Maine cabin dreaming

[SigPig94]

So I’m newly retired and currently living just north of Boston.....always DREAMED of owning a little cabin in southern Maine, on a small bass lake/pond, easy to fish by kayak, canoe, or small boat......and FULL of bass of course! 
If you had the chance to buy/rent/build, what lake/pond, 1-2 hours from Boston, would you like to be on?

[BurrStone]

Belgrade lakes region might suit you. Lots of water to explore, plenty of bass. But tack another hour of travel.

[jbmaine]

I'm retired and live in southern Maine. ( not on a lake), But there are several ponds, lakes, from 5 minutes to an hour from the house, and I can be on the salt water within 10 minutes. I live in the Kittery area.

[SigPig94]

11 hours ago, BurrStone said:

Belgrade lakes region might suit you. Lots of water to explore, plenty of bass. But tack another hour of travel.

Thx...I’ve checked out (on-line) the Belgrade area and it certainly provides many options. But to your point, the distance wasn’t ideal.  With two young kids, an extra hour or two in the car can be less than desirable!

9 hours ago, jbmaine said:

I'm retired and live in southern Maine. ( not on a lake), But there are several ponds, lakes, from 5 minutes to an hour from the house, and I can be on the salt water within 10 minutes. I live in the Kittery area.

Nice! Sounds like you have the best of both worlds for fishing!  And the Kittery Trading Post must be close too....love that place.

[haggard]

17 hours ago, SigPig94 said:

So I’m newly retired and currently living just north of Boston.....always DREAMED of owning a little cabin in southern Maine, on a small bass lake/pond, easy to fish by kayak, canoe, or small boat......and FULL of bass of course! 
If you had the chance to buy/rent/build, what lake/pond, 1-2 hours from Boston, would you like to be on?

I grew up on Boston's south shore and now live in southern Maine.

 

Try the Acton/Shapleigh area, easy access to Square, Mousam, Goose, Horn, Great East and several others. Do it and don't look back.

 

Congrats on your retirement.

 

[SigPig94]

9 minutes ago, haggard said:

I grew up on Boston's south shore and now live in southern Maine.

 

Try the Acton/Shapleigh area, easy access to Square, Goose, Horn, Great East and several others. Do it and don't look back.

 

Congrats on your retirement.

 

Thanks haggard! ?

[DanielG]

I was born and live in Southern Maine. I live in a family place on a lake that's been in the family since the 50's. On my camp road there are about 15 places. I think three of us are originals. Everyone else is from Mass, Connecticut, or NY. The good thing is that they are often seasonal. And come to think of it there really aren't any bad things about them. Nice people. If they are from one of these state we call them foreigners. If they are from California we call them aliens.

 

Thing is, it's a very easy travel from the Massachusetts area so a $180 place in any other neighborhood around here starts at about $500k once you put it with water frontage. And it would probably be a small place on about 1/4 acre, considered a 'camp' rather than a house. A gal from California recently purchased a place like that about two camps down from me. It was for renting and occasional use by her. I told here, "wow, that much for a rental." She said that in California a place like this would start at a million so she figures she got a bargain.

I know some people who go another route. They find a piece of land, still an arm and a leg and put a camper on it. Then again you said you were retired so you might be considering moving here and that might not be what you had in mind.

 

That being said, My wife and I have toured in our camper, not just traveled, every continental state (except N. Dakota, I did S. Dakota and figured it might be more of the same, flatland for days). Anyway, we've seen in nearly every state places that could be called home for someone wanting to settle down in a water area for angling. Each state has it's 'country' areas. Some more than others but they've all got them. And some places are less expensive because they are removed from commutable metropolitan areas.

When I travel to these places, everyone gushes over how they've visited Maine and absolutely loved it or they want to visit Maine as a bucket list item or want to move here. Sometimes I'm sitting in their state, listening to them at a campsite by a river, under a mountain thinking. "Ya know, it ain't any better than this."

[SigPig94]

Thanks Daniel....I really appreciate your response.  Renting would be the most sensible thing for my situation and is probably the best way to get a feel for things.  So nice that you have something like that in your family.

[James Engle]

On 5/1/2020 at 2:19 PM, SigPig94 said:

So I’m newly retired and currently living just north of Boston.....always DREAMED of owning a little cabin in southern Maine, on a small bass lake/pond, easy to fish by kayak, canoe, or small boat......and FULL of bass of course! 
If you had the chance to buy/rent/build, what lake/pond, 1-2 hours from Boston, would you like to be on?

We moved a year and a half ago into the lake arrowhead community in Limerick, Maine .  It’s a wonderful place to live, we love it. The association manages 13 private beaches around the lake which are great for carry in access. I do all my fishing out of an old town predator PDL. There are tons of ponds and lakes in this area, I’m sure if you looked around you could find a great place for your dream cabin. There is actually an island on lake arrowhead for sale , and also I’m not sure if it’s still listed but there is a parcel on another one of the  islands that already has concrete piers in place to be built on. 
 

let me know if you need somebody to build ?

[SigPig94]

On 5/9/2020 at 12:35 PM, James Engle said:

We moved a year and a half ago into the lake arrowhead community in Limerick, Maine .  It’s a wonderful place to live, we love it. The association manages 13 private beaches around the lake which are great for carry in access. I do all my fishing out of an old town predator PDL. There are tons of ponds and lakes in this area, I’m sure if you looked around you could find a great place for your dream cabin. There is actually an island on lake arrowhead for sale , and also I’m not sure if it’s still listed but there is a parcel on another one of the  islands that already has concrete piers in place to be built on. 
 

let me know if you need somebody to build ?

Thanks James!  I really appreciate the info and the offer!

[NHBull]

I would expand my search to central or northern NH.

You will run out of money before great options.....

but I am bias

 

[SigPig94]

On 5/13/2020 at 1:18 PM, NHBull said:

I would expand my search to central or northern NH.

You will run out of money before great options.....

but I am bias

 

Thx.....it certainly never hurts to have options! 

[nocluefisher]

Look in the Winthrop, Monmouth area. Bunch of Great fishing lakes (including cobbosocontee) and prices are a little more reasonable. 

[SigPig94]

On 5/23/2020 at 6:44 PM, nocluefisher said:

Look in the Winthrop, Monmouth area. Bunch of Great fishing lakes (including cobbosocontee) and prices are a little more reasonable. 

? Thx!