This AAA Four Diamond-rated boutique hotel began life in 1903 as the home of Scottish railroad tycoon Alexander Maitland. Maitland was Henry Flagler's partner in the Florida East Coast Railway, and this shingle-style house, designed by the noted firm Andrews, Jaques & Rantoul, still wears that turn-of-the-century elegance. In 1995 the property was expanded to 27 rooms, and inside you will find its restaurant, The Veranda, welcoming guests.
The Inn’s name points your attention to a local wonder: Balance Rock, a nearby boulder deposited during an ice age on a slender stone fulcrum just off Bar Harbor’s Shore Path. You are at the eastern end of Albert Meadow, a quiet cul-de-sac off Main Street; the building sits adjacent to Grant Park and looks out over Frenchman Bay and the Porcupine Islands beyond. Stand here and imagine the rail fortunes that paid for this house, the architects’ shingle-style detailing, the hotel’s later adaptation to visitors, and the slow, geological patience that left that balancing stone offshore.
Beyond the Inn, Frenchman Bay opens onto the Porcupine Islands, scattered offshore like the ice age left them.