Summer Rentals in New England/New York?

April 13, 2008 10:07 PM

We've decided to take a vacation this summer with another family. We've been looking at Lake George and the Acadia area, but it's hard to find something for 10 people. Does anyone have recommendation for a vacation spot that isn't as popular, maybe a "best kept secret" kind of place? We're looking for a place on the water (coastal or inland), with places to hike, maybe a funky little town nearby. We're in Central Mass and willing to travel 6 hours in any direction.
posted by Biblio to Travel & Transportation around New York, NY (9 answers total)

Best answer: I don't have any great secret place ideas, but I would second the idea of Acadia - I was just up in the Bar Harbor area last summer for a few days - it's such a great location, ocean, mountains, fascinating harbor - there's so much to do in the area. If you are still interested in going there, Vacation Rental By Owner is your friend - there are many listings in Acadia that sleep 10 or more. I have used VRBO several times and have had great luck.

Midcoast Maine is also great - Boothbay Harbor, Camden. Much less congested than southern Maine - lots of listings on VRBO.
posted by madamjujujive at 12:24 AM on April 14, 2008 [1 favorite]

There are a lot of communities close to Lake George that offer the same opportunities. Lake Luzerne, Bolton Landing, Lake Champlain.

They may already be swiped up, but there a ton of little islands scattered throughout Lake George and they are nearly all state park campsites. You can camp out on an island in the Lake. They are rustic sites (no showers, composting toilets), but they are really cool. You need to reserve a spot and they go very fast.
posted by brookeb at 3:38 AM on April 14, 2008

The Gallery Cabins in Kennebunk Maine meets the 10 or more people requirement easily, and isn't likely to be sold out at this point. Very basic but neat/clean cottages for rent, plus they have a rather large pool. 3 miles to the ocean, a bit more to drive to some hiking. Towns of Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Wells (sorry, none are too funky) nearby.
posted by mikepop at 5:24 AM on April 14, 2008

Another reccomendation for the Acadia area. I went there last summer and stayed at a friend's house in Stonington, which is just a short ferry ride from Isle au Haut and a quick drive from the rest of Acadia. It was amazing.

There seem to be a lot of vacation rentals in the Stonington area. Here's one I found with a quick google search that would fit your large party.
posted by otolith at 6:00 AM on April 14, 2008

I highly recommend Peak's Island, ME. It's right off the coast of Portland (funky town nearby!), but it's its own little vacation spot unto itself, with a charming little town square, and tons of beach/hiking possibilities. We actually honeymooned there 2 years ago, and fell so in love we're moving there next summer. :)
posted by grrlaction at 7:55 AM on April 14, 2008

My family has been vacationing in Sedgwick for decades. I highly recommend it. It's right across the water from Deer Isle (on which lies Stonington), down the coast a bit from Acadia. I'd say it and the surrounding towns (Brooklin, Blue Hill, the contents of Little Deer Isle and Deer Isle) fit the bill for being "funky" and "little" quite well, though Blue Hill has been getting a bit more touristy over my lifetime (19 years). The whole area is overall still very pleasantly backwater-sih, though. I know that there are quite a few houses for rent in the area, some of them very large, but I have no experience doing any actual renting.

If you decide to stay in the area, there are a lot of neat things to do. As mentioned above, Isle au Haut is right nearby, and the boating opportunities abound. Three things that I must specifically recommend are:

The Edgar Tennis Preserve on Deer Isle is a great place to go walking for the day, even if you have little kids with you (I don't think it's quite strenuous enough to call it "hiking", but the paths are unpaved and go up and down quite a bit). It has a great little cemetery back in the woods with graves going back to the revolution.

Blue Hill (the hill itself, not the town) has a great view from the top and is also a good walk (about 45 minutes, some parts somewhat steep). I've been walking up there since I was five, and I still enjoy it. There use to be this rickety old fire tower at the top that my brother and I would go up and spit off of, but they tore it down because it was dangerous or something.

Eaton's Lobster Pool on Little Deer Isle; it's the sort of place where you can see your lobster getting taken off the boat by grumpy men in orange overalls. Also, it's delicious.
posted by Commander Rachek at 8:51 AM on April 14, 2008

Echoing Cmdr Rachek: We love Stonington. Here's where we find our rentals. There are quite a few larger places there. On Deer Isle I'd also recommend the Barred Island area, another nice place to hike around.
posted by booth at 9:35 AM on April 14, 2008

Try Vinalhaven Island in Penobscot Bay in Maine. I spent a summer week there a decade ago and would love to go back. You drive to Rockland and take a ferry out to the island. There's hiking on the island, swimming in quarries (brrrr!), you can walk down to the docks in the afternoon and buy lobster right off the boats, and you won't use your car even once the whole time you're there.
posted by headnsouth at 2:32 PM on April 14, 2008

Response by poster: We just got back from a wonderful week in Sullivan ME. I seriously wanted to check out some of the places in this thread, but my traveling companions wanted to be closer to Bar Harbor. I hadn't heard of VRBO.com before, and that's where we ended up finding our house. We're already planning to go back next year!
posted by Biblio at 6:53 PM on July 3, 2008