BRIDGTON – With those trying to sell their houses doing everything they can to make their property presentable for prospective buyers, one homeowner has taken a different tack. He lets the view do the talking.

From any spot inside or outside the 3,000-square-foot home at 780 Kansas Road in Bridgton, known better by Long Lake boaters as “The Castle,” there is a stunning view of a 5-mile stretch of Long Lake. Besides the view, the chateau-style home boasts turrets and spires, waterfalls, solarium and even a putting green. But the majesty of the place is the sweeping span of Long Lake.

“The view is everything,” said owner Jim Drews, a retired anesthesiologist from Vermont who grew up spending summers at a boys camp on Long Lake.

Drews, who is hoping to relocate to California, where his two sons live, hates to leave primarily because of the view, but also because he helped design and build the castle himself. He knows the house is unique and while he loves the design, he also blames it for why, three years later, the house still hasn’t sold.

“It’s definitely a conversation piece. People ask me where I live and I say, ever been on Long Lake? And if they’ve ever been on Long Lake they know where I live,” Drews said.

Like so many other sellers nowadays, Drews is trying to find the right buyer. At $1.5 million, however, the property is one of the Lakes Region’s most expensive. And while finding someone who can afford the asking price is half the battle, the buyer also must be a fan of medieval architecture, since the home has all the features of a real castle – right down to gargoyles on the roof and a wine cellar carved out of ledge in the basement.

“It’s a unique house. Only trouble is when it comes time to sell it, you have to find someone in the same mindset I am,” Drews said.

His real estate agents, Russ and Kathy Sweet of Coldwell Banker Lakes Region Properties in Naples, say the 18-acre estate has an appeal the typical lakeside property just doesn’t.

“When we take people up through here on our boat, people are like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe people actually live like that,'” Kathy Sweet said. “There is definitely a kind of aura about it. If you see it from the water, it looks like it’s growing out of the granite.”

Sweet is referring to the massive cliff that forms the back yard of the property, although you wouldn’t want to play catch on it due to its rolling contours and 100-foot drop.

In 1997, when Drews was trying to come up with a design for the structure, he said the cliff really only lent itself to one type of building.

“If you look at this huge stone formation, a big round rock, now what would sit on top of a mountain on a big, round rock? Not a ranch house, not a log cabin. So it was going to be either a Frank Lloyd Wright or something with stone and round. And no matter what we drew that was round and with stone, it looked like a castle. So we said what the heck, let’s do the castle,” Drews said, referring to himself and an architect friend from Vermont who helped with the design.

Phil Douglass, a contractor from Bridgton, did most of the heavy construction work with Drews constructing the doorframes, window frames, and floors. Most impressively, Drews also designed and built the faux stone exterior, which is supposed to resemble a castle in Germany with its large, heavy stones.

“But it’s all cement – manufactured stone, they call it,” Drews said.

Other amenities include a garage with a spired roof, a small putting green overlooking the lake, a driving range, 200 feet of water frontage and dock, and a long, winding driveway. While the home seems remote, it really isn’t. It’s about a mile from Lake Region Middle School and close to downtown Naples.

“When I was 7 years old, my dad put me on a train in Penn Station – I grew up in New York – and said you’re going to Camp Ropioa on this lake in Maine called Long Lake. And I haven’t missed a summer since. Ropioa in Harrison closed in the 1950s, but my dad built a camp in 1952.”

The camp is located just below where Drews’ castle sits and is right next door to a home the horror novelist Stephen King lived in while writing “The Shining” and “Carrie,” Drews said. Stephen and Tabitha King lived there for about five years and Drews’ boys were friendly with King’s children.

“Yes, he lived right down there. You can’t actually see his house from here, but it was right about when he was starting to hit it big,” Drews said while seated on his patio overlooking the lake.

While Drews’ home isn’t the only million-dollar property on the market in the Lakes Region, it certainly is one of the most distinct.

“The reaction we normally get when bringing someone here is that they love it. But it’s hard to say why it hasn’t sold yet. It’s hard to say why people make the choices they do,” Sweet said.

If you’ve boated on Long Lake, you no doubt know where this
house is. The 780 Kansas Road, Bridgton, home that has sweeping
views of Long Lake is on sale for $1.5 million. The view from the
surface of Long Lake, toward the chateau-style mansion that seems
to rise from a massive granite cliff, is a favorite of passing
boaters, who have nicknamed the house “The Castle.” (Courtesy photo
by Russ Sweet)
While probably not the best to play catch, the back yard of the
Castle features a beautiful granite ledge. (Staff photo by John
Balentine)

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