Gov. Paul LePage and First Lady Ann LePage have purchased a home in Boothbay and plan to move there when they leave the Blaine House.
“Paul’s dream was to own a place on the ocean and we’ve been looking for about 10 years,” Ann LePage said in a phone interview Thursday, Aug. 14.
The LePages will continue to live in the Blaine House as long as Gov. LePage holds the office, Ann LePage said. LePage is running for a second four-year term as governor.
The LePages searched the coast and nearly purchased homes in Calais and Harrington before finding the Boothbay property, the first lady said.
“We just found a great piece of property at a great price, and frankly, who wouldn’t want to live in Boothbay?” she said.
The LePages have visited the Boothbay region in the past, she said. “When the kids were younger, we would go down there a lot, just to visit and enjoy the coastline and do some whale-watching,” she said.
“We’ve always loved the coastline,” she said. “I think the Maine coastline is the prettiest place in the United States in the summertime, so we feel very fortunate that we stumbled across this.”
The home off Back Narrows Road has a right-of-way to the Damariscotta River. “We told the kids, we bought the house, now you have to buy the boat,” Ann LePage said.
Ann LePage will continue to spend the winter months in Florida. She owns a home in Ormond Beach, north of Daytona Beach. “I have to go to Florida in the winter because we care for my mom, and she has a disease called scleroderma,” she said.
The LePages previously lived in Waterville, where Gov. LePage was mayor from 2003-2011. The LePages sold their Waterville home three weeks after the 2010 election, Ann LePage said.
The Boothbay house is 12 years old, according to town records. The colonial-style house has three bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, and a two-car garage. The town places the value of the house at $361,300 and the land at $92,000 for a total of $453,300.
The property was in foreclosure and the LePages purchased it from a bank for $215,000, according to Alex Willette, communications and coalitions director for the Committee to Re-Elect Paul LePage.
Boothbay Town Manager James Chaousis II said the first family’s choice of a place to live will not come as a surprise to those who live in Boothbay.
“There are a lot of people who have huge profiles who live in Boothbay. The governor will add to that,” Chaousis said. “He has a very public profile, but I think he will fit well within the community.”
“It’s a beautiful place to live,” Chaousis said. “I feel privileged to live there and work there and it caters to lots of different personalities. There’s a quaint quietness to it and there’s a good sense of community.”
Chaousis said he can see how Boothbay might appeal to someone with a conservative philosophy.
“We just have a very small, simplistic local government,” he said. “It’s not unfair to surmise the local government leaders as conservative as well, even though they’re not partisan.”
Chaousis has not talked to the LePages about their new home. “I’ll probably reach out, just like I would to any other well-known figure, and welcome them to town,” he said.
(A previous version of this article incorrectly states the town-assessed value of the house at $354,700. The correct figure for the house is $361,300. The total figure for the property, including the land, is $453,300.)
