French’s Point 2019, 2020 & 2021 availability by the numbers…
There are 26 weekends May-October. We only host one celebration a weekend to allow each client and their guests ample time for memory-making. As a result, our calendar fills faster than venues that host multiple weddings a weekend.
2019
We are booked!
2020
Prime Season
When our sail cloth tent is available, we have only April 25 & May 23, 2020 weekends remaining available!
Winter Season
We do have November and December 2020 dates available for events with up to 125 guests
2021
We are booking now & expect most prime dates to fill before the end of this summer!
For your convenience, there is guest Wi-Fi at French’s Point that extends throughout all four levels of the Retreat House and all three Levels of the Farm House. The Wi-Fi extends outside on the Retreat House Cocktail Terrace and halfway to the Gazebo and is spotty down towards the Tent. Wi-Fi does not extend down to the beaches or Recreation Lawn. Please do not rely on Wi-Fi for your reception music or sound in the tent or ceremony at the Gazebo or Oceanfront Lawn. We suggest you request a system from Wallace Events, your band, or DJ.
As a proud property owner in Maine, there is nothing more important to me than family. But right after my family, comes the priority of partnering with and supporting small, family-owned businesses in Maine that help us ensure our guests enjoy the best of what the state has to offer. When we renovated the Retreat House this past winter, we teamed up with some of my favorite Maine makers. I wanted to shared these special people with you, because without them, the Retreat House project would not have been successful.
When we decided to renovate the Retreat House this winter, we wanted knew we needed to add furnishings to the home. I wanted to update some furnishings we had and blend them with old pieces we found and some new pieces we loved. I am really pleased with the outcome. We refurbished 14 rooms in the Retreat House alone, so this was a major task. I reached out to my friend Kristyn Plamondon for help. Kristyn is a dear, childhood friend. I consider her my sister because our shared family history. Kristyn and I have some uncanny shared personality traits (God Bless Our Husbands) for two people that do not share any genetic material. We both love nothing more than to complete a task and move right on to the next one. We love to find the history in things and find beauty in what has been cast aside.
Kristyn is an artist, photographer, and lover of all things with a story. She jumped in to this project in spite of her very full life to help me. Kristyn refurbished the two church pews we had that had been left inside the Retreat House from when the church owned the property. She turned them into the perfect seating benches for the conservatory. She refurbished my father’s brass-end hatch top table from one of the WWII Liberty Ships for our Lounge. She refinished a family desk for the Lounge and my grandmother’s pedestal table that used to sit in her cottage here. It now graces the parlor in the top floor apartment. She found and refurbished a total of four small side tables (many of which I thought were beyond repair) thanks to some help from her husband Josh. He’s one of my favorite people too, by the way. Mostly because he’s so good to Kris, but also because he so good to everyone else. Kristyn found and refurbished two dressers and a beautiful armoire for the bedrooms in suite 1. They suite this space perfectly in proportion and detail. It is like she was in my head.
Kristyn sees the beauty in things people have cast aside and forgotten. She has the skills and knowledge to bring them back and give them new life and purpose. She is the keeper of her family and artifacts. She loves to find the story behind the piece. Kristyn’s furniture refurbishing business is called A Square Deal, after a store that her grandparents had reselling treasures.
You can visit A Square Deal on Facebook. Tell Kristyn that Jesse sent you!
We love spending time with our family here at French’s Point. Family is really what this place is all about, our family and yours. Some of my favorite memories of this place are of the holidays spent here with my family. We do offer some holiday reservations each year to other families so they can make their own memories together at French’s Point. Spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, or even your Family Reunion here at French’s Point. The estate is ideal for large families that travel both near and far to one large home. Both homes at French’s Point (the Retreat House and the Farm House) provide a beautiful, warm, inviting place to celebrate the season. They are fully appointed with bathroom linens, bed linens, kitchens, dining tables, chairs, fireplaces and lounge seating. Decorate it to suit the season. Hire a horse drawn sleigh or hay wagon for rides on the expansive grounds. Enjoy the outdoor fire pits for s’mores & hot cocoa. Bring your snowshoes or boots for a walk on 100 acres of trails. Sled the epic hill on the western slope of the farm house. Enjoy hot mulled cider in front of a roaring fire and catch up with your loved ones with holiday music playing in the background. Enjoy your own family holiday traditions at French’s Point. Make this your home for the holidays.
Guests often ask if we have or need air conditioning at French’s Point. The reality is that the architect Wilfred E. Mansur, who designed the retreat house, did so to take advantage of the near perpetual breezes here. The transom windows over the bedroom doors on the second floor are testament of that. In fact, in some of the rooms at the Retreat House, door hooks are offered near the baseboard to keep open doors from slamming closed in the breeze. The Farm House and the Retreat House are both cited at the highest elevations on the point and if you open a door or window for cross ventilation, the rooms remain quite comfortable most of the time. The exception is the few days in July or August when the air is still and the humidity coupled with higher temperatures does not afford a breeze.
Regardless of the reality, we wanted to be able to assure our guests that their accommodations are comfortable year round. This spring, we partnered with Mike from Domestic Air Conditioning and Refrigeration to bring air conditioning to our guest rooms in both homes. He finished the installation of the system we roughed in in 2005. The Retreat House bed rooms have central air conditioning with the exception of one room in suite 1, which has a window unit. The Farm House bedrooms all have window units with the exception of suite 12 on the lower level that does not need air conditioning, because it always stays comfortable. We are glad to have this amenity to offer to our guests. We know that now they will slumber comfortably, even on the warmest, stillest of summer nights.
To aid in making the arrival process for your family as simple as possible and remove your need to check them in individually, we created Welcome Centers in the heart of each home. When you reserve French’s Point for your stay, as the host, you assign the bedrooms that your family and friends occupy. This will make the arrival process simple and offer the maximum comfort and enjoyment of the property by each guest.
As you enter the Retreat House & Farm House for your weekend getaway, you will see entryway tables, a framed floor map of the grounds, a copy of your customized room assignments, floor plans, and a bulletin board that is perfect for your sharing details of the weekend ahead with your guests and the weekend itinerary. You should include your chosen event planners contact information so guests can contact them with questions and ensure they have everything they need to be comfortable and you can then enjoy your time with your guests.
How to Assign Rooms:
You will receive a room assignment template and here are links to the floor plans on the website for both the Retreat House and Farm House. Here are the links to the virtual tour of the Farm House and the virtual tour of the Retreat House is coming this summer. The videos will be shared here and on the Retreat House page of the website as soon as it is complete.
We will share the details of the other Retreat House enhancements in upcoming posts. We hope you love them as much as we do.
There is nothing more important to me than family. But right after family, comes the priority of partnering with and supporting small, family-owned businesses in Maine that help us ensure our guests enjoy the best of what the state has to offer. When we renovated the Retreat House this past winter, we teamed up with some of my favorite Maine makers. I wanted to share these special people with you, because without them, the Retreat House project would not have been successful.
Did you know that both homes at French’s Point offer custom bed linens & textiles, proudly made in Maine?
In 2014, when we updated bedroom suites located inside the Farm House, we partnered with our friend Molly Hutchins of On Board Fabrics to make the perfect duvet covers, pillow shams and decorative pillow shams for our beds. There are 14 beds in the Farm House, so this was a fairly sizable undertaking, even in the off season. I got to know Molly thought that process and I can tell you with complete honesty, she is a pro. She can troubleshoot, problem solve and calculate so fast, that my poor little layman’s mind simply can’t keep up. We loved the bedding so much that when it came time to update the rooms in the Retreat House, I went straight to Molly (in the off season of course).
Molly made two sets of pillow shams for the eight guest rooms. She made decorative pillows too. Molly made the beautiful velvet curtains in the top floor apartment, and suites 1, 2, and 3. We are talking hundreds of yards of velvet here, which I learned can be hard to work with. Molly also covered all the cushions for the built-in benches and church pews on the main and lower levels of the Retreat House. She also made gray cushions for the new lounge furniture my father made on the upper level of the Retreat House terrace and the East Overlook Terrace at the Farm House. Now guests can find a comfortable seat to take in the views inside AND outside! With her help, we chose very neutral and soothing fabrics that tied beautifully with the architectural elements of the homes. And they are gorgeous, and the craftsmanship is unparalleled.
Molly, her husband Glan, and their employee Melissa all tackled this big project with dedication and zeal that I am quite confident can only be found here on the coast of Maine. You can visit On Board Fabrics website, or follow Molly on Facebook. She’s a hoot! On Board Fabrics barn is located on Route 27 leading to Boothbay, at 660 Boothbay Rd. Edgecomb, Maine. Tell Molly that Jesse sent you!
Molly Hutchins of On Board Fabrics
Photography Curtesy of Rachael Anderson Photography
The second level of the Retreat House now offers four newly renovated suites with en suite bathrooms and six total bedrooms on this floor. Suite 4- The Brewer Family Suite, offers a two-bedroom configuration with a queen in each room with an adjoining bath. Our family LOVES this space and we hope other families do too. When I had my first and second babies, we lived in these suites for a time. I love thinking back to those times rocking my sweet little ones with the moon shining in the window.
We will share the details of the other Retreat House enhancements in upcoming posts. We hope you love them as much as we do.
As we do almost every winter, the season was spent completing a number of major maintenance and repair projects to keep our beautiful buildings and grounds in top working order. We also completed a major renovation to the bedroom suites on the second and third floors of the Retreat House.
The Top Level Apartment
We updated and refurbished the Top-Level Apartment in the Retreat House to offer it as as cozy nest to guests, with an impressive view of the bay. My parents, Bob and Bonnie made this apartment home for eight years. They hosted many a family dinner, had slumber parties with their grandchildren in the large closets under the eaves of the roofline that they dubbed the “Hobbit Holes” and rested their weary heads after long days of love poured into the property. They loved the gentle breezes, the sound of the rain on the roof and the incredible sunrises and sunsets. My mother lovingly refers to this space as “The Nest”. I think this name is quite appropriate. This winter, they moved just down the road to the Beach Rose Cottage located next to the Farm House with my sweet Grandmama, making way for guests to enjoy this charming apartment.
The privacy that this space offers will give our bridal parties a place to gather, relax and prepare on the wedding day with an open concept kitchen, dining and living space and a waterfront fireplace parlor with a beautiful deck with broad ocean views which is perfect to enjoy a wedding day brunch and watch as the setting below comes to life for your wedding. Just inside from the balcony, the parlor has beautiful natural light and is the perfect place for your hair and make-up artists to set up shop on your wedding day. In the parlor is a tiny sink which was my grandfather, Edgar’s. He loved antiques and saw the beauty in the forgotten. It is a sweet little detail in this space. There are two large, elegant king bedroom suites on this floor as well with sitting areas, beautiful bathrooms and private balconies looking to the east and west. You are going to love the cozy setting, gorgeous views and soothing privacy that the top floor offers you and your nearest and dearest!
We will share the details of the other Retreat House Suites & enhancements in upcoming posts. We hope you love them as much as we do.
Our brand-new sail cloth tent is up and gleaming in the spring sunshine today… pennants waving in the breeze. I can see many a happy celebration enjoyed in the shade of this beauty. Thank you to our friends at Wallace Events for ensuring that our tent is always clean and secure and our guests are comfortable.
