Colonial independent inns

Set in a Colonial home built in 1810 on Camden's Elm Street, Blue Harbor House Inn keeps to the small, well-tended scale of a proper New England B&B — cozy rooms above, afternoon tea laid out below at no extra charge. Guests have been unusually generous with their praise, holding the inn at a 4.9 across more than 200 reviews, which in a village as thick with lodging as coastal Camden says something.

Set in a colonial house on Deer Isle's Main Street, The Ark pairs warm, refined guest rooms with a scattering of cottages just off the village center. Meals and drinks happen in the converted barn, where the restaurant and bar draw locals as readily as overnight guests. With 138 reviewers averaging 4.8, it's the rare small inn that people seem to leave genuinely charmed.

Perched on a quiet drive above Camden's harbor town, Timbercliffe Cottage pairs luxe colonial-style rooms with the kind of unhurried mornings Maine does best — a local, organic breakfast, then coffee carried out to the wraparound porch. Ocean views and a warm, retreat-like calm have earned it a near-perfect 4.9 from 83 guests. It's a small, singular place, better suited to slow days than busy itineraries.