Upta Camp

Where do dreamers go when they come to Maine? Everywhere. But especially here. Amd it could be yours now.

BY COLIN W. SARGENT

up one ursday morning and scroll through the fresh real estate listings as you have every week for the last year. Suddenly you stumble into a Shangri La so alluring you get the feeling you’ve just fallen into somebody else’s dream. Not just one person’s or one generation’s dream, but a serial dream.

e old Parisian game the Exquisite Corpse comes to mind. is wilderness story is, and will be, re ned and de ned not by every teller but with every owner.

Sandy Lamontagne isn’t the rst visionary to take on Tea Pond Camps. She senses that this is the time to put the entire retreat for sale, but something about the spectacular presentation whispers that’s she’s not parting with it lightly.

“ e core of this rustic collection of cabins was built in 1920 [when private sporting camps were all the rage],” she says.

“We used to be called Tea Pond Camps. We’re o the grid, twenty minutes north of Sugarloaf, two hours northwest of Lewiston, 45 minutes from Woburn, Canada.”

A Tender Trap

Louis K. Liggett, founder of Rexall Drugs in Boston in 1903, was a dreamer on a large scale. His Rexall Train (established in 1936) was a mobile convention, a world’s fair on wheels that chugged across the U.S. and Canada to introduce the Rexall line of drugs and sundries to small towns. His massive Boston headquarters was where Northeastern University is today. He could have chosen anywhere as his rustic retreat, but the whistle-stop that bewitched him was right here in Eustis, Maine.

“Liggett used to live here,” Lamontagne says, “Each cabin was occupied by family members.”

Shades of Succession. When you’re in favor, do you get the upgrade to the more spacious model?

Following Acts

“Ed Bear, one of the inventors of the dialysis machine,” also fell under the spell of the beauty here. To stake their shared dream, “He and his wife, Shelley, sold their rights to the invention and bought this place.” e next dreamer is “Clif George, a philanthropist, who died [in 2010]. His ex-girlfriend sent me her recollection of his- tory [which dates one of the cabins to 1894].”

Which brings us all the way to Sandra “Yes,” Lamontagne says. “All the way down to me. If you build it they will come. And I have been able to build a very successful wedding and family-reunion venue here.”

Why here and nowhere else, beyond the once-in-a-lifetime accommodations?

“ e kayaking is so pristine. It’s a glacial pond. You look down and see the glacial ledge.”

A further advantage: “the loons at night. My now ex-partner and I bought it together in 2015, in the spring.”

We all know the haunting sound of loons that loops through the darkness. It cuts to the heart.

“We built the lodge over the next year and opened the restaurant in April 2016.”

Leap Of Faith

What’s your background?

Real-estate, contracting, and property management. I’ve given up everything for this place. e only restaurant training I’ve had is as a waitress at age 19. Craig (from upstate New York) and I dreamed of working together on something where we could slow our lives down. We obviously didn’t get that one. Life didn’t slow down. We are no longer together. He’s moved back to New York. I’ve been running it for the last year alone.”

Is there a bridge here that connects rustic Maine with contemporary Maine?

“I had this image in my head for the inside of the lodge,” with its cathedral ceiling, an almost musical post-and-beam con guration. “I wanted to do the interior with recovered barn sheathing. So I bought a barn in Jackman.”

You bought a barn.

“Paid a contractor to take it down. My son went there to load up the pieces. He called me on the phone:

“‘I can’t pick this up,’ he said.

“‘It’s rotten. It’s mush.’

“Bring it to me.”

“‘Mom. I can’t bring this to you. ere isn’t anything here!’

“When it was up, he li ed his head and smiled. ‘It’s so beautiful, I can’t believe it. Mom, this barnboard. is is just amazing. I just didn’t see this.”

A long silence. “I’ve loved this project.”

Business Is Personal

Lamontagne’s spectacular new lodge ties the whole dream together. It really is a wonder—which must have made it a more crushing blow when her partner dropped out of the project.

Between events, when no guests are around, when you step into the lodge, what music is ringing and vibrating through the timbers?

“I’m an avid country music fan.”

Like Porter Wagoner and the Wagoneers?

“More modern than that! We’ll do the country bold. e Willie Nelson. I’ve always had SiriusXM. We play e Highway.” is wilderness retreat is 90 acres. Choose any music you like. Who’s going to complain—the wild creatures?

Now that the 2023 season is under - way, what’s your favorite wedding celebration at this rustic retreat that you’ve hosted so far?

“It was on October 4 of last year. We draped the pavilion. It was a very rustic-chic wedding. We had a canoe hanging from the ceiling of the pavilion. We had reworks.”

Did you need a permit?

“We don’t need a permit. We’re in unorganized territory.”

[I’m trying to imagine. She sounds most organized to me.]

MARK TRAIL

What wildlife have you seen up here?

“ e rst year we were open for snowmobile season. We saw moose, owls, rabbits, deer, bobcat, lynx, black bear, fox, and coyote.” Lovely tracks were everywhere. “We’re a snowmobile destination. We earn half of our annual revenue January through March, open six days a week.”

BREAK IT DOWN

What strikes us about this listing is in some forums it’s called “single family.” It’s extraordinary how dear this place is to you. How have you described it?

“I wrote it with a friend. ‘Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own the ultimate sporting retreat. Eight living quarters, which includes six log cabins overlooking a pristine 90 acres, 115-foot-deep pond loaded with brook trout and salmon. Potential for multiple ownership.’”

Where do dreamers gather when they come to Maine?

Everywhere. But especially here. is legendary retreat is a steal at $899,999. n