Highfields

It began in 1988 when the owners stumbled on a “For Sale” sign at an 11-acre wooded lot. With their 3 young boys, they started an annual camping tradition: staking tents, cutting down trees, lugging in drinking water, having bonfires, and jumping off the neighbor’s dock into the cold Maine water.

Ten years later, they built a small cabin, still with no water or electricity. Twenty years later (still lugging that water!), they purchased the point, an 18-acre adjacent parcel with rolling fields down to the tidal river. They cut more trees, dug a pond, planted meadows, slowly transforming the woodlot into a saltwater farm.

In 2010, they discovered Knickerbocker Group, and the next leg of their adventure began. Now working with 29 acres, our team found the perfect spot for their home: the top of the knoll, exactly where the owners had decided to build their cabin in the woods all those years ago.

The living room is the most formal, with a fieldstone fireplace, coffered ceiling, and an antique newel post at the base of the stairs. The owner’s uncle saved the newel from The Willows Hotel in Prouts Neck before it was torn down and kept it in storage for over 40 years before it found its new place of honor at Highfields.

All throughout design and construction, they scoured local antique and salvage shops for other special finds that would lend to the historic feel: antique sconces flank the stovetop and the bricks behind were reclaimed from old factory demolitions in Chicago.

A perfect ending to their 25-year adventure, the owners completed the saltwater farmhouse just in time to host their son’s wedding in the meadow. Not surprisingly, the guests slept in tents, carrying on the family’s long-time camping tradition.