THE WAY IT WAS

The little Maine cottage may be 164 years old, but to writer Kathleen Hackett, it's her family's baby to care for. She gives us the personal tour in her own words.

- Kathleen Hackett

We admired the house from the street for almost two decades; our morning walks out to the point began here at one of the last remaining capes on the harbor.

We marveled at its charms every single time as if noticing them anew: the double hollyhocks that overshot the roofline; the black-green shutters with their anchor motif, a kitschy flourish that seemed just right; the chunky center chimney that gives the tiny place dignity; the sweet second front door that opens into the kitchen. There was a time when chamber music and the unmistakable scent of oil paint floated through the salt air here and visiting musicians and artists took up residence in the modest cottages and fishermen's shacks that once dotted this stretch of coastal bliss.