If you are good at writing essays and you have $125 in your pocket, you can win an idyllic Maine country inn valued at $905,000. It’s not a joke, and there’s no catch. The owner of this cute inn, the 68-year-old, Janice Sage has plans to give it all away to the winner of an essay contest she launched early this year. The interesting thing is that Sage won the property in the same way. In 1993, then-owners of the Inn, Bil and Susie Mosca, held an essay contest (entry fee: $100) to find a successor. They chose Janice Sage, who had been managing a 50,000-square-foot restaurant in Maryland before winning ownership of the Inn.
Now, you can replace Sage. You just have to be eager to run the business and convey their qualifications in an impeccably crafted, but spare, 200-word essay, the owner of the Center Lovell Inn and Restaurant. A committee will choose 20 finalists based on the essays, and the winner will be announced on May 21.
The Inn was built in 1805, the barn on 1795 and the adjacent guest house in 1985. There are 7 guest units, two dining rooms, and a screened-in wrap-around porch overlooking the mountains, all on 12+- acres.
This area attracts guests from around the world for biking, hiking, skiing and all kinds of boating on beautiful Kezar Lake (across the street) and the many other lakes in this “Lake District” of Maine.