Sale of Rockefeller estate on MDI to fund bequests

Got $19 million and a desire to own a stunning waterfront property on Mount Desert Island?

That’s the asking price for the 14.5-acre Seal Harbor estate of David and Peggy Rockefeller, which has been placed on the market by The Knowles Co. of Northeast Harbor. 

David Rockefeller, an American banker who was chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corp., was the oldest living member of the Rockefeller family and family patriarch from August 2004 until his death in March 2017 at the age of 101. 

The seven-bedroom 5,000-square-foot, year-round home known as Ringing Point served as the summer residence of Rockefeller and his late wife Peggy, who designed the main house in 1972 and oversaw the landscaping on the property, which includes meandering grass pathways and flanking flower gardens.

The estate offers vistas of the harbor and outer islands, according to Knowles Co.’s listing.

The Portland Press Herald reported that the proceeds from the sale of the estate will go toward the bequests made in David Rockefeller’s will. 

Shortly after his death, the Press Herald reported that Rockefeller left $20 million to the Land and Garden Preserve of Mount Desert Island in Seal Harbor, $5 million to the Maine Coast Heritage Trust and pieces of sculpture and art to the Land and Garden Preserve.