Windswept is a historic summer cottage at 421 Petit Manan Point Road in Steuben, Maine. Built sometime between 1928 and 1934, it was from 1941 until 1955 the summer home of

Mary Ellen Chase Mary Ellen Chase (24 February 1887 – 28 July 1973) was an American educator, teacher, scholar, and author. She is regarded as one of the most important regional New England literary figures of the early twentieth century. Early life Chase was ...

(1887-1973), one of Maine's most important regional writers of the period. It was the inspiration for her bestselling work, ''Windswept''. The property was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2007.

Description and history

Windswept is located in southern Steuben, a coastal community of

Down East Maine "Down East", also "Downeast", is a term for parts of eastern coastal New England and Canada, particularly the U.S. state of Maine and Canada's Maritime Provinces, an area that closely corresponds to the historical French territory of Acadia. Th ...

. It is on the west side of Petit Manan Point near its southern end, set on at Yellow Birch Point. The main house is a single story wood-frame structure, consisting of two equal-sized gabled sections set parallel to each other and joined by a cross-gabled hyphen. The structure is oriented facing southwest, about from the shore, with views over grasses and low blueberry bushes to the

Gulf of Maine , image = , alt = , caption = , image_bathymetry = GulfofMaine2.jpg , alt_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = Major features of the Gulf of Maine , location = Northeast coast of the ...

and the

Schoodic Peninsula The Schoodic Peninsula is a peninsula in Down East Maine. It is located four miles (6 km) east of Bar Harbor, Maine, as the crow flies. The Schoodic Peninsula contains , or approximately 5% of Acadia National Park. It includes the towns ...

. A low picket fence creates a courtyard between the wings east of the hyphen, and a wide deck extends across the western facade. The window shutters have pine tree cutouts, and the building exhibits restrained Colonial Revival symmetry. To the northeast of the house is a small barn with attached shed, both of uncertain date. The complex is sheltered to the east by a small copse of trees, through which its access drive passes. Windswept was built sometime between 1928 and 1934 by G. Horton Glover of

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and was part of an ultimately unsuccessful effort to develop Petit Manan Point as a summer destination. Mary Ellen Chase, a Maine native who was then a professor at Smith College and already a well-known regional writer, rented the cottage in 1940, and purchased it the following year. In 1941 her novel ''Windswept'' was published, and was an immediate success. Chase's biographers claim that some of her best writing took place here in the following years.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Colonial Revival architecture in Maine Houses completed in 1936 Houses in Washington County, Maine Steuben, Maine National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Maine 1936 establishments in Maine

Description and history

See also

References