The Maine Chance on Long Pond in the Belgrade Lakes Region: Beauty the Way Nature Intended

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The Maine Chance on Long Pond in the Belgrade Lakes Region: Beauty the Way Nature Intended

Elizabeth Arden’s Maine Chance Farm on Long Pond, Mount Vernon, Maine

Beauty put Mount Vernon and Long Pond in the Belgrade Lakes Region of Maine on the map in the 1930s. It all started with a young Canadian woman christened Florence Nightingale Graham, in the British tradition of being named for the famous nursing pioneer.


After working in a cosmetic shop and beauty salon in New York City, this young lady opened her own salon on Fifth Avenue in 1909 and changed her name to . . . Elizabeth Arden. An entrepreneur, she formulated, manufactured and sold her own line of cosmetics. By 1911, her business had expanded to the European market under the corporate name, Elizabeth Arden. Ms. Arden made make-up acceptable to “respectable” American women in the early 1900s.

Some years later, her friend, Elisabeth Marbury, a professional manager and drama agent, encouraged her to purchase a lakefront property in Maine. Elizabeth Arden bought “The Gables,” the property adjacent to her friend’s on Long Pond in Mount Vernon. Following Marbury’s death, Arden purchased the former’s Lakeside Farm.
In 1934, Arden converted the properties into the fashionable Maine Chance Farm, a health and beauty spa for the rich and famous. It’s been said that the name was “a double-entendre for her clients who saw it as their ‘main chance’ to recapture their youth.”
Find your way to Long Pond and you’ll join the ranks of many famous folks. Over the years, Arden’s clientele included First Lady Mamie Eisenhower plus many Hollywood stars.
Long Pond is a serene waterway of 2,714 acres, surrounded by majestic pines leading up to The Mountain, French’s Mountain and Blueberry Hill. The pond is divided by a narrows into two distinct basins. The southern or lower basin is the deepest with a maximum depth of 106 feet. It provides a perfect habitat for supporting cold and warm water fish.
The village of Belgrade Lakes is located on the north basin’s eastern shore. Folks either boat to the village for amenities or drive across Castle Island at the narrows to reach the village.
When you spend time on Long Pond, you might not encounter the rich and famous, but you can still enjoy great hiking trails for all abilities, boat rentals, swimming, fishing, winter sports, restaurants, theatre, antiques and general stores in the Belgrade Lakes Region. Owning lakefront property here means listening to the loons and enjoying the breathtaking views while only a short distance from anywhere. It means spending time at your own spa–an oasis from the everyday hassles of life. It also means finding beauty in your surroundings–the way nature intended.
To view lakefront properties for sale on Long Pond in the Belgrade Lakes Region of Maine, click on the green box above.
To learn more about the Belgrade Lakes Region, click on the blog links below.
The Belgrade Lakes Region of Maine
Lake Minnehonk, Mount Vernon, Maine: Lakefront Property Beside Shimmering Waters
Time to go Antiquing in the Winthrop and Belgrade Lakes Regions of Maine

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