At Sea Winds, 170 years of family history now welcomes your next gathering
To the Curtis family, Sea Winds has been a cherished gathering place for generations. But today, after a recent renovation, they’re opening the gates as an event space so others can become part of the property’s ongoing story.
The connected farmhouse and barn at Sea Winds have watched over a stretch of bay for generations.
Sea Winds sits along the Coastal Road in west Brooksville, just south of TinderHearth and before the Cape Rosier road. It’s the kind of place that feels like it’s always been there.
A historic connected house and barn rise above Penobscot Bay, with acres of open lawn, blueberry fields, woodlands, and wide ocean views. For more than a century, people have come to this stretch of the Blue Hill Peninsula to relax, celebrate and reconnect. Today, the property serves as a flexible venue for weddings, reunions, retreats, and community events, with on‑site lodging and outdoor space for activities.
The property has been in only two families over roughly 170 years. In the early 1850s, Captain Thomas Tapley bought the property and built the connected house and barn for his wife Lucy and their nine children, making it a family home and working farm overlooking Penobscot Bay. After a period of abandonment in the early 20th century, Philip and Marion Curtis purchased Sea Winds in 1938 and transformed it into a guest house, welcoming vacationers who arrived from southern New England each summer. By 1945, guests were paying $25 a week to enjoy an informal atmosphere and panoramic coastal views. Marion ran the house and kitchen while Philip organized outings, sailing trips, croquet on the lawn, and lobster dinners with all the trimmings.
Generations of Curtis family photos tell the story of Sea Winds as a place to gather, celebrate, and come home to.
Today, the property is managed by the Curtises’ children, grandchildren, and great‑grandchildren, who continue that same blend of warmth, hospitality, and easygoing fun. When the family turned to renovations in 2025, their first priority was simple to say and hard to do: Save the barn and secure it for the next 100 years. That meant demolishing the aging connector (“the Avenue”), moving the barn twice, repairing portions of the post‑and‑beam structure, strengthening the interior framing, and bringing all the mechanical systems up to modern standards.
Equally important was preserving the barn’s personality while modernizing how it functions. A brand new building was never the goal; the family wanted the history, spirit, and memories of the old one to remain. That meant working around carved initials from five generations on the back barn door and an 1875 inscription recording a winter crossing to Castine by horse and sleigh. Some things were inevitably lost, but enough remains that even the most sentimental family members say they still recognize Sea Winds’ soul in the renewed structures, now paired with a custom kitchen, updated interior spaces, and an oceanview deck that can support today’s gatherings.
Contractor Bob Poole and team carefully renovated the property so that Sea Winds can welcome guests for another century.
Sea Winds is a natural fit for weddings, family reunions, group retreats, and community events, and the owners are clear that they want the property to be “used and useful,” not just admired from afar. After mud season this spring, they plan to host several open houses so neighbors and prospective guests can walk through, see the restored barn and house, and learn more about ongoing projects.
For guests, the goal is to feel welcomed and supported, but also free to do things their own way. Instead of a tightly scripted, one‑day event, Sea Winds encourages people to slow down, stay a while, and make the property their own for a few days, lingering over coffee in the farmhouse kitchen, wandering the trails or blueberry fields, watching sunsets from the deck, or staying up late in the barn after the band winds down. The family talks about stewardship of land and history, hospitality that treats newcomers like extended relatives, and a deep sense of place that invites people to connect with each other as much as with the coastline outside.
To explore dates, pricing, and details for hosting your own gathering at Sea Winds, visit their website, follow them on Facebook and Instagram, and keep an eye for upcoming open house dates.
This is where the day’s last conversations happen at Sea Winds: Adirondack chairs, wide water views, and your people all in one place.
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