Meet Your Host

I am Mary Ellen and will be available should you need me during your stay at either Seanook or Paradise Cottage. I live at our Shop/Studio which is situated diagonally up the hill and across the street from Seanook and next door to Paradise Cottage.  I plan to greet you on your arrival, and try to answer any questions you may have about the house and the area. You will have my phone number, should you need anything while you are here, or you can come find me at our Studio.  In summer I may use Seanook’s float occasionally, and I may sometimes need to tend the garden.  Other than that, I will leave you to enjoy on your own.

I grew up in Massachusetts but spent 3 months every summer right here.  After college, I lived in Fritwell, England, near Upper Heyford US Air Force Base for four years where I took oil painting lessons from Mr. E. J. Willey. Meanwhile, my parents moved to Greeley, Colorado and I followed and raised my family there. 

As a youngster, I was always involved in some creative project, mostly sewing. By the time I was 10, I was making my own clothes.  Later, in Colorado, I had a sewing business so as to be at home with my young family.  I did all kinds of alterations but also custom-designed many wedding dresses. 

After my father died in 1997, I bought my siblings shares of the East Boothbay property and commenced renovations to winterize the two cottages.  In March of 1999, I arrived at Paradise Cottage to stay and found Ron working for my contractor on Seanook.  

From then on Ron and I built this business together.

Ron grew up in New Jersey.   He spent time in the Marines in Japan and Korea and then worked in advertising in New York City building display models for big advertisers. Ron observed people older than himself who had been in advertising most of their lives and decided that was not where he wanted to be at their age; he brought his family camping to Maine and never left. 

Ron was raised in a family of constant do-it-yourself construction projects. Every time they went to visit someone, there would be a house to build or a stone wall to complete.  Also as an advertising model-maker, he worked in multiple mediums.  He eventually built his own display advertising business in Maine.

Mary Ellen moved her sewing business to Boothbay initially, and Ron continued to do outside carpentry for several years.  By the summer of 2000, we were creating a scale model of our future shop/studio building on the dining room table at Paradise Cottage and had the roof on the new building by snow-fly.  For twenty-one years we were happy doing most of the work around the property ourselves out of our shop.  A neighbor said of the two of us, “To you, the whole world is just malleable!”  since between us we could usually figure out how to accomplish about anything in a creative way.

Unfortunately, Ron passed away in May 2022.  The family and Mary Ellen will continue with the rentals and be delighted to greet you when you arrive. 

Our business model is happy customers.  Our passion is to always be making your vacation more comfortable and enjoyable.