Dreamers, artists and doers have long been drawn to the Maine coast; the author E.B. White wrote his 1952 children’s classic “Charlotte’s Web” on a saltwater farm in Brooklin, and the painter Andrew Wyeth made his famous work “Christina’s World” (1948) in Cushing, some 80 miles southwest. Among a newer generation are Jay and Alison Carroll, the couple behind Wonder Valley, a line of olive oils, skin-care products and home goods, who’ve made a home for themselves on Bailey Island, a rocky spit of land in Casco Bay an hour’s drive from Portland, where Jay grew up. After purchasing the property (which they refer to as B.I.B.S., short for “Bailey Island Beach Shack”) at a foreclosure auction in 2020, the pair, who also own El Rey Court, a boutique hotel in Santa Fe, N.M., and the newer Waymore’s Guest House and Casual Club, in Nashville, set about renovating the small, shingled cove-side cottage. But before work on the interior was finished, they prioritized some coastal Maine essentials: buying a boat and, with the help of a neighbor, building a wood-burning oven in the backyard.

---

Persons: E.B, White, Andrew Wyeth, Jay, Alison Carroll, who’ve, “ Organizations: El, Court, Casual Locations: Maine, Brooklin, Cushing, Bailey, Casco Bay, Portland, “ Bailey, Santa Fe, Nashville