Courtesy / The B&B Team
Original features include wide pumpkin pine floor boards.
Updated: October 2, 2022
Blue Hill inn dating to 1830 sells to Georgia couple
Courtesy / The B&B Team
The Blue Hill Inn has continually operated since it was built in 1830.
The buyers of the Blue Hill Inn said they’re embracing both its historic nature and the chance to develop concepts of eco-tourism and green lodging practices.
Kim and Clair Maxwell bought the inn, at 40 Union St. in Blue Hill, from Duncan Hamilton for an undisclosed price.
Dana Moos of Swan Agency Real Estate represented the seller and Eben Viens of the B&B Team represented the buyers.
“We were looking on the coast in New England and this one checked all the boxes,” Clair Maxwell told Mainebiz.
The inn is located on two acres in the center of the village of Blue Hill and a block from the head of Blue Hill Bay.
Built in 1830, it’s operated as an inn continually since it was built and is part of the National Historic District of Blue Hill. Features include elm trees, a perennial garden, a small grove of fruit trees and outdoor seating areas.
Inn operations incorporate environmentally friendly cleaning supplies and light bulbs, purchasing organic food and composting kitchen scraps, and recycling all waste possible.
The Federal period building has 11 guest rooms, a dining room and two parlors. It retains many of its original features, including clapboards, nine-over-six windows, wide pumpkin pine floor boards, six fireplaces, vintage door latches and a hitching post out front.
Next to the inn is a more recently developed structure called Cape House, with two larger, more modern suites with kitchens and televisions.
Grand adventure
The Maxwells landed in Blue Hill from Atlanta.
“We jumped into this grand adventure,” said Kim.
As relatively new empty-nesters, they had been looking for an enterprise of their own to operate.
Clair comes from a career as a director of music and Kim is a language pathologist.
They took an innkeeping seminar offered by the B&B Team about a year-and-a-half ago and started looking at properties on the market.
“They said it could take two to three years, but it took a little less than one year,” Clair said of the search.
The Maxwells have always enjoyed hosting people in their home and viewed owning a bed-and-breakfast as a great second chapter in their lives. They moved forward on their idea during the pandemic.
“We both got to be at home quite a bit,” said Kim.
As the world started opening again, they realized they enjoyed spending so much time together.
“We thought maybe we want to see more of each other,” she said.
Well-established business
During the search, they were interested in places they felt like they could live year-round.
“Initially, we were looking for a place a little less seasonal than Maine,” said Clair. “But when we looked at the median size of this inn and the idea that there was enough to support us year-round despite the seasonal nature, we thought it would appeal to us to have a little bit of downtime during the year. It was the right size and a well-established business by the coast.”
“And Blue Hill is a great community,” Kim added. “It has a lot of music and art – quite a bit of culture.
Some plans are in the works for upgrades. For the short-term, the couple said, they’ll
freshen things up and do some maintenance on the grounds as well as inside the inn.
Long-term, the goal is to develop more of an established garden and go through room-by-room to see what other improvements might be made.
The Maxwells said that, in their research, they found that many inns have activities and facilities such as restaurants that are just as much for local residents as they are for guests.
“The inn has some history of providing meals on a limited basis in the past and we’d like to bring back the innkeeper’s reception drink in the afternoons,” said Clair.
The couple financed the purchase as an investment from the sale of their Atlanta home and through a bank loan.
The inn has a long-time customer base. The couple recently hosted another couple who have been coming to the inn since the 1990s.
“Part of what has appealed to us is the history, the responsibility of carrying on that tradition,” said Clair.
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