The New York Times-20080125-The Simple Life- North of -the Volvo Line-
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The Simple Life, North of 'the Volvo Line'
Full Text (1301 words)IT was love at first schuss for the Gulliver-Joyle family upon their first visit to Sugarloaf in western Maine in 1995. They bought a condo near the mountain three years later for $100,000, but soon realized it was not for them.
I'm a light sleeper, and in the condos, people come back after last call, Jonathan Joyle said. It's a little too rowdy for me.
So in 2004, the family sold its condo for $225,000 and bought a six-bedroom, two-bath, 3,500-square-foot Victorian built around 1910 in Kingfield, 15 miles south of Sugarloaf, for $147,000.
On the Cape, this would be an $800,000 house, said Mr. Joyle, a contractor who lives in Falmouth, Mass., on Cape Cod, with his wife, Suzy Bird Gulliver, and their two youngest children.
The Gulliver-Joyles are not alone in their devotion to Kingfield, an old-fashioned town that has old-fashioned home prices to match, with many houses available for less than $200,000.
That old-fashioned feel, of course, means a limited retail palette. Kingfield's businesses include one supermarket (Trantens Family Store), one hardware store (Jordan Lumber) and one video store (Kingfield Video Network). There are no chain stores, but no drugstores or bookstores either; for those, people drive 22 miles south to Farmington. But no one, not old-timers or newcomers, seems to fret about it.
When I came here, I knew what to expect, said Will Hotham, who has a house in Kingfield and other homes in Mount Pleasant, S.C., and on Martha's Vineyard, where he owns the Home Port Restaurant. I'm kicking back in dungarees and a flannel shirt. If I have to leave here to travel 30 minutes to do my shopping, I don't mind.
Mr. Hotham and his wife, Madeline, bought their early 20th-century, four-bedroom, four-bath house in Kingfield in 1985 for $45,000. It was a steal then, he said.
Kingfield also cast its spell over Thomas Bellino and Tammy McCutcheon, who visited the Hothams for snowmobiling in January 2006. By the next April, they had bought a 1,600-square-foot stone cottage built in 1928 for $160,000. Mr. Bellino, a home builder from South Carolina, said he relishes the town's simplicity.
It's part of why we came up here, he said. It's a good little secret.
The Scene
Mainers are generally known for enduring, rather than embracing, tourism. Yet people from away report a warm welcome in Kingfield.
The people are the best thing about the area, Mr. Hotham said. It's a very unpretentious town. People drive by and wave, and they don't even know you.
The town's permanent population has hovered around 1,100 for decades, but the part-time population has risen steadily, real estate agents say. The town's attractions are the simple lifestyle, low home prices, and proximity to great skiing, hiking, fishing and kayaking.
Kingfield was incorporated in 1816 as part of what was then the Maine District of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It sits in western Maine's Longfellow Mountain Range at the confluence of the Carrabassett and West Branch Carrabassett Rivers, north of what a Portland transplant, Donald A. Fowler Jr., calls the Volvo line.
No one drives Volvos north of Portland, said Mr. Fowler, a lawyer who practices in Kingfield and who skis Sugarloaf nearly every day in winter.
Kingfield began as a farm and mill town, and logging trucks still roll down Main Street. The twin brothers Francis E. and Freelan O. Stanley, who created the Stanley Steamer automobile in 1897, were Kingfield natives, and there is a Stanley Museum in town.
The Irregular, Kingfield's weekly newspaper, offers this slogan: Serving the western mountains of Maine, where the kids grow straight and tall and the women are all good looking.
Poland Spring has begun taking water from the same aquifer that supplies Kingfield, and plans to open a 202,000-square-foot bottling plant in town this year. Local festivals include Kingfield Pops, an outdoor art and music festival, in June, and Kingfield Days, on the last weekend of July, which includes a Whatever Floats Race on the river.
Jeff Mitchell, a broker at Village Realty in Wilton, said that second-homers have changed the region in some ways. They want to go to Trantens and buy fresh basil, imported cheese and nice wine, he said. Being practical Mainers, the store's owners now stock those items.
Kip and Loraine Files bought their Kingfield farmhouse in 1985 for $38,000. Mr. Files, who sails the Victory Chimes, a three-mast schooner built in 1900, on cruises out of Rockland, said Kingfield represents an old New England that has held on but is slowly disappearing. It's a small-town lifestyle that we think about for the 1950s, he said.
Pros
I hesitate to tell you how good it is because I don't want everyone to flock here, said Mr. Hotham, echoing the sentiment of other part-timers. Being near outdoor activities is frequently mentioned, as are low home prices and the region's natural beauty, especially in winter. The town is also wired for DSL, which has encouraged some part-timers to move up and work remotely.
Moose, deer, bears and bobcats roam the birch and pine forests around Kingfield, occasionally making cameo appearances in town. When we have guests, watching the moose is the first thing we do, said Mr. Joyle, who drives visitors to a few choice viewing spots. Nine times out of 10 we see them.
The Appalachian Trail crosses over Bigelow and Sugarloaf Mountains, and it's possible to fly-fish for trout in the Carrabassett River from Main Street. People also pan the river for gold.
Cons
It is not easy, but, yes, you can get there from here. Bangor International Airport is 85 miles away and Portland International Jetport 115 miles.
It takes too long to get here, Mr. Hotham said. But in some ways that's not a bad thing.
Some second-home owners say they wish there was a movie theater or clothing shop in town.
The Real Estate Market
A three-bedroom, two-bath house can be had for $100,000 to $150,000, which seems to bewilder some potential buyers. If I advertise too far away, people ask, 'What's wrong with it?' said Janet Peruffo, a local real estate agent. For under $200,000, we have a lot of nice quality, substantial homes.
Houses for $500,000 usually have a lot of land and spectacular views, said Karen Pease, who owns Narrow Gauge Realty. But, she added, You hardly ever see anything for that price.
Properties generally stay on the market about six months. Most houses in Kingfield were built during the first half of the 20th century, but there are newer houses, too, which tend to be more expensive, said Nora West, an agent with Narrow Gauge.
Ms. Pease said that about 40 percent of her current business comes from second-home buyers. A lot of them are folks with growing kids who want to get back in touch with the important things in life, she said.
LAY OF THE LAND
POPULATION 1,148, according to a 2006 Census Bureau estimate.
SIZE 38 square miles.
WHO'S BUYING Outdoorsy types from southern Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York.
GETTING THERE Kingfield is in western Maine, at the intersection of Routes 16, 27 and 142. It's about 425 miles from New York City and 220 miles from Boston. Many visitors fly to Portland or Bangor and rent cars.
WHILE YOU'RE LOOKING Three Stanley Avenue Bed and Breakfast (3 Stanley Avenue, 207-265-5541; www.stanleyavenue.com) is a Victorian house with six cozy rooms for $50 to $75 per night. The stately, historic and dog-friendly Herbert Grand Hotel (246 Main Street, 888-656-9922; www.herbertgrandhotel.com) has 26 rooms, ranging from $99 to $175 a night.
[Illustration]PHOTO: EASY FLOW: The fastest thing in Kingfield may be the Carrabassett, which is fished for trout and panned for gold. (PHOTOGRAPH BY HERB SWANSON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)MAP Map of Kingfield, Maine.