- " Mom, I am hanging up. Thanks for your help. Bye."
She called back ten minutes later when she got the page up.
Anyway, we are expecting any day now the other three panels and then I think we can call the room finished. We will have the new room pictures up on our website in the coming weeks for you to see at http://www.abigailsinn.com/.

Jefferson Davis Room has been updated ...

2007-02-24T14:07:00.000-08:00

We have now officially remodeled all of the guest rooms since buying the Inn in August of 2004. It's taken quite some time, and there have been several other projects along the way to divert our attention. But, we have now accomplished one of first main goals to freshen up and put our touch on the guest rooms.

As with many of our other projects at the Inn - this one took much longer than anticipated and well had its fair share of mis-directions before arriving at what we both wanted. As with many of our re-do's, Beth spent a lot of time looking at house 'eye-candy' magazines like Country Living, Coastal Living, ..., to name a few. And, she arrived on a great room design using Navy and White - really formal and elegant in keeping with the goal of the Jefferson Davis room. I liked the idea too. However, we missed one important fact - the wall's in the magazine room were more than half covered in molding, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, windows, ... all with white trim. So the Navy was more of an accent.

Not noting this - big mistake on our part - we jumped right in to the project. And, this is where the fun began. First, Navy is a difficult color to work with. As we've learned over the years - and any of you who've ever gone for a really dark red or blue - good luck getting any color consistency on the first or second coats - in this case it took 1 coat of battleship grey primer and 4 coats of the Navy to get the right color consistency. At this point - 2 weeks had gone by - and that's when we both started realizing that if we did the whole room this way - it was going to take forever and well, it was just going to be too dark - getting a little gothic to be exact. And of course, that's when we finally put on our thinking caps and made the realization noted above regarding the magazine room. Bottom line, we had too much wall - not enough molding and such that could be painted white to balance it out.

So - there we were 2 weeks in - turning away reservations - and starting over. Not good.

But, as with any project that has gone the wrong way - at the height of our frustration - we found a perfect color in a Behr paint brochure. We also got back to basics and remembered our color wheel lessons - rooms should be warm and inviting - get back to the earthtones. So we settled on a nice spiced brown color (Pepper Spice is it's name) and matched it up with a great rich antique white for the trim (Edwardian Linen from Ralph Lauren). Best of all - this color worked well with the existing furniture in the room. It really brought out the richness of wood tones in the furniture that the former color was dulling (which we hadn't realized until the change). So the remodel is pretty much complete. Well, at least we thought it was until the curtains we ordered online arrived - flimsy would actually be being kind.

Sooo - we are almost there - just have to figure out the curtain issue. And, I have this need to strip the bed frame and re-stain to a rich wood tone (we'll see where I get on this ...). And, of course, Beth is now eager to get started on the bathroom ...

We don't have any photos - yet - but they are on the way - once we have them - we'll get them up on our website at http://www.abigailsinn.com/ .

Oh - almost forgot - why is the room named after Jefferson Davis - especially in Camden, Maine? This isn't Richmond, VA. And, well, we weren't trying to bring our Southern roots north.

A little house history comes into play here. Jefferson Davis was a guest of the house on multiple occasions in the 1850's and stayed in this room on his visits. Why was he in Camden, Maine? We don't have hard facts, but here is what we've pieced together so far. Davis in the 1850's made numerous trips to Boston to speak to the town leaders regarding the problem of run away slaves. Essentially, trying to get Bostonians to feel as if they should help out the wealthy slave owner's of the South - good luck there (found this out doing a little channel surfing late one night and happening upon this story on the History Channel). Our guess is that as part of these trips, he also included visits to Camden, Maine, where US Congressman E.K. Smart lived. Smart was an outspoken critic of the South's claims for reparations for runaway slaves - as we found in a 16 page speech he delivered to the US Congress in 1852 (actually one of our guests last year found the speech and was kind enough to get us a copy). Basically, Smart laid out that if the South expected the North to pay $800,000 in reparations for run away slaves, then the South needed to pony up about $20 million to cover expenses for federal services in the South covered by the taxpayers of the North (postal service, coastal defense, ...). So our best guess is that Davis as part of his excursions North was also paying visits to an outspoken critic of the views he represented. This is what we know to-date, and of course we'll add more as we learn more.

So -back to the topic of this entry - any of our previous guests to the Jefferson Davis Room - you will be in for a pleasant surprise on your next stay at Abigail's Inn.

Hello

2007-02-11T07:35:00.000-08:00

Well, we procrastinated long enough, but finally we have started the blog that many of you have asked us to do. Why so long - well, owning, running, and being the labor of our Bed & Breakfast has distracted us for a while. But, we finally bit the bullet and have joined the 21st century - which is somewhat embarrassing considering our backgrounds.

For any of you arriving here for the first time to visit us - we are Kipp and Beth, the proprietors of Abigail's Inn in Camden, ME - www.abigailsinn.com. We are a small Bed & Breakfast located on the Mid-Coast of Maine - in the picturesque town of Camden.

Back in 2004, we were those people some refer to as DINK's - double-income-no-kids. We lived in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC. We held 'big' jobs. But, somewhere over too many glasses of wine one weekend in April of 2004 at Hillsborough Winery, we decided that we were - well - bored with the whole job, commute, ... So, we decided - time to make a change - was it to buy and old country home and remodel, was it to quit and travel, was it to start a home-flipping business, was it relocate overseas, ... Where did we end up ... Let's buy a B&B and quit the big city and the corporate life.

So that Spring and early Summer, we started looking - Cape Cod, mountains of Virginia, mountains of North Carolina, and Maine. Why these locations - just places that we'd been that had a left a favorable impression upon us. We looked online at first, then started visiting places. We got very interested in a B&B on Cape Cod, but Beth said let's go check out Maine. So we did. In planning the trip, a friend mentioned that we should check out Camden, Maine - so we included a side trip to Camden, Maine to visit Abigail's.

Well - in true guerrilla fashion - we left DC by car on Thursday night after work - drove until 2am, making Rhode Island where Beth's parents have a place. Got up at 6am the next morning and drove straight to Camden for a short visit on our way to the planned destination. All this being - right before July 4 weekend.

Upon arriving in Camden, we were immediately drawn in by the town and area. Here before us was this beautiful small town with a main street lined with stores, a harbor that opens on to the Penobscot Bay, and mountains (not tall by many people's standards - but for the East Coast of the US to have a mountain on the coast is a rarity). We had been to Maine before but not to Camden or even this far north - we had only made it as far as Booth Bay. So we were hooked on our first visit. We visited Abigail's, and well we were also hooked. It made our true destination an immediate after thought.

So after this whirl-wind visit, we came back 2 weeks later, put down a contract, closed on August 20, 2004 and the adventure began. Since then, we have had many wonderful guests and have learned quite a lot about how to run our own business and how to be your own best handy man/woman.

Welcome to our blog, Beth and Kipp
Come visit us at www.abigailsinn.com