Sol's Cliff House
Sol’s Cliff House is a large vacation rental on Mount Desert Island in Bar Harbor, Maine, overlooking Frenchman Bay and adjacent to Acadia National Park. Nestled into twelve private acres of pine and fir, this Mount Desert Island rental delivers what we think is the most magnificent view on an island of incredible views. Our step-grandfather, New York lawyer-novelist Arthur Train, commissioned the house to be built by Boston architect George Shepard in 1914, making it one of the last surviving “summer cottages” of Bar Harbor’s gilded-era golden age. It barely survived the great fire of 1947. Large ground-floor rooms connect by double doors and a great front hall. The entire east side overlooking the bay is lined with double French doors opening onto a brick terrace, affording wonderful views east across Frenchman Bay and the Porcupine Islands to the mainland and south to Egg Rock light house and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. To stay at Sol’s Cliff House is to step back in time to an era of long family summers, house parties, vigorous exercise, domestic culture-and a note of extravagance. Enjoy this special place where Acadia meets Frenchman Bay, relax in the rhythm of lobstermen making their rounds (plus the occasional cruise ship passing in the distance), and rejuvenate where the mountain and sea air mingle.
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Experience Bar Harbor as it should be
The Best of Mount Desert Island, Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine
This Bar Harbor vacation house, about one mile from downtown, sits at the end of a private driveway off a private road (Sol’s Cliff Road) off Old Farm Road. (Old Farm Road is named for the summer residence of George Dorr, “the father of Acadia National Park.” It is now a fascinating old foundation, in the woods as you walk from Sol’s Cliff to the beach at Compass Cove.) Sol’s Cliff House sleeps 22 people in its 12 bedrooms. The beautiful dining and living rooms are flooded with natural light and easily accommodate gatherings and seated dinners. The library is home to a small collection of some of Arthur Train’s books and several others, offering a great Acadia National Park vacation refuge. The large kitchen is augmented by a butler’s pantry which opens onto a sheltered porch and picnic table with views of the bay below. The house also includes a laundry room with several washers and dryers. Other features include six fireplaces (the four on the ground floor may be used, with care), a second floor porch overlooking the water, a lengthy terrace running along the water side of the house with two sheltered, Italianate loggia picnic areas, and a large game house in the woods, with fun for all including wall tennis, badminton, a basketball hoop and pick-up soccer scrimmaging. Sol’s Cliff House is a great location for family reunions, yoga and corporate retreats, a destination for team and relationship building, weddings and rehearsal dinners, artists groups, avid hikers or just a great getaway for friends.
Inside Bar Harbor's best rental house
The most exquisite vacation home on Mount Desert Island
The best of Bar Harbor
Frenchman Bay, local books, sweet drinks and great games
