The world is your oyster and yours for the taking. Hyperbole? Definitely not; this feeling prevails among guests who experience a Mira Monte Inn escape in superlative vacationland Bar Harbor, Maine, located on the east side of Mount Desert Island.
Capitalizing on the romantic setting, most of the suites and guestrooms, totaling 17, boast private balconies, fireplaces and seven double whirlpool tubs.
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Voted as one of the top inns in the country for the most privacy and for the best gardens by Arrington’s Bed and Breakfast Journal, situated in the heart of Bar Harbor Village, first-time travelers are pleasantly surprised to encounter a quiescent milieu. The sweeping views of Acadia National Park inspired early residents back in 1892, 28 years after it was built, to name it Mira Monte, which means, “behold the mountain” in Spanish as well as Italian. Innkeeper Marian Burns reiterates the mission statement that the bed and breakfast’s quest is to “provide people with a private, relaxing vacation in beautiful surroundings.”
She explains, “If you’re in the back terrace, you do not have a sense that you’re anywhere near other people because of the trees. You have so much privacy.”
With its coastline proximity, she calls the parking situation in Bar Harbor, a tourist hotspot, “horrendous in the summer.” In any season, Mira Monte guests have optimal parking conditions and can walk from the grounds to a variety of activities from whale watching to a host of outdoor sporting and sightseeing opportunities.
“There isn’t any other place in Maine or on the East Coast that I know of that has 20 miles of open ocean that’s available to its guests within five minutes of a drive,” Marian elaborates.
But then again, with paradise found, travelers may prefer to roost close to home on two manicured acres, an ideal setting for croquette, replete with award-winning gardens that Home and Garden Television filmed in “Secret Gardens of Bar Harbor.”
Capitalizing on the romantic setting, most of the suites and guestrooms, totaling 17, boast private balconies, fireplaces and seven double whirlpool tubs. The property is high on the list for honeymoons, anniversaries, birthdays and other special occasions, not to mention a favorite among those interested in gardening. Marian describes the architecture of the Victorian mansion as Colonial Revival, explaining, “It is a two-story building with lots of Greek columns on the front porch, and bay windows.”
Victorian décor and a plethora of period wallpaper and antiques embrace every guestroom and the common areas that include the parlor and library. The old world charm is enhanced with full, modern amenities, such as cable TV/VCR, high speed broadband cable, telephones, irons, ironing boards, hair dryers, and air conditioning. Take a short jaunt through the gardens from the main inn where a separate building houses the suites. A sample of amenities: all three have parlors and fireplaces and two have kitchenettes.
Marian, who formerly taught school and was a learning specialist for more than 20 years, has been Mira Monte’s innkeeper for 26 years. She transformed what was once one of Bar Harbor’s grand “summer cottages” built by its original prominent owners into the existing bed and breakfast. “Mira Monte was one of the surviving summer cottages from the great fire of ’47; that fire burned 200 structures in one night and took most of the cottages and almost all of the hotels with it,” she summarizes.
Along with about eight employees, Marian’s prime concern is to accommodate visitors. “My staff isn’t busy folding towels or anything; they’re there for the guests.
She continues, saying, “I’ve never wanted to be the sole judge of what people do for their vacation. I try to provide everything that I can think they might want and then step back and allow them to enjoy it.”
The full breakfast buffet, for instance, illustrates the bounty of choices Mira Monte guests encounter from the popular egg bake to vegetarian specialties to hot blueberry muffins made in iron tins that Marian says cannot be duplicated. Breakfast options, however, do not stop there. “They can take a tray to their own room, or they can eat family-style in the formal dining room, or on the extensive grounds. We have lots of places where people can go and sit by the gardens or on one of the terraces.”
Later in the day, social hour from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. also appeases a variety of appetites with the medley consisting of crackers, wine, cheese and sometimes hors d’oeuvres, just to name a few items. This is the time to not only socialize, but also perhaps peruse the dinner menus that Marian gathers from nearby restaurants. In spring, the off-season, the innkeeper says that she assigns her guests a job. After they patronize the local restaurants, they present her with their personal reviews. Three negative reviews and she says, “The restaurant is taken off the list!”
No matter what the call of the day, Mira Monte moments are meant to be relished much like a good oyster plucked fresh from the ocean.
