94 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine House of the Month town and shore; “visions of roses” by peter beales, photo by vivian russell; collection of maine historical society aine State Historian Ear- le Shettleworth Jr. has iden- tified this Gothic whimsy as one of the first summer residences built strictly for vacation purposes on the Maine coast. To see it, head south along Shore Road, pass Fort Williams and Delano Park, then turn left on Singles Road until you reach No. 7. The most recent resident is the late Nan- cy Brill Harvey (1930-2016), who adored her role as keeper of Beckett’s Castle. Her daugh- ter, Abby Harvey, is overseeing the sale. deal of the century “My mother bought the house in 1982, at a real auction and not before the auction, as I’ve read somewhere on the internet,” Nancy’s daughter says by tele- phone from Cambridge, Massa- chusetts. “She paid $100,000.” By then, the castle was endan- gered and up on the block for back taxes. After Sylvester Beckett died in 1882, the property passed to his daughter, Augusta Beckett Verrill. Sometime before 1963, it was bought by an Army officer who’d served at Fort Williams. Lt. Col Walter Singles left the castle “to his daughter,” Edna Singles Thomas, but life dealt her an unlucky hand and she was unable to live the fairy tale. In the end, a number of “squat- ters lived in the house,” Abby says, doing what they could to stay warm in the dark winters. “Because the fireplace was no longer usable, they’d have fires in the middle of the [living] room,” having dragged in “a fire pit.” There was a lot of “drinking and suppos- edly nudity.” A social worker with a 1981 Master’s Degree from Boston Uni- versity, Nancy Brill Harvey saw be- yond the mountains of beer cans as she cleared and lovingly restored the house and launched a private practice in downtown Portland “which she ran for 15 years,” Abby says. Galaxies of Roses In her mind’s eye, Nancy also saw world- class seaside rose gardens shooting up be- Belowright:Therosegardens,plantedbyHarveyandlandscaperLynnShaferon thegraniteoutcroppingsof CapeElizabeth,caughttheeyeof internationalrosar- ianPeterBeales.Bealesfeaturedthegardeninhis1996book,AVisionof Roses. Bas-relief of SylvesterBeckettby BenjaminPaulAkers,1851.