Living the Dream

Ellen and I are often asked how we became innkeepers, and if we always wanted to own a B&B.

If you’ve read “The Innkeepers’ Story” on our website, you know Ellen and I didn't set out to buy a Bed and Breakfast when we decided to move to Maine. We just wanted to relocate, and were looking for a house. It wasn’t until the Beauport Inn became available that Ellen told me it had always been her dream to run a B&B. Never, in my wildest imagination, had that thought ever crossed my mind.

Ellen’s background is in food chemistry, and she once owned a restaurant. When you combine those two skills you have: (a) someone who knows how to turn a basic recipe for blueberry pancakes into something outrageously delicious; and (b) a person who has no problem serving breakfast to a dozen people. That’s Ellen.

My background, on the other hand, is in teaching and business. Although I’m a decent cook, and I enjoy making cookies and other treats for our guests, that’s not my forte. Handling the operational side of the Beauport Inn, and doing creative things like writing newsletters and a blog, that’s more like me.

Our differences turned out to be a good combination. After all, with a business like this, you can’t have both people cooking and no one doing the paperwork. When we considered the fact that we both enjoy meeting new people -- and Ellen said she'd happily get up at the crack of dawn to start breakfast, but I wouldn’t have to — Ellen’s lifelong wish to own a Bed and Breakfast became a dream that we both could share.

Besides, with a beautiful place like this, in a town as wonderful as Ogunquit, how could we not do this? It was an opportunity we just couldn’t pass up.