CAPE ELIZABETH – Here, directly across Shore Road, is oceanfront Fort Williams Park – your front yard, in effect. Robinson Woods – the 145-acre, town Land Trust preserve, with its miles of trails – abuts the back yard of your 4.13-acre, partially wooded property.

And home is a stunning, 4,082-square foot Colonial designed by John Calvin Stevens and built for Joseph W. Symonds, a former Maine Supreme Court justice, in 1908. Symonds evidently knew a thing or two about fine houses: 10 years earlier, he had purchased the waterfront Goddard Mansion, which was then not yet a part of Fort Williams.

This west-facing home, perched behind white birches on a pretty knoll and enjoying sea breezes and seasonal peeks of the water, served as the Rocky Hill Inn from the 1930s into the 1950s (among the notables hosted here were Amelia Earhart, Bette Davis and Gary Merrill); and was distinguished as a Greater Portland Landmarks property in the early 1980s.

The interior is comfortably elegant. There are fireplaces in two (of the five) upstairs bedrooms; in the formal dining room, a gas insert flanked by lovely built-in china cabinets; in the central hallway’s sitting area; and, with window-seat alcoves on either side, in the gorgeous, front-to-back living room.

The library is carpeted, but hardwood floors gleam everywhere else, and French doors enhance the flow of light throughout the bright main level. There’s a sweet sunroom with parquet floor, and a marble-countered butler’s pantry through to the updated kitchen, which has a wood stove on a brick hearth.

The property includes a detached, three-vehicle, heated garage; and also a second house, an asset that raises the possibility of establishing a family compound. Built in 1940, the single-level, 2,200-square-foot, three-plus bedroom home has a wonderful sun porch; a paneled living room with stone fireplace; two full baths, a galley-style kitchen, and a direct-entry, triple-bay garage.

The homes at 997 and 999 Shore Road, Cape Elizabeth, are presented as a special offering: The two houses together are listed at $1,195,000; 997 Shore Road alone, at $895,000.

The buyer of 997 Shore Road is afforded the right of first refusal on the smaller house. Also available is a privacy-enhancing additional .88-acre lot.

For more information or to arrange a private viewing, please contact listing broker Mary Jo Cross of Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty at 770-2210, 671-4006, or at mcross@legacysir.com.

Produced by the Marketing Department of the Maine Sunday Telegram, the Home of the Week is provided at no cost.

Photos by Meggie Booth.

Send HOW suggestions to jrolfe@pressherald.com.

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