After she survived the Titanic sinking, socialite Madeleine Astor, 19, came here to mourn her newlywed husband, John Jacob Astor IV; play a little tennis; and raise their child. Her astonishing Bar Harbor cottage, La Selva, is another survivor–yours this summer for $2.3 million.

By Brad Emerson

Only a few grand ‘cottages’ of Bar Harbor’s era as a glamorous summer resort survive. One of the most famous, La Selva, is for sale. Its story is quintessentially American, a serial whose installments might have been written by Howells, Wharton, or Fitzgerald.

La Selva (selva is Spanish for jungle or forest) was built in 1902 for Andrew Jackson Davis, a successful coal operator from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. His big payday came in 1900, when he sold the mines to the LeHigh Railroad and retired to enjoy his new fortune. The family had summered in Northeast Harbor, but now they set their sights on Bar Harbor, where they felt the scenery was even finer, and where in the company of some of America’s most prominent families–Morgans, Vanderbilts, Pulitzers, McCormicks, and Livingstons–their marriageable daughters would be launched in society.

Recreational Vehicle (RV) travel is beyond a moving experience. The real magic happens when you’re standing still.

By Colin W. Sargent

Tired of airport gropings and luggage searches by overzealous members of the TSA? The whole sense of air travel has lost its charm, its Chanel No. 5 fragrance. As a former Navy pilot, I used to love the miracle of flying so much…Eastern, TWA, Pan Am. Do you remember when Delta was Delta? Now that Southwest is the one herding us into the new economy, you’d better laugh when the flight attendants do their insult-comic routines, unless you want a Diet Coke spilled on your lap.

Well, I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore! Happily, I’m not alone.

As airports continue to tighten security,  “Consumers cite the freedom and flexibility of recreational vehicles (RVs),” says Bill Baker of the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association, Reston, Virginia. “With an RV, you’re really the captain of your destination. You can stop where you want, change your itinerary. Airlines are costly, and the experience is a hassle. They’re oversold, overbooked. The trend toward luxury RVs has been building for a long time.”

Sometimes you just feel like a wreck.

By Colin W. Sargent

What becomes a “lazy-man’s shipwreck” most? The quintessential example used to be the Hesper and the Luther Little in Wiscasset. A generation of diners at Le Garage remembers seeing these two lumber schooners hauled up in full view on the other side of the large observation windows. When the ships finally collapsed into a heap of debris the town had no choice but to remove, their absence was so magnificent, and so acutely felt by sentimental observers, they still look for them when they walk into the restaurant. Which brings us to this story. If you don’t feel like scuba-diving or fathoming the seas with fiber-optic cables, what easy-to-view shipwrecks exist today?

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Portland has hotel fever–big, beautiful showplaces are in the works, with restaurants and event spaces. If we build them, will they come?

By Patrick Venne

We’re a food-crazy border state, so where are the starry Franco-American restaurants?

By Claire Z. Cramer

We call it art when Oliver Stone and Katherine Bigelow fictionalize warfare and violence on screen, so why do we slap their wrists when Brunswick teen filmmakers do the same thing?

By Jeanee Dudley

Your wedding, your way.

From Staff & Wire Reports

When you’re not collaborating on the Met Life building in Manhattan, what do you dream up in Maine?

by Brad Emerson

In 1947, world-famous architect Walter Gropius and his subsidiary group, The Architect’s Collective (TAC), were commissioned to build a simple summer house for his friends Arnold Wolfers, a noted political scientist, and his wife, Doris, whose father was president of the Swiss Parliament. A decade younger than Gropius, Wolfers had come to America in 1933 as the first master of Pierson College at Yale and would later become director of the Center for International Relations in Washington.

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It’s a 10-day safari, a whirlwind of culinary excursions from March 1-10. The question is, do you dare to risk trying something new?

By Claire Z. Cramer

The first thing to know about the fifth annual Maine Restaurant Week is that it isn’t actually a week. It’s a 10-day opportunity to sample irresistible multi-course menus dreamed up by clever chefs who are just as sick of winter as you are. At very attractive prices. At restaurants all over the state.

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More to Explore: Maine Restaurant Week Across the State:

1912 Cafe, Freeport

40 Paper, Camden

Academe Brasserie, Kennebunk

Azure Cafe, Freeport

Back Bay Grill, Portland

Bar Lola, Portland

Bintliff’s Restaurant, Ogunquit

Bonobo Wood Fire Pizza, Portland

The Broad Arrow Tavern, Freeport

Buck’s Naked BBQ, Portland

Cappy’s Chowder House, Camden

Carmen at the Danforth, Portland

Casa Novello, Westbrook

Corner Room, Portland

Cumberland Club

David’s & David’s Opus Ten, Portland

David’s 388, South Portland

DaVinci’s Eatery, Lewiston

DiMillo’s , Portland

The Dry Dock, Portland

El Rayo–Taqueria & Cantina, Portland

Eve’s at the Garden, Portland

Farmer’s Table, Portland

Federal Jack’s, Kennebunkport

Fire & Water Fish & Chop House at Marriott Sable Oaks, South Portland

Fish Bones American Grill, Lewiston

Five Fifty-Five & Point 5 Lounge, Portland

Francine Bistro, Camden

Freeport Seafood Company

Fromviandoux, Camden

Front Room Restaurant & Bar, Portland

Frontier Cafe, Brunswick

Fuel, Lewiston

The Good Table, Cape Elizabeth

Great American Grill, Auburn

Great Lost Bear, Portland

Grill Room and Bar, Portland

Hartstone Inn, Camden

Hot Suppa!, Portland

Hug’s Italian Restaurant, Falmouth

Le Garage, Wiscasset

Local 188, Portland

The Lucerne Inn, Dedham

Mac’s Grill, Auburn

Natalie’s Restaurant, Camden

Nautilus Seafood & Grill, Belfast

Old Port Sea Grill, Portland

One Dock at the Kennebunkport Inn

Pepperclub/Good Egg Cafe, Portland

Petite Jacqueline, Portland

Ribollita, Portland

RîRa Irish Pub, Portland

Royal River Grillhouse, Yarmouth

The Salt Exchange, Portland

Saltwater Grill, South Portland

Sea Dog Brewing Company–
South Portland/Topsham/ Bangor

Sea Glass Restaurant, Cape Elizabeth

Shepherd’s Pie, Rockport

Shipyard Brew Pub, Eliot

Slate’s, Hallowell

Solo Bistro, Bath

Sonny’s, Portland

Spread, Portland

Tavern at Brunswick Station

The Thirsty Mule, Oakland

Thornton’s Bar and Grille, South Portland

Twenty Milk Street, Portland

Vignola Cinque Terre, Portland

Walter’s, Portland

White Cap Grille, Portand

Yellowfin’s, Ocean Park

Zapoteca Restaurante Y Tequileria, Portland