After months of work, Kenniston Hill House opened for the public to tour its newly renovated interior June 19. The former inn is being sold as a 2,100 square foot, four-bedroom, three-bath private home, and is listed for $899, 000 on Zillow.  

In 2014, the 229-year-old structure was saved from demolition thanks to community fundraising. It was then separated from its addition and the 10-ton building and its six original fireplaces were moved to a new foundation on Boothbay Green, where it sat untouched until 2025.  

That February, Patrice Cappelletti of Vintage Maine Homes purchased the Kenniston and began restoration work. She was joined by longtime collaborator Steve Teel of Teelgreen Energy, who was site manager during the 2014 move. 

Teel’s family also owned the Kenniston for 30 years after it was bought by his great-grandfather Howard Teel in 1922. The project has allowed Teel to reconnect with a part of his family history, and he’s found many photos of his young grandparents with the Kenniston as the backdrop.  

Considering the regional importance of the Kenniston and the local efforts that went into preserving it, Cappelletti said she was excited for the community to get a chance to tour the home and see that the work done honored its historic roots.  

As reported in the Register, the home maintained its original fireplaces, front door, cabinetry, timber framings and window trimmings. Cappelletti used heritage colors from the Benjamin Moore Williamsburg collection to tie everything together.  

“This is historic; these (colors) are already determined. I'm not going to recreate the wheel, I don't need to,” she explained.  

The interior was primarily beige with two shades of accenting green, inspired by the green trim already in the dining room. Paired with large windows overlooking the summer vegetation, the colors were also meant to evoke a feeling of the outdoors.  

In addition to vintage palettes, most of the furnishings and accents were antique pieces Cappelletti had previously foraged, from metal cabinet handles to wood trim that complimented the home’s exposed timbers. There are also some quirky homages to the Kenniston’s past, including the year the house was built (1797) tiled in one of the upstairs showers.  

“It just felt (as if) this house asked for me to fix it.” 

Teel added, “Patrice is a wizard; she's an artist. She's able to see things, I mean, we both are, but she just has a golden touch ... and we've had such good people working here. If we were to count them all, I bet there'd be 30 different people that had a hand in this.”  

Attendees were also quick to praise the renovations, and Cappelletti was pleased by the overwhelming community presence. In part due to the event’s success, there will likely be another open house later this summer.