The call came through on a weekday afternoon in 1986. Sandra’s two young nieces were on the phone, their excited voices chattering above each other vying for her attention. “Auntie! You have to come!” They cried. “We found a beach house!”

Their mother and Sandra’s sister, Shirley was at the beach in Wells, Maine spending a week there with her daughters and husband, when she stumbled on a grand old cottage for sale. A dream. Right on the water, it called to her. So she called her sister.

Separately, Shirley and Sandra couldn’t afford the property, but these two entrepreneurial sisters, with big ambitions could do it if they did it together.

Sandra had been fixing and flipping houses in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire (long before Joanna Gains was even born) and with her real estate savvy maybe they could make it work. Shirley, with her business acumen and knack for design could lend her skills too.

Sandra rushed down to Wells to meet her sister. They looked at the property together, made an offer and signed the papers. The Sandcastle was theirs.

For the next thirty-one years, the sisters and their families stewarded the property together. Shirley’s husband Jim was the handy-man-on-hand, their daughters, Sandi and Stacy, helped prepare the house for renters and lent their artistic touches to the cottage. Sandra’s husband Sonny moved furniture and ceiling tiles, her son, Mark replaced showers and plumbed new water lines.

The Sandcastle, wasn’t just a place where they worked, it was also a hub for family gatherings: Thanksgiving feasts, graduation parties, even weddings. During the summer, they rented the house and apartments out by the week to the same families year after year. For a week each August, their families and friends would descend on The Sandcastle for the annual “Cheeseburger in Paradise” party, where Hawaiian shirts were mandatory, and Jimmy Buffet played long after the sun went down.

In 2017, Shirley lost her battle to breast cancer. Sandra, her brother-in-law, Jim and her nieces, along with many family and friends, celebrated her life at The Sandcastle. Standing on the patio as the tide came in, a dear friend played “Amazing Grace” on his bag pipes.

For a while, the future of The Sandcastle was uncertain. It seemed that the best thing might be to sell it. But Sandra and Jim weren’t quite ready to let go of a place that held so many beautiful memories. They recommitted to stewarding the property, and welcomed back their longtime renters.

Every summer since then, The Sandcastle has been the backdrop to family vacations, girlfriend gatherings, retreats, reunions and more.

As we head into the next chapter, Sandra’s son, Mark and his wife, Sarah are taking on the responsibility of stewarding this property for generations to come. With over a hundred years of seaside memories, The Sandcastle is a unique and beautiful place.

We can’t wait to share it with you.