Black Point Inn, Prouts Neck

"...on the roof, it's peaceful as can be...

there's room enough for two...."

James Taylor

Up on the Roof

When the day has been kind of a killer...and your husband texts "Black Point? Sunset?"

Reply is "Absolutely."

And somehow everything then makes sense.

All is righted.

One of our favorite activities of summer is coming to The Black Point Inn on a hot weekday evening after work for dinner on their deck admiring a breathtaking sunset over Ferry Beach and Pine Point.

The inn stays open for the season until the end of October.

Another favorite time we like to visit is on a Saturday afternoon for a hot lunch of clam chowder or a haddock sandwich with a hot cup of coffee after we’ve walked The Cliff Walk in the cold. Our cheeks are flushed, we wear our fall plaids and scarves, sometimes gloves.

Standing atop the cliff looking down at Scarborough Beach from this vantage point, we remember our summer, just past. We tell summer stories.

I hate to let out our secret since the inn has become much more busy over the years we’ve been going there…..but, for them, and for you, I must share.

I so love it here. It is such a treat to visit this historic shingled inn at Prouts Neck.

Gracious hospitality and the way life should be, comes to mind.

A group of white Adirondack chairs graces their front lawn.

We sit and have a cocktail or glass of Prosecco before going to our high top table on the deck, letting the busyness of the day go, winding down.

We see the sun beginning to lower over the inlet between Ferry and Pine Point Beaches.

We pause.

Take a breath.

Shoulders begin to relax, lower.

Once while sitting on the Adirondacks, Glenn Close rode by on a bicycle.

By that point, we had seen Glenn several times on Scarborough Beach – once walking a baby in a carriage along the shoreline, once playing bocce at the Prouts Neck side of the beach. She is smaller in person than she looks on film. I guess they say that about all stars.

Ben was about seven, collecting crabs in a plastic pail, when we saw her playing bocce. “Ben,” we whispered as we walked by. “It’s Cruella deVille!!” His little eyes opened wide but he couldn’t see it. Glenn looked nothing like that villain dog-napper in person. Her hair certainly wasn’t black and white. Nonplussed, he just bent over and continued crabbing.

We could hear the southern accents on the young couple sitting near us on the Adirondacks, so my husband leaned over and said, “See that woman riding a bike? It’s Glenn Close.”

“What?” the woman replied to him. “Shut your mouth!” She then pointed Glenn out to her husband, very excited at this celebrity sighting.

Something we love about Maine is that on the rare occasions we see celebrities, no one bothers them. No one makes a fuss or big deal. These famous folks can hopefully just be themselves, and enjoy the beauty of our state without distraction or interference like the rest of us can. I like to be that person for them.

Originally named Southgate House and built in 1878, the inn’s history includes politicians, rail barons, and one of Maine’s most famous native sons – painter, Winslow Homer. American Indians discovered the area when they came by canoe to fish. The area’s rocky coast and dense pine forest made it look dark from the water, hence the name Black Point.

The inn was once owned by the Sprague family in the early 1920’s. They were responsible for increasing its size and adding its cottages. Now it’s owned by the Migis Hotel Group who own The Inn at Ocean’s Edge on Penobscot Bay and Migis Lodge on Sebago Lake among other New England properties.

It was my real father who first brought me to Prouts Neck.

He loved the ocean and introduced me to several southern Maine seaside towns – Kennebunkport, Ogunquit.

Back when he would ride me around the cul-de-sac at Prouts Neck, no homes were on the southern point. It was just an empty cliff.

He used to say he wanted his house there. He’d point it out to me, talk me through what it would look like.

He had good taste.

Now there are a few beautiful homes on that point of land.

He wasn’t the only one with the vision.

Recently, at the request of my older son, we each did our “Top Seven” lists of favorites in various topics – music, movies, books….and places. We compared our lists, learned new things about each other, got a deeper glimpse of our loves.

I was thrilled to see that Scarborough Beach & Prouts Neck & The Cliff Walk showed up on each one of our lists as a top favorite place…in the entire world.

That’s how much this little corner of Maine means to us.