I love a good house story — one that runs deep with history and mixes in the right amount of charm. I also love to learn about the history of a home as much as I like to see the house in present form. A few years ago, an older man showed up at my […]

I love a good house story — one that runs deep with history and mixes in the right amount of charm. I also love to learn about the history of a home as much as I like to see the house in present form. A few years ago, an older man showed up at my door and wanted to tell me all about growing up in my house. He shared stories about him and his brother as young children, where the family phone hung in the kitchen, and where they put their Christmas tree each year. Many of the little quirks of my 1890 home were revealed. Ben Ray and Ali Malone have a similar story. After moving around the country, these Portland, ME natives wanted to get back to the community they grew up in and raise a family there. When asked what drew them back to their hometown, Ben shares, “Portland is the perfect ‘little city’ of roughly 70,000 people. It’s a community where you walk down the street and people smile and say ‘hello’ to you; it’s a community that supports the arts, cultivates creative types and small businesses, has award-winning restaurants (but is still super laid-back!) and still has some salty bars — and yes, salty people too. It is the place where we intend to grow old toget...