Getaway for Gourmets
Five Gables InnMurray Hill Road, Box 335
East Boothbay 04544
Perched on a hillside overlooking Linekin Bay, this five-gabled establishment dates back more than 110 years and was the last remaining summer hotel in the area. It was love at first sight for Mike and De Kennedy, who had just concluded a “mid-life break” in which they crewed on a yacht in French Polynesia and back-packed for six months from Bali to Nepal.
Previous owners had renovated the old Forest House into their dream B&B by the water. The Kennedys had only to add their personal touches and experiences, which they have in abundance. Mike, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America when it was in New Haven, has worked his way around much of the world. He and De moved to Maine from Atlanta, where he renovated old homes, performed in TV commercials and gave historic tours. De, an artist, comes from an old Southern family and prepped for inn keeping by organizing house parties at her family’s ante-bellum retreat in the Georgia hills.
Here they entertain guests in sixteen rooms on the three floors, all with a water view. All have modern baths and queensize beds (one kingsize), and five have working fireplaces. Lace curtains and quilts color-coordinated to De’s artistic accents and the pictures on the walls enhance the décor, all of which is light, airy and new. De hand-crocheted the afghans that grace many of the rooms.
Mike puts his cooking background to the test at multi-course breakfasts, served in a spacious common room appointed with wing chairs and bouquet of fresh flowers. His repertoire lasts for two weeks, a daily procession of, say, zucchini-walnut pancakes, quiche lorraine, blueberry french toast or basil-tomato frittata. Potatoes anna, fried tomatoes, blueberry crisp and pear in puff pastry might accompany, along with fresh-ground Columbian coffee.
De offers afternoon tea in the English manner, served with chocolate-ship cookies and poppyseed or banana bread and taken in the airy living room or on the wraparound veranda, where a hammock and abundant sitting areas take in the view of the bay.