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maine

Red and white C19th lighthouse on island in Maine
Land

Maine Lighthouse for sale

If you want to truly be alone in style, check out this private island and historic lighthouse for sale in Maine.

Blue Hill Bay Lighthouse is located on Green Island off the coast of Brooklin, Maine, and offers 360-degree oceanfront views and white sand beaches.

The white clapboard lightkeeper’s cottage was built in 1856 and has four bedrooms, solar electricity, a wood stove, and a full kitchen with a refrigerator and gas range, according to the listing from Acadia Realty. “Imagine sitting on the porch of the keepers house, watching schooners come within yards of your porch,” the listing states. “Sitting on this outer island is like having your own private window to the world with amazing views in all directions.”

The picturesque scenery includes Isle Au Haut and the mountains of Acadia, as well as plenty of barking seals, which love to hang out around the island. “When you’re on the island, it feels a lot bigger than an acre,” said Steve Shelton, the listing broker.

In fact, the size of the island changes from day to day. At high tide, the island is about an acre; but at low tide, white sand beaches emerge and the land surface expands to 5 acres, according to Shelton. You can even walk to the mainland during low tide. “From the porch, you can wave to people when they come through on their boats,” he said. “It’s awesome.”

Shelton said the property is slated to be featured on an upcoming episode of the TV show “Unplugged Nation.” The current owners used a rainwater collection system, but the possibility of drilling a well is there, Shelton said. “It’s really cool,” he said. “It’s off the grid.”

Shelton said that compared with other lighthouse properties he’s seen, this one is in good shape and priced relatively low. It’s been in the same family for years and was originally put on the market for $850,000. The asking price has since been lowered to $650,000, he said.

Indeed, the asking price is less expensive than Graves Light in Boston Harbor (which sold for $933,888 at a government auction in 2013).

Just think about this: For the same amount of money, you could get a 569-square-foot condo in Mission Hill . . . or you could own your own island and lighthouse. Which would you choose?

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NC Outward Bound School Veterans
Community

Veterans forge a wild kind of peace

Relationships begun on rope courses, rock climbs and backpacking treks translate into an ease around the campfire where many US Army veterans start to talk about themselves, willing to share their stories about that most difficult of subjects for a male – how they feel.

Forty feet up in the air, eye-level with the autumn treetops, Rusty Achenbach felt his heart racing as he inched his way across the scariest part of the ropes course — a wobbly beam dubbed “Too Slack Jack.”∙”Watching, Rusty,” his spotter called below. Everybody in Crew 6 was watching, rooting for him. Strangers he hadn’t known four days before were now his trusted band of brothers and sisters.∙At the end of the ropes course, Achenbach found himself perched on the edge of a platform, stepping into thin air to swing in a huge arc back and forth through the bright leaves. “Awesome!” he yelled.∙Just another “aha” moment at the North Carolina Outward Bound School.

Achenbach and Crew 6 aren’t the typical teenagers or corporate executives who tackle wilderness adventures under Table Rock Mountain overlooking Linville Gorge. These military veterans have seen combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now they were fighting to find peace for themselves back home.

“I’m scared of heights. My boss won’t even let me get on a ladder at work. You guys getting me up there was pretty impressive,” Achenbach said, safely back on the ground as Crew 6 circled up for the debriefing. No adventure goes without a discussion of the emotions released and the lessons learned.

Every ropes course has its significant moment, explained instructor Shane Ambro. “You can feel the collective energy joining one person on part of the course.”

“The look on your face was priceless,” Army vet John Moder teased. “They ought to make you the poster child for Outward Bound. The motto could be ‘You’re dumb if you don’t come.'”

Moder was surprised to learn that the courses were free to military veterans. Outward Bound picking up not only the tuition, but also air travel and hotel stays.

“The vets have given for the country. We want to be able to give back to them,” said Matt Rosky, the veterans program coordinator for the NC Outward Bound School.

The Outward Bound School at Hurricane Island, Maine started a veterans program in the 1970s, working with those returning from the Vietnam War. The programs soon spread to other Outward Bound schools nationwide, but funding started to peter out by the late 1990s.

With the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the global war on terror with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, more veterans have gone on multiple tours of duty and cycled back into civilian life, some more successfully than others. With post-traumatic stress disorder, loneliness, depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug abuse, younger veterans are also less likely than older veterans to seek help or counseling

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