N°1 · Nun buoy “1”, off Gale Point
The Cape at Gale Point
A 1911 shingled cape broadside to the Reach on 4.6 acres of bold granite shore. Deep-water mooring off the front field; a causeway that keeps its own hours.
The firm
The tide was made senior partner in 1987. We have kept its hours ever since.
Ruth Gale opened this office above the chandlery with one listing, a skiff, and a conviction: that a house on this coast is a working thing, and ought to be sold like one — by its sills and its soundings, not its sunsets. She gave the tide top billing on the door, reasoning that it would outlast her. So far it has.
Thirty-nine years on, we are still three people and the same skiff. We list a handful of properties a year, walk every boundary at low water, and write the defects into the listing where you can read them. Buyers who want granite under their feet and a mooring that holds in a southeast blow tend to find us. Boots before boats — that is the house rule.
The ship’s logs
Three moorings · surveyed May 2026
The Cape at Gale Point
44°08.2′N · 68°41.5′W — mainland, by tidal causeway
Asking$1,285,000
- Built
- 1911
- Bedrooms
- 3
- Baths
- 2
- Acreage
- 4.6
- Shore
- 310 ft, bold granite
- Mooring
- deep water, 8 ft MLW
- Water
- drilled well, 6 gpm
- Heat
- woodstove + oil monitor
- Taxes (2025)
- $6,410
- Surveyed
- 14 May 2026
- Boundary walked
- 〃
Surveyor’s remarks
The cape has stood a hundred and fifteen winters broadside to the Reach and means to stand a hundred more. Sills are sound — we crawled them. The woodstove holds the kitchen at 68° through a February gale, and the mooring lies in the lee of the point with eight feet under you at mean low water.
Stated plainly: the barn sill on the northeast corner wants replacing (quoted $14,200, October 2025); the causeway keeps the tide’s schedule, not yours; and the nearest espresso is eleven miles by road.
Wrack Harbor Cottage
44°03.4′N · 68°41.1′W — village, above the co-op wharf
Asking$612,000
- Built
- 1946
- Bedrooms
- 2
- Baths
- 1, downstairs
- Lot
- 0.3 acre, granite
- Wharfage
- shared float + fish house
- Water
- town
- Sewer
- 〃
- Heat
- woodstove + heat pump
- Roof
- re-shingled 2021
- Taxes (2025)
- $3,180
- Surveyed
- 16 May 2026
Surveyor’s remarks
Two up, two down, and every window earning its keep. The cottage sits on granite thirty feet above the co-op wharf; you can read the day’s lobster price off the co-op chalkboard from the kitchen sink. Chimney relined 2019. The fish house conveys — with its bench, its bait smell, and its right-of-way.
Stated plainly: one bath, and it is downstairs; parking is one vehicle, tucked; the fleet goes out at five in the morning and is not quiet about it.
The Ledgewater Boathouse
44°05.5′N · 68°37.3′W — Ledgewater Island, west shore
Asking$897,000
- Built
- 1938, converted 2016
- Sleeps
- loft + bunk room (5)
- Baths
- 1, composting
- Shore
- 190 ft + marine railway
- Power
- solar 6 kW, batteries
- Water
- cistern, 3,000 gal
- Heat
- woodstove
- Access
- ferry, 40 min (below)
- Taxes (2025)
- $2,940
- Surveyed
- 19 May 2026
- Boundary walked
- 〃
Surveyor’s remarks
A boathouse first, a house second, and better for it. The 1938 marine railway is intact and greased — haul your own boat with a hand winch and a bit of ceremony. Sleeping loft under the ridge, bunk room on the water side, and the kind of quiet that lets you hear your own heart. Off-grid and honest about it.
Stated plainly: the ferry is your driveway and it keeps a schedule (see Passage, below); groceries are a planning exercise; in a southeast gale you will not be going anywhere — which is rather the point.
The weather board
Co-op log · 30-year means
“We will not tell you the fog is romantic on a morning you have a ferry to catch.”
Every listing on this coast carries the same weather, so we post it once, for the whole Reach, and stand behind the numbers — averages from the co-op’s log, 1994–2025. The wind is a fact, the fog is a schedule, and the frost is a season. Houses here are priced accordingly, and built accordingly, which is the better half of the bargain.
If a month below looks unlivable to you, believe it, and buy somewhere gentler. If it looks like weather you could live in — hail us.
| Month | Prevailing wind | Fog days | Frost nights | Sea °F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | NW 16 kt | 2 | 27 | 38 |
| April | SW 11 kt | 5 | 9 | 42 |
| July | 〃 9 kt | 10 | 0 | 58 |
| October | NW 12 kt | 4 | 6 | 52 |
| Fog is counted when the ferry captain says it is. | ||||
Passage
Ferry · causeway · roads
For N°3, the Boathouse
Ferry — Stonington to Ledgewater Island
| Departs Stonington | Departs island | Vessel |
|---|---|---|
| 07:00 | 07:45 | M/V Gale Runner |
| 09:00 | 09:45 | 〃 |
| 11:30 | 12:15 | 〃 |
| 15:00 | 15:45 | 〃 |
| 17:15 | 18:00 | 〃 |
Monday–Saturday; Sundays the 09:00 and 15:00 only. Crossing 40 minutes. Bicycles free; dogs at the mood of the captain.
For N°1, the Cape
The Gale Point causeway
The road to the cape crosses a gravel bar that stands three feet above mean low water. The tide stands ten. For roughly fifty minutes either side of each high water, the road is a channel — and you are early, or you are a boat.
ROAD UNDER: ±50 minutes around each high water — see the tide clock.
- Rockland 1 h 05
- Bangor 1 h 20
- Portland 2 h 10
- Boston 4 h, with stops for pie
Hailing on channel 9
Hail the office.
The office monitors VHF channel 9, 0800–1700, Monday through Saturday — and this form, whenever. Say who you are, where we can reach you, and which mooring you mean. We answer within one working tide.