Historic Inns

Maine

Historic Inns & Hotels in Maine

From Kennebunkport’s captains’ houses and Portland’s Old Port to Camden’s High Street, Castine, Mount Desert Island and Moosehead Lake: every historic inn and hotel in Maine we could verify.

34 historic places to stay in 17 towns · verified October 2026 · by Historic Inns editors

The short answer

Portland has the most, with eight, including the Portland Regency in the 1895 State of Maine Armory and four stays in the West End; Kennebunkport has five, from the 1812 Captain Lord Mansion to The Colony, built in 1914, on Ocean Avenue. On the Midcoast, Camden’s High Street has four inns, among them the Whitehall Inn, where Edna St. Vincent Millay is thought to have first read her poetry in public, and The Norumbega, an inventor’s 1886 stone house. Downeast, the Claremont opened above Somes Sound on Mount Desert Island in 1884, and Castine has two inns from the 1890s on its Main Street. Inland, the Rangeley Inn & Tavern dates from 1908 and the Greenville Inn is a lumberman’s house above Moosehead Lake. Several coast inns close for winter, so check dates before an off-season trip.

Our top picks

Best value

Whitehall Inn

Built 1834 · Camden

An 1834 Greek Revival house enlarged in 1912, where Edna St. Vincent Millay is thought to have first read her poetry in…

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Best resort

The Claremont Hotel

Built 1883 · Southwest Harbor

Captain Jesse Pease's hotel above Somes Sound, opened in 1884 and run by the Phillips family from 1908 to 1971; open seasonally.

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Grand hotel

The Colony Hotel

Built 1914 · Kennebunkport

Built in 1914 as Breakwater Court above the Kennebunk River's mouth, run by the Boughton family since the late 1940s; rooms span…

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Where they are

Where to go

Portland8 historic places to stay · founded 1786Oldest: Blind Tiger Portland (1823)See the guide →Kennebunkport5 historic places to stay · founded 1653Oldest: Kennebunkport Captains Collection (1812)See the guide →

Every historic inn in Maine

InnTownBuiltRoomsTypePriceHaunted
The Kennebunk InnKennebunk179923Inn–YesRates
Camden Maine Stay InnCamden1802–05–B&B–Rates
Kennebunkport Captains CollectionKennebunkport181245Inn–YesRates
The Lucerne InnDedhamc. 181530Inn–Rates
Blind Tiger PortlandPortland182315Inn–Rates
The Blue Hill InnBlue Hillc. 183011Inn–Rates
Whitehall InnCamden183436Inn–Rates
OneSixtyFive – The Inn on Park RowBrunswick184816Inn–Rates
Abigail’s InnCamden18494B&B–Rates
The West End CollectionPortland1870–8414B&B–Rates
York Harbor InnYorkc. 1870–Inn–Rates
The FrancisPortland188115Boutique hotel–Rates
Cleftstone InnBar Harborby 1881–B&B–Rates
The Claremont HotelSouthwest Harbor1883–Resort–Rates
The Nonantum ResortKennebunkport1884109Resort–YesRates
The Colonial InnOgunquit1886–Inn–Rates
The NorumbegaCamden188611Boutique hotel–Rates
Saltair InnBar Harbor1887–B&B–Rates
LimeRock InnRockland18908B&B–Rates
The ChadwickPortland18914B&B–Rates
Pentagöet Inn & PubCastine1894–Inn–Rates
Portland Regency Hotel & SpaPortland1895–Boutique hotel–Rates
Greenville InnGreenville1895–Inn–Rates
Cape Arundel Inn & ResortKennebunkportc. 1896–Inn–Rates
The Castine InnCastine189818Inn–Rates
The Kennebunkport InnKennebunkport1899–1900–Inn–Rates
Berry Manor InnRockland1899–B&B–Rates
Grey Havens InnGeorgetown1904–Inn–Rates
The Rangeley Inn & TavernRangeley1908–Inn–Rates
The Inn at Diamond CovePortlandc. 1910–Inn–Rates
Poland Spring ResortPoland1913–Resort–Rates
The Colony HotelKennebunkport1914–Grand hotel–Rates
The Press HotelPortland1923110Boutique hotel–Rates
The Westin Portland HarborviewPortland1927–Grand hotel–Rates

Price is a typical nightly rate: $ under $200, $$ $200–349, $$$ $350–549, $$$$ $550+. Rates vary by season; check the inn for exact prices.

Elsewhere in Maine

1799The Kennebunk Inn

Built 1799 · Kennebunk · Inn

The Kennebunk Inn

Why stay Phineas Cole's 1799 house on Kennebunk's Main Street, made a hotel called The Tavern in 1928 with a new wing; 23 rooms, all pet friendly.

The ghost story Staff and guests report a playful presence, most often tied to Room 17: cold drafts, rattling doorknobs and doors that open by themselves. Many attribute it to Silas Perkins, a poet and the inn's night watchman, who reportedly died there after a heart attack in 1952.

Good to know No elevator · Pets welcome

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1802–05Camden Maine Stay Inn

Built 1802–05 · Federal, remodelled Italianate · Camden · B&B

Camden Maine Stay Inn

Why stay House carpenter Alden Bass's Federal house of 1802–05, given its Italianate look by 1856; the inn calls it Camden's third-oldest house.

Good to know No pets

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c. 1815The Lucerne Inn

Built c. 1815 · Colonial Revival (1920s remodel) · Dedham · Inn

The Lucerne Inn

Why stay The Phillips family's traveler's house above Phillips Lake, moved and restyled in the 1920s as the clubhouse of the Lucerne-in-Maine resort; 30 rooms.

Good to know Breakfast: included · Parking: on-site free · Pets welcome

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c. 1830The Blue Hill Inn

Built c. 1830 · Federal · Blue Hill · Inn

The Blue Hill Inn

Why stay Edward Vernon Stevens's Federal house of about 1830 in Blue Hill village, with pumpkin pine floors, six fireplaces and 11 rooms.

Good to know Pets welcome

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1834Whitehall Inn

Built 1834 · Greek Revival · Camden · Inn

Whitehall Inn

Why stay An 1834 Greek Revival house enlarged in 1912, where Edna St. Vincent Millay is thought to have first read her poetry in public; 36 rooms.

Good to know No elevator · No pets

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1849Abigail’s Inn

Built 1849 · Camden · B&B

Abigail’s Inn

Why stay A four-room B&B three minutes' walk from Camden's harbor, where the inn says Congressman Smart entertained Jefferson Davis in 1858.

Good to know Breakfast: included · No pets

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c. 1870York Harbor Inn

Built c. 1870 · York · Inn

York Harbor Inn

Why stay The c. 1870 Hillcroft Inn and the c. 1783 Yorkshire House in York Harbor; rooms in the 1988 addition and 2001 Harbor Hill building are modern.

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by 1881Cleftstone Inn

Built by 1881 · Shingle / Queen Anne / Colonial Revival (eclectic) · Bar Harbor · B&B

Cleftstone Inn

Why stay Bruce Price's summer cottage, built by 1881 and rented to Joseph Pulitzer, enlarged with a ballroom where President Taft was honored in 1911.

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1890LimeRock Inn

Built 1890 · Queen Anne · Rockland · B&B

LimeRock Inn

Why stay Edwin E. Lewis's 1890 Queen Anne house for Charles E. Littlefield, with a corner turret, now eight rooms named for Maine coastal islands.

Good to know No pets

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1899Berry Manor Inn

Built 1899 · Colonial Revival · Rockland · B&B

Berry Manor Inn

Why stay Charles Berry's 1899 Colonial Revival house in Rockland, attributed to Austin Pease, with a porte cochere and fireplaces in the guest rooms.

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1913Poland Spring Resort

Built 1913 · Poland · Resort

Poland Spring Resort

Why stay Book the 1913 Presidential Inn, an original Ricker family building with rooms dedicated to presidents and first ladies; the Maine Inn is from 1962.

Good to know Pets welcome

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Ways in

Themes in Maine

Early houses turned inns

Maine’s oldest inn buildings were houses first. In Kennebunk, Phineas Cole’s 1799 house became a hotel in 1928, and in Kennebunkport, Lark Hotels joined four sea captains’ houses, among them Nathaniel Lord’s 1812 Federal mansion and the 1805 William Jefferds Jr. House, into the Captains Collection in 2021. Camden’s High Street has house carpenter Alden Bass’s Federal house of 1802–05, now the Camden Maine Stay Inn, and the 1834 Greek Revival house at the core of the Whitehall Inn. Downeast, the Blue Hill Inn is Edward Vernon Stevens’s Federal house of about 1830.

Summer colonies and seaside hotels

Much of the coast’s historic lodging was built for summer people. On Kennebunkport’s Ocean Avenue, The Nonantum opened in 1884 and Ruel W. Norton built Breakwater Court, now The Colony, in 1914; the same year as the Nonantum, Captain Jesse Pease opened the Claremont above Somes Sound on Mount Desert Island. In Bar Harbor, Saltair was one of five large summer cottages built on West Street in 1887, and Cleftstone, which Joseph Pulitzer rented, survived the 1947 fire that destroyed its neighbors. Castine’s Pentagöet, built in 1894, and Walter Reid’s Seguinland of 1904, now Grey Havens Inn in Georgetown, were built as summer hotels.

Portland’s Old Port and West End

Much of downtown Portland was rebuilt in brick after the 1866 fire, and in the Old Port the 1895 State of Maine Armory and the Portland Press Herald’s 1923 building are now the Portland Regency and The Press Hotel. Uphill, the Western Promenade Historic District holds 420 buildings from 1850 to 1920, among them The Chadwick’s 1891 Queen Anne house and the West End Collection’s 1870 and 1884 houses, and The Francis fills Francis H. Fassett’s 1881 house on Congress Street. In Casco Bay, The Inn at Diamond Cove opened in 2015 in an Army barracks at Fort McKinley on Great Diamond Island.

Lakes and the North Woods

Inland, the Ricker family’s Poland Spring House opened in 1876 at the center of a resort known for its spring water; it burned in 1975, but the 1913 Presidential Inn, an original Ricker building, still takes guests. In the Rangeley Lakes fishing country, Miller and Mayo designed the 1908 Rangeley Tavern, now the Rangeley Inn & Tavern, and at the foot of Moosehead Lake lumberman William M. Shaw, whose company ran the lake steamer Katahdin, built the Queen Anne house that is now the Greenville Inn. Between Bangor and Ellsworth, the Lucerne Inn became the clubhouse of Lucerne-in-Maine, a resort for the wealthy begun in 1925.

Road trip

Kennebunkport to Mount Desert Island, inn to inn

Kennebunkport

Start in a captain’s house near Dock Square or at The Colony or The Nonantum on Ocean Avenue; our Kennebunkport guide has all five inns.

Portland

Give Portland two nights, in the Old Port at the Portland Regency or in a Victorian West End B&B. Pick one from our Portland guide.

Camden

Stay on High Street at the Whitehall Inn or The Norumbega, inventor Joseph B. Stearns’s 1886 stone house above Penobscot Bay.

Mount Desert Island

End at the Claremont above Somes Sound in Southwest Harbor, open seasonally, or at Saltair, an 1887 summer cottage on Frenchman Bay in Bar Harbor.

Beyond the inns

Signature tours in Maine

Tours from GetYourGuide

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Context

History and architecture

Maine was part of Massachusetts until March 15, 1820, when it was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state under the Missouri Compromise. Its oldest inn buildings are houses from the early republic: Phineas Cole’s 1799 house in Kennebunk, Alden Bass’s Federal house in Camden and Nathaniel Lord’s 1812 mansion in Kennebunkport, built when the War of 1812 had halted shipping and shipbuilding in town. Then came the hotels: the Ricker family opened the Poland Spring House in 1876, The Nonantum and the Claremont opened in 1884, and five large summer cottages went up on Bar Harbor’s West Street in 1887. Seguinland, now Grey Havens Inn, followed in 1904, the Rangeley Tavern in 1908, Breakwater Court, now The Colony, in 1914, and in 1927 Portland’s Eastland, then the largest hotel in New England. Later, buildings with other first lives became inns: The Norumbega in 1984, Portland’s 1895 armory in 1987 and Fort McKinley’s barracks on Great Diamond Island in 2015.

Questions travelers ask

What is the oldest inn in Maine?

Of the inns we list, the oldest building is The Kennebunk Inn, Phineas Cole’s 1799 house on Kennebunk’s Main Street, a hotel since 1928. Next come the Camden Maine Stay Inn, built between 1802 and 1805, and the 1805 William Jefferds Jr. House in the Kennebunkport Captains Collection. York Harbor Inn dates its Cabin Room to about 1637, but that is the inn’s claim; its main building dates from about 1870.

What is the most haunted inn in Maine?

There is no official ranking. The Bangor Daily News has reported the stories at The Kennebunk Inn, where staff and guests tie cold drafts and rattling doorknobs in Room 17 to Silas Perkins, a night watchman who reportedly died there in 1952. In Kennebunkport, ghost-walk accounts say Phoebe Lord still lingers in the Captain Lord Mansion, and guests and staff at The Nonantum report slamming doors and whispers from empty rooms. These are stories, not documented fact.

Which Maine inns close for winter?

Several coast inns are seasonal. The Colony in Kennebunkport closes its historic main building from late October to mid-May, keeping only its newer Coveside rooms and two private houses open; the Claremont in Southwest Harbor is a seasonal resort; and the Castine Inn’s 2027 season runs from May 1 to October 20. Cape Arundel Inn in Kennebunkport keeps winter front-desk hours, and the Greenville Inn was taking bookings for November 2026, but check each inn’s calendar before an off-season trip.

Where are the historic B&Bs in Maine?

Camden’s High Street has Abigail’s Inn, with four rooms, and the Camden Maine Stay Inn, a Federal house of 1802–05. Rockland has two in its residential historic district, the LimeRock Inn (1890) and the Berry Manor Inn (1899); Bar Harbor has Saltair and Cleftstone, both former summer cottages; and Portland’s West End has The Chadwick and the West End Collection.

Are there historic inns in Maine’s lakes and mountains?

Yes, three: the Rangeley Inn & Tavern, a 1908 hotel on Haley Pond in the Rangeley Lakes, where some rooms are in a 1958 motor lodge; Poland Spring Resort, where the 1913 Presidential Inn is the historic building to book; and the Greenville Inn, lumberman William M. Shaw’s Queen Anne house above Moosehead Lake. Between Bangor and Ellsworth, the Lucerne Inn overlooks Phillips Lake.

How we chose these inns

Every place on this page is at least 50 years old, holds a credential we can check (National Register listing, a listed historic district, landmark status, or Historic Hotels of America membership), and takes bookings today. We verify each one against primary sources before it goes on the list, and last checked this list in October 2026. Read our criteria.

Sources (71)

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