(207)-252-9025 deanleslie@cascobayhardwoodflooring.com CascoBayHardwoodFlooring.com DUSTLESS SANDING. CUSTOM FINISHING. SUPERIOR SERVICE. CascoBay Hardwood Flooring, Inc. 98 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine House of the Month courtesy photos huge. When Eric Pierce took me here, we scratched our heads. What could this have been used for?” Rum-running? Wild parties? Ac- cording to Pierce, “The elevated 30-foot by 30-foot dance hall, with its magnifi- cent close-fitted diagonal birch planks, is compellingly unexplainable on its own.” If you look closer, “the separate dou- ble-wide entry stairs and door that faces the courtyard instead of the road” com- pound the mystery. If not for a limited- access speakeasy, what else could this possibly have been for? It’s not wired for lights or electricity. In the 1920s, lan- terns and candles would have been more fitting in such a place where anonymity was desired by some perhaps…no bright lights to attract unwanted attention or prying eyes.” In the tower, “the top two rooms are bedrooms,” Oby says. Which brings us to a sexy little stream that separates this house from the Lake- wood Theater Colony. P ierce, born in Bangor but now a Tex- as resident, reports Lakewood Theater Colony manager “Herbert Swett was determined to make and keep his theater and surroundings attractive to highbrow clientele in order to attract the best actors and actresses of the time, and to attract the most affluent visitors as well. The Dance Hall is a five-minute walk from the the- ater, and you have to cross a stream. Local legend has it that on the theater side of the stream, the theater had lots of rules for the actors and staff and housed them in gen- der separated housing. If you crossed the stream you were no longer under Swett’s ‘jurisdiction’ or the rules of the theater. There is no doubt in my mind that a lot of thirsty and bored actors, actresses, and pa- trons crossed that stream on a very regu- lar basis to drink, to party, and get a little wild—if nothing else but to cut the bore- dom of city-dwellers confined to the deep woods of Maine.” Pierce feels there’s a chance Humphrey BettyWhite pole dancing in the early days.According to LakewoodTheatre,she and hubbyAllen Ludden met at Lakewood while performing together in the 1962 play Critic’s Choice.They honeymooned at the nearby Colony House Inn.