We sailed our way up the Northeast coast, on the lookout for the clapboard guest houses and veranda-wrapped inns that smell most like maritime spirit.
By Mark Fedeli
Marketing and Editorial Director, Tablet Hotels
A house by the sea is a fine place to be. That’s either a famous lyric or something I saw carved into driftwood at a home goods store, right beneath the “You had me at merlot” signs. Either way, the sentiment is true. Coastal living is equal parts mystery and romance. The sounds and smells of the ocean mixed with the history of hollow-eyed fishermen and ship captains that never returned back from the fog.
It’s hard not to be poetic about it. The atmosphere is intoxicating. The boats and docks and fishing nets. The dark wood and the blue and white stripes and the gold navigational tools. The codified language of sailing, the signal flags, the boating knots. The theatricality attracts visitors in droves, reaching for their whiff of a lifestyle that locals understand so intuitively.
In every seaside town there are the permanent residents who can’t fathom living more than a short stumble from the water. You know the type. They don’t ever get cold and they always get every single piece of meat out of their lobster. For them, the town sings even at its quietest, before the summer tourists descend, when the pace and purpose of life echo the tides.
Then there’s nearly everyone else. Part-timers, seasonal renters, weekenders, day-trippers, shoobies. For them, the action is the juice. All the shops: open. All the restaurants: serving. All the boats: a-floating. For them, accommodations are a-plenty. The most interesting of which are those guest house hotels and ye olde inns that harken back to when the town was still being built out and cars weren’t creating constant problems and business down at the port was booming.
Because let’s be honest, few people think of modern technology when they think of the maritime environment, and even fewer seek it out when they visit. It’s something to do with the past that draws us toward the ocean. We’re all after some Melvillian Moby Dick fantasy, a slice of 19th-century simplicity, where parts of the world remain uncharted and problems are solved by clever, handcrafted solutions.
The hotels below fit the bill.
Block Island Beach House
New Shoreham, RI, USA
The old “Surf Hotel” sign still stands atop this weathered Victorian mansion, the only beachfront hotel on Block Island, but what’s inside has been given a thorough redesign, resulting in interiors that are one part modern-casual surf shack to one part classic coastal New England. Bold wallpaper and textile prints liven the whitewashed shiplap background, as do old wooden surfboards and other eclectic, atmospheric touches.
The Cliffside Inn
Newport, RI, USA
In Newport’s historic district, tradition isn’t exactly in short supply. But with the Cliffside Inn, the New England–based Lark Hotels has transformed a beautiful Victorian house into a lovely 16-room boutique hotel. And not just any Newport Victorian — this one happens to have been the home of the painter Beatrice Turner, whose artwork adorns its interiors. The astonishing sea views of Newport’s Cliff Walk lie just at the end of the street.
The Christopher
Edgartown, MA, USA
Perhaps no destination in the Northeast feels quite so quintessentially New England as the island of Martha’s Vineyard. And on the Vineyard, there’s no place more stately and upright than Edgartown. So it’s no small matter when a 15-room Victorian inn undergoes a makeover, trading its traditional interiors for a bright and lively look that adds mid-century modern and French Caribbean influences to the mix.
Faraway Martha’s Vineyard
Edgartown, MA, USA
Once home to the American whaling industry, Edgartown is now one of the leisure capitals of the Northeast, and many old sea captains’ stately homes have been transformed into guest houses and hotels. Faraway Martha’s Vineyard comprises six of them; and while, with nearly two centuries in business under one name or another, it’s one of the oldest hotels in the country, its new owners have updated it for the 21st century.
Nobnocket Boutique Inn
Vineyard Haven, MA, USA
Names like Nobnocket are the surest sign you’re in New England. Located on Martha’s Vineyard, a short walk uphill from the dock on a on a bluff above Vineyard Haven, this 1908 Arts & Crafts-style house was once the home of the island’s doctor. The new owners overhauled the place, knocking down walls to create open living areas, polishing the hardwood floors, installing large picture windows to maximize the sweeping garden views.
Greydon House
Nantucket, MA, USA
We’ll follow hotel designers Roman & Williams anywhere, but it’s a surprise to see them in Nantucket, where the Greydon House, a renovation and expansion of a 19th-century sea captain’s house, delivers its own version of New England maritime-chic, while studiously avoiding the local clichés. The town-center location is perfectly convenient, and the rooms, as usual, are beautifully stylish, and full of carefully considered detail.
The Brant
Nantucket, MA, USA
Discreetly hidden within a trio of 17th-century-style houses in Nantucket’s Brant Point is one of the island’s finest hotels: The Brant. It’s a member of the Provincetown-based Salt Hotels family, and under their guidance it’s been given a chic contemporary-classic look, foregoing the typical whaling-captain inspiration in favor of something more agriculturally inspired.
Salt House Inn
Provincetown, MA, USA
One part boutique hotel, one part classic B&B, the Salt House Inn is set just close enough to Provincetown’s main drag to feel lively, and just far enough for a bit of privacy. It’s a study in balance: stylish enough for design-savvy travelers, without losing touch with its circa-1850 heritage. The rooms are simple, white-on-white, decorated with vintage maritime objets and memorabilia, with comforts that belie their visual minimalism.
The INN Downtown
Portsmouth, NH, USA
Traditional antique-style bed-and-breakfasts may be a dime a dozen in New England; The Inn Downtown, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, distinguishes itself with its contemporary décor and its thoughtful, but never excessively reverent, approach to renovating a two-hundred-year-old house. Each of its ten rooms is a fully furnished studio apartment, and the hospitality is low-touch — check-in is contactless, and breakfast is self-catered.
Waldo Emerson Inn
Kennebunkport, ME, USA
Kennebunkport, Maine might be known as the summer home of an American political dynasty, but it’s a lovely seaside town for the rest of us as well; by local standards, a six-room bed and breakfast in a spectacularly well-maintained 1753 house is the populist choice. The Waldo Emerson Inn is tastefully bedecked with quotations from namesake Ralph, who is said to have spent ten summers here.
Kennebunkport Captains Collection
Kennebunkport, ME, USA
Kennebunkport is a typically welcoming New England seaport, with all the pleasures and perks of a small maritime village. In short, it’s a healthy environment for a top-shelf bed-and-breakfast like the Kennebunkport Captains Collection. Housed in a renovated Federal mansion dating back to 1813, this hotel is situated on a quiet tree-lined street within easy walking distance of galleries and antique shops.
Blind Tiger Portland – Danforth Street
Portland, ME, USA
Blind Tiger Guest House takes its name from the Prohibition-era speakeasy that once occupied the basement of this lovely 19th-century house. Built in 1823, converted into an inn in 1993, it’s fresh off a 2020 renovation by Northeast boutique-hotel specialists Lark Hotels, and the brand’s signature attributes are in evidence: photogenic interiors, luxe comforts, a convivial atmosphere, and a location in a vibrant and walkable corner of town.
Bluebird Ocean Point Inn
East Boothbay, ME, USA
With pine forests at its back and the Atlantic unfurling at its feet, Bluebird Ocean Point Inn captures the easygoing soul of a classic Maine summer. Situated along East Boothbay’s craggy shoreline, this former summer colony turned boutique inn channels coastal nostalgia with nautical stripes, weathered wood, and porches made for sea-gazing. Days are filled with kayaking calm coves, schooner sails at sunset, and lobster rolls enjoyed from Adirondack chairs.
Chebeague Island Inn
Royal Junction, ME, USA
Built in the 1880s and restored in 2004, the Chebeague Island Inn is an intentionally low-tech experience — no TVs, no phones, and the island itself is only reachable by ferry. The rooms are surprisingly stylish, outfitted with vintage furniture and local artworks. Most impressive is the restaurant, serving fresh, local lobster and mussels as well as produce from the island’s farms, all under the direction of an award-winning Portland chef.
The Norumbega Inn
Camden, ME, USA
The Norumbega Inn seems pulled straight from a master painting. Overlooking Penobscot Bay, this castle promises a singular stay. Step inside one of the 11 guest rooms and suites and the hotel’s former life as a grand private residence (dating to 1887) will come as no surprise. Some rooms feature fireplaces while others open to terraces or frame stunning ocean views, but all sport a distinctive style with unique charm.
Mark Fedeli is the hotel marketing and editorial director for Tablet and Michelin Guide. He’s been with Tablet since 2006, and he thinks you should subscribe to our newsletter.