{"id":9711,"date":"2014-04-25T13:00:05","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T17:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=9711"},"modified":"2014-04-25T13:00:05","modified_gmt":"2014-04-25T17:00:05","slug":"made-in-the-shade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/made-in-the-shade\/","title":{"rendered":"Made In The Shade"},"content":{"rendered":"

May 2014 | View this story as a .pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here, Lafayette,\u201d at the newly restored Storer Mansion in Kennebunk.<\/h3>\n

By Colin W. Sargent<\/p>\n

\"made-in-the-shade-may14\"<\/a>Restored for modern living, Kennebunk\u2019s fabulous Storer Mansion remembers the world under sail.<\/p>\n

How many Maine homes can say, \u201cLafayette visited here\u201d? How many can add, \u201cand the tree that grew on this lawn became the emblem for our town crest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lafayette Elm gave shade to the Marquis de Lafayette when he visited the Storer Mansion in Kennebunk on June 25, 1825. The landmark was once described as floating over the lawn for two centuries \u201clike a giant green cloud\u201d that rose to 131 feet before Dutch elm disease claimed it in 1969.<\/p>\n

Its magnificent absence today still haunts the lovely Col. Joseph A. Storer Mansion (1758), along with the ghost of historical novelist Kenneth Roberts (1885-1957), who was born in a second-floor bedroom here.<\/p>\n

Listed recently for $625,000, the Federal manse boasts interiors that have been exquisitely decorated by artist David Wiggins, the former owner \u201cwho lived here and renovated\u201d the Federal landmark in situ<\/em>, says broker Maureen Adams Weaver. In particular, the spacious dining room delights with hand-painted murals that depict \u201cthe travels of a Kennebunk sea captain,\u201d with panels showing The Tropics, Europe, Boston, and then, near the massive fireplace (one of six), safe passage Home to the Kennebunk River. Deftly, a wet bar is to add a splash of verisimilitude to this voyage.<\/p>\n

The gourmet Colonial-style kitchen, featuring mustard-hued paneling accented with beadboard interiors; black soapstone counters; and 21st century appliances is just the ticket for entertaining guests swanning around in the three enormous rooms downstairs. Follow the original staircase and rail upstairs and you\u2019ll find three bedrooms. In one of them, Wiggins has designed a frieze that shows facing silhouettes of Lafayette and Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where they say Kenneth Roberts [Arundel<\/em>, Rabble in Arms<\/em>, Northwest Passage<\/em>, Boon Island<\/em>] was born,\u201d Weaver, a Kennebunker herself, says.<\/p>\n

With early paneling throughout, much of it bolstered by tasteful restoration, ancient brass hardware, and many original wide floorboards\u2013some Period-perfect in black and white diamonds\u2013this is one yare showplace where you can unpack your sea trunk.<\/p>\n

The classic post-and-beam barn has a tree growing through it (with windows inside to watch it grow), an in-law apartment, and massive barn doors that slide together and apart under power like pocket doors (engineering by Door Services Inc.). Taxes are $6,114.<\/p>\n

N.B. This story completes an eccentric Kenneth Roberts triangle for Portland Magazine<\/em>. We\u2019ve covered Roberts\u2019s 1938 stone estate, Rocky Pasture, in Kennebunkport; Stall Hall in Kennebunk Beach (1925); and now this house, his birthplace, as feature stories. Only Blue Roof, his writing studio across the road from Stall Hall (both face the first hole at Webhannet Golf Club), remains. Better yet, next stop, \u201cThe Half-Baked Palace,\u201d Roberts\u2019s getaway villa in Italy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 2014
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