Picture for a moment the idyllic family summer cottage, on a still, quiet lake dotted with islands, in a copse of tall pine trees; there’s a hammock, maybe, for lazing around on long summer afternoons, and a dock for swimming off of. Inside, there are board games spread out on the kitchen table and simple bedrooms with windows from which you can hear the crickets at night. It’s the stuff of nostalgic summer movies, of postcards—but for a family on Megunticook Lake near Camden, it’s a real place they’ve created for their extended clan to spend the summer.
The story begins in the early eighties, when one of the cottage owners, Margaret Cleary, first came to Maine from Maryland on antique-hunting expeditions with her mother, an antiques dealer. “She passed her love of textiles, furniture, and Chinese export porcelain to me and my sister, Catherine,” Margaret says. As it turned out, these trips also set in motion a lifelong love of Maine.
Fast-forward a few years, and the two sisters married a pair of college best friends, Don Cleary and Kevin Gallagher, and the families kept coming back to Maine, even as Margaret and Don moved over the years—even, at one point, to Hong Kong. “Don and I took a trip to Maine before we had children and camped in Acadia,” says Margaret, “even scuba diving in the frigid waters of Northeast Harbor. We came back with our three children a few years later and explored the Maine coast on vacations from Kittery to Harrington.” But they loved the midcoast region, its mountains and lighthouses and lakes. In 2013, from all the way across the world in Hong Kong, they put a stake in the ground and bought a cottage together with Catherine and Kevin on the shores of Megunticook Lake, near Camden, for their families to return to in summers, to recharge and be together.
The kitchen features quartzite counters and stools by Maine metalworker Ben Leavitt.
“We were already familiar with the lake and its incredible nature—loons and bald eagles abound—and its islands,” Margaret says. “We loved its surrounding mountains and the beautiful light we have at every time of day.” And the location was perfect, close enough to the bustle of downtown Camden and Penobscot Bay, yet far enough that the families could retreat from it, into the quiet, during the busy summer months. Still, with four grown children between them and thinking about the family expanding, they needed more room.
Then, in an instance of pure happenstance, the cottage next door put up a for-sale sign, literally a pinecone’s throw away from their original cabin. It even shared the same driveway.
A brass Rohl faucet pairs with an apron-front sink.
Work by Maine artists brings in bright color.
“We were surprised when the house came on the market—it had been owned by the same family since 1969,” notes Margaret. “It was a fishing camp built in 1935 and had a gorgeous setting facing west.” This cottage was unfussy, had historic bones, and was beautifully situated on a point of land jutting out into the lake, ideal for the simple summer hangout the families wanted. But the interiors were cramped and outdated, with low ceilings and dark wood paneling throughout—the exact opposite of the family’s vision, which was a bright, minimalist, easy-to-live-in communal space. Enter Camden-based designer Jessie Tobias, as well as The Potter Building Company.
First, there was the matter of shoring things up. “The house was not on a foundation, so the builder had to raise the house and pour a brand-new one. Not an easy task,” Jessie says. But laying one allowed the team to winterize the cottage, a priority for the family, and to expand it just slightly, working within tight zoning restrictions and with care for the cottage’s setting. The team kept the footprint almost identical to the original, but adding dormers and building above the sunporch allowed just enough space to squeeze in a bathroom for each of the three bedrooms—a jigsaw puzzle in a small floor plan.
Salvaged wood from an old barn serves as a rustic mantel.
Inside, the two families envisioned a “column-free,” uninterrupted living space where they could gather, and Jessie aimed to maximize light and openness as much as possible. “We vaulted the ceilings in the second floor, then used tall windows to bring in more light and give the illusion of more space,” she says—plus ample views of the lake, too.
The view is the focal point of many of the whitewashed rooms, but so are antiques—and a few nods to the cottage’s 85-year history. In one bathroom, there’s the original claw-foot tub and sink, which Jessie had reglazed; an interior brass porthole window, sleuthed from salvage, is a charming solution to bring in more light. The rough-hewn mantel above the fireplace was reclaimed from an old barn, and many of the nautical fish-lip light fixtures throughout are Margaret’s, collected on her antiquing travels.
Outside, the families left things simple. “We kept the lakeside exterior of the home as close to the original as possible to pay homage to a quirky and once well-loved cottage,” Jessie says. “It’s very visible on a point, so we knew from the beginning we wanted to maintain a sense of history.” The house is shingled in blue, and the family has dubbed it Sweetwater Cottage.
A daybed offers prime views of the lake—or a spot for a summer nap.
The whole renovation process took 15 months, start to finish, but now the families gather on the lake all year long—the cottage has already been the site of one Christmas and a family reunion. But the main event is summer. “Often, we have many things going on at once: games at the dining table, cooking in the kitchen, relaxing on our large window seat or on the porch,” says Margaret. And just being outside. “The lake is full of beautiful islands to explore, rocks to jump from, and an abundance of wildlife. Listening to the loons and watching their activity on the lake is what we most look forward to in summer.” That and antiquing.
The wide dock is a summer gathering place, with blue Adirondack chairs and space to lounge (or jump in).
