“We’re not just a hotel where you take your room and nobody cares about you”, says Arlene Stetson; full-modern amenities (coffee makers, cable television, robes, and more) run the gamut, with baskets offering everything from toothbrushes to earplugs.

Sparkling lakes. Sweet mountain air. A charming New England village. Visitors who travel to Naples, Maine, nestled in the Sebago Lakes region, and stay at the Augustus Bove House, have a double advantage: place and place! Not only is the western Maine inn smack in the middle of it all—coastal Portland on the southeast and Mount Washington Valley and North Conway, New Hampshire, on the west, but the establishment, as many of the repeat guests will attest to, is a homey destination designed for relaxation.

The lakeside inn was built as a farmhouse in 1820, only to become the Hotel Naples from 1850 to 1939, gaining a reputation as one of the finest “summer hotels” in the vicinity. Many luminaries, like opera star Enrico Caruso and Joseph P. Kennedy who have stepped through its door, bear out its standing. Since 1984, the inn has been owned by David and Arlene Stetson.

Another attribute: love is spoken during all four seasons at the Augustus Bove House. “After the kids all left us (they had eight), we got to shopping around and decided it was a good time to run away from home, and I found this house for sale, and I fell in love with it,” says Arlene, who had initially honeymooned with her husband in the area.

Suitably, the innkeeper can also officiate over wedding ceremonies. Numerous have been celebrated right on the front lawn of the inn; the dining room ample enough for small weddings and get-togethers. Many of the married couples return to the inn to celebrate their anniversaries. Behind the distinct Colonial-style building, awash indoors with antiques and English-style decor, guests discover eight guestrooms, two suites and two cottages. Living under the premise that “We’re not just a hotel where you take your room and nobody cares about you”; full-modern amenities (coffee makers, cable television, robes, and more) run the gamut, with baskets offering everything from toothbrushes to earplugs.

The guestrooms, furnished with queen, twin or king-size beds, provide aesthetical elegance and envelop the sojourner in unique surroundings, whether they choose the Black and Pink Room, the Blue Room or the Yellow Room and so on. The first-floor suite wins hands-down with honeymooners and couples who prefer superlative time together. “That room is very large and cozy for people who want to be left alone. They have a table there where they can sit and eat—we will serve breakfast in there, if they want to be that much alone. There’s an anniversary tray or a honeymoon tray, if they specify that’s what they want,” Arlene explains, describing the suite, which also boasts a private deck and uncompromising views of Long Lake.

The innkeeper says that the two-room suite on the third floor is just as luxurious and secluded as the first-floor suite, “because it’s away from everybody else.” What is referred to as the large cottage, which can sleep up to six, is situated behind the inn. The small cottage, located behind the main inn, Arlene describes as “being totally by itself,” and another ultra-private getaway for couples. To further enhance any romance, the innkeepers will provide additional things like a bottle of wine, flowers or candy.

Guests certainly do not have to request culinary treats. Morning begins with a full, homemade breakfast from fresh fruit to hot entrees like French toast with ham. On colder days, guests can bask in front of the crackling fireplace and enjoy afternoon tea. Warmer days mean sipping tea outside on the sweeping porch and taking in the panoramic views. Late-night snackers have homemade cake and cookies to sooth their cravings.

“We’re very personable, very friendly. I’m perfectly willing to talk to people—if that’s what they want. If they want us to talk to them, fine, we’ll sit down and talk to them; but if they want to be alone, we let them be alone,” Arlene says. 

Describing a vacationing husband and wife fishing team, she says, “They come every year and they fish for the whole week. They go out every morning about five-thirty, six o’clock, and I don’t see them until mid-afternoon or so.”

Whether fishing or enjoying winter sporting adventures or taking advantage of milder weather by catching the multi-hued sunsets while cruising on the Songo River in the Songo River Queen, a replica of the famed Mississippi River Stern Paddle Wheeler, travelers have activities galore at hand. 

“Guests can walk to everything. They can walk to four or five marinas and rent a boat. A country golf club course is right up the street. There’s miniature golf. There’s a drive-in. There’s an airplane right out front that will take you sightseeing. There’s even a horse-drawn carriage in this neighborhood that goes out at night. I can schedule that for them, if they want to take a horse-drawn carriage ride,” Arlene explains.

When she refers to her “regulars,” some hailing from England, she says, “We’ve had people coming to us for ten or fifteen years, they’re not guests anymore, they’re friends.”

New bonds created. Old bonds reinforced and reconfigured. So many possibilities can happen at one luxurious place to come home to.

Augustus Bove House
11 Sebago Road,
Naples, Maine 04055.
Phone: 207-693-6365. 888-806-6249.
Web: www.NaplesMaine.com 
Email: augbovehouse@adelphia

 

About the Author: Stacy Lytwyn Maxwell Award-winning journalist Stacy Lytwyn Maxwell has written about many subjects including decorating, healthy lifestyles and has interviewed and written about such luminaries as Judy Collins and Ella Fitzgerald for many national and regional newspapers and magazines. Specializing in travel writing for the past 13 years, she is the author of Consummate Connecticut: Day Trips with Panache. She is also publisher at Cat Tales Press. Her web site is www.cattalespress.com.