Spruce Point Inn: a magical resort on the coast of Maine

With the inn in the background, Nate Jones, captain of the Sarah Mead, holds a pair of lobsters that netted a free meal. (Lebanon Voice photos)

BOOTHBAY HARBOR, Maine - With two pools, two clay tennis courts, an award-winning spa and two boats at guests' disposal, not to mention two fine-dining restaurants, you might think that Spruce Point Inn was out to be cast among the finest getaways in the northeast.

And you'd be right.

Nestled high on Spruce Point a stone's throw from touristy yet still quaint Boothbay Harbor, the 57-acre beautifully manicured resort overlooks the ocean with the historic Burnt Island Lighthouse just a mile or so offshore.

And while Boothbay Harbor can get bustling, even a tad raucous evenings, Spruce Point Inn is a wonderfully peaceful and poised friend to come home to, or never leave.

The list of amenities at SPI in formidable, with a spa ranked among the Top 20 nationwide, a salt water pool next to the ocean and a heated fresh-water counterpart near the woods.

The seaside salt water pool with whirlpool in the background.

Guests have so much to take advantage of here one night is hardly enough to enjoy it all.

But we did our best.

After checking in we immediately took an hourlong leisurely stroll of the property that includes hiking trails, finely manicured gardens and flowering plants, an exercise room, plus the aforementioned pools and spa.

Children will also love the s'mores hut and game room, while kids of all ages will get a kick out of the outside giant chess or checker board.

After meandering about for an hour and drinking up the ambiance and history of the place it becomes abundantly clear this is rarified lodging. A list of former guests is impressive. Some of them include Senator and Mrs. Robert Kennedy, President and Mrs. Hubert Humphrey, astronaut John Glenn, singer Andy Williams and actress Claudine Longet.

My chess prowess as rusty as my Dodge pickup, I concede before the game is started on of the the inn's greatest conversation pieces, an outside giant chess or checker board.

But enough of history. It was time for some boating in the present, so we put on jackets for a two-hour sail on the Friendship sloop Sarah Mead, an authentic sailing lobster boat used along the Maine coast whose design first became popular in the 1880s.

Tuesday may have had its major deluges in southern and Midcoast Maine, but by the time we set sail around 3 p.m. all the weather had passed and it was thin clouds with a decent breeze and light chop.

The captain of the Sarah Mead is Nate Jones, who grew up in North Berwick and went to Noble High, but spent summers on Muscongus Bay and the Damariscotta River.

Jones completely refurbished and rebuilt the Sarah Mead after buying it in 2005, and to put it mildly, he knows his way around the boat and the waters around Boothbay Harbor.

First, we sailed to just south of Burnt Island where we pulled a trap but alas no lobsters. Then we circumnavigated the island and headed back toward the inn, where just offshore we pulled another trap.

To watch Jones proceed under sail and come about to effortlessly drift perfectly and gracefully to the trap to be hauled is a thing of beauty.

And inside this trap we struck paydirt, well sort of. There were two lobsters, but alas, both about a half inch too short. Jones explained that the measuring tool used must show a minimum distance between the back of the eye and the rear of the carapace on a line parallel to the center line of the body shell. A lobster can also claw away unscathed if he or she's too big.

Jones also showed how to tell the difference between a male and female (the male has flippers near the center of his underside) and how one claw on every lobster is for crushing (it could take your finger right off, he says) and the other is for tearing. But you never know which one is which, so be careful. In other words some lobsters are lefties, some righties. Go figure.

Then it was just a short sail back to the inn's oceanside dock, where the hotel launch, the Bright Line, also docks. The launch takes guests into town on a route that takes them past Burnt and Mouse islands and then into a dock in the heart of Boothbay Harbor. There are five free round trips a day.

Once we were back on land it was time to take greater stock of our sumptuous quarters.

A lodge room nearly 800 square feet on two lvels with second story ceilings made for spacious splendor.

We stayed in a suite in the Loon Lodge with its nearly 800 square feet of living space with 20-foot ceilings. A faux-wood gas fireplace, a bathroom the size of a bedroom with a soaking tub with water jets and a separate closeted walk-in shower were just the beginning of the luxurious layout.

The room also included a refrigerator, a Keurig, a private covered porch and for nighty-night, a plush-top king with triple sheeting.

We were by now starving but wanted to work up an even better appetite with a swim in their seaside salt water pool followed by a whirlpool, all the while enjoying the spectacular views of the ocean and across the bay to Southport Island.

The salt water pool is not heated but being a New England boy my entire life, I was just fine, while Martha got some extra quality time in the whirlpool.

Afterward it was time for a quick change and on to dinner. We had early considered going into town to one of our many favorite Boothbay Harbor haunts, but decided on this evening to stay on the property and just relax.

The view from our front porch

SPI features an ultra-fine dining experience at "88" where you can enjoy dishes like an eight-ounce center cut filet mignon with rosti, a Swiss-inspired potato dish; asparagus and bordelaise for $35; or an iron seared duck breast with fingerlings, baby bok choy, shitake salad, and pomegranate demi-glace for $30 among other unique and inspired offerings.

We opted for the more casual Bogie's, where among the selections was fried local beer batter haddock with house tartar, leaf lettuce, tomato, red onion on a brioche and mouth-watering fries for $16; or a certified angus hamburger with red onion, tomato, leaf lettuce, brioche and fries for $12.

We got the hamburger and actually split it, it being a 12-ounce monster. Our lovely, attentive young lady bartender, a native of South Africa at the inn for summer employment, was quick to point out the chef is always bragging he has the biggest hamburger in the Boothbay region. Now we know.

To wash it down we sipped on Gnarly Head, a California chardonnay, at $8 a glass. That was a $33 dinner, with tip. And the two of us couldn't finish it. Not bad.

If we'd had time to stay another day, we would've loved to take out a kayak for a couple of hours or spent some time tooling around Boothbay Harbor on bicycles. Both our complimentary with a stay.

The Spruce Point Inn has a variety of lodging options including cottage rooms for around $150 a night, inn rooms for $160, lodge rooms like we had for about $250 for oceanview and around $800 for a townhouse. Call or visit here to check availability and exact pricing. They also have cottages but looking at their website their availability is extremely tight.

The inn is open until Oct. 23.