By Erika Riggs, Zillow

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Norumbega Castle in Camden, Maine

Norumbega Castle, Camden, Maine
For sale: $1,790,000

As explorers crisscrossed the oceans in search of The New World, facts of their journeys sometimes mixed with fiction. Some searched for the lost city of Atlantis. Spain’s Juan Ponce de Leon went after the Fountain of Youth. France’s Jean Allefonsce spoke of Norumbega as a large, rich native city alongside the banks of an enormous river in what is today the state of Maine.

Explorers were never able to find that fantasy city, but the legend never died. In 1886, Bangor, Maine, embraced the legend of Norumbega, when eccentric inventor Joseph Stearns built his tribute to the fabled city: An enormous stone castle sitting on the coast of Camden.

Camden Real Estate Company

Norumbega Castle circa 1800s.

Originally from Maine, Stearns became a millionaire with his invention of the duplex telegraphy, which he sold to Western Union.

When Stearns decided to build the Norumbega Castle, he spent a year visiting European castles for inspiration. He hired New York architect Arthur Bates Jennings to incorporate his favorite castle features.

Situated on nearly four acres, Norumbega is 10,330-square-feet and has 12 bedrooms and 13.5 bathrooms. Stunning period woodwork, ornate stone fireplaces and views of the bay are featured prominently throughout the house.

Listing agent Scott Horty of the Camden Real Estate Company explained his favorite details of the home:

“[It] has the coolest stair landing complete with a fireplace and built-in window seats and stunning woodwork,” he said.

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Bookcases wrap around the top of the landing.

And in case you’ve ever wanted to sleep like royalty, the main turret is a bedroom.

Converted into an inn in 1984, the home is still available as a single-family property. Described as the “jewel of the Maine coast,” Camden is a historic hamlet nestled between mountains and ocean.

According to Zillow’s mortgage affordability calculator, the estimated monthly payment for the Norumbega Castle would be $6,602 a month, assuming a 20 percent down payment on a 30-year-fixed mortgage rate.

In addition, the carriage house that once belonged to the Norumbega Castle is also for sale.

In the 1970s, the carriage house was split from the property as a separate, single-family residence. Like the castle, the carriage house is listed on the Camden real estate market, and features Victorian-era design.

Priced at $4.75 million, the Norumbega carriage house has had a complete renovation.

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The Norumbega carriage house is separately listed.

By Erika Riggs, Zillow

50000 Royal St., Park City UT
For sale: $49,500,000

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John Huntsman Sr’s house.

When you have nine children and 56 grandchildren, your winter vacation getaway probably leans more toward mansion than cabin.

Jon Huntsman, Sr.’s Park City home has 20,000 square feet of living space and 12 bedrooms — two of which are bunk bedrooms with 20 mattresses — enough room for his children and grandchildren, as well as any guests.

The father of former Republican presidential nominee Jon Huntsman, Jr., Huntsman Sr. began his business career in an egg-producing company in Los Angeles. He rose through the ranks, culminating with his contributions in the invention of the plastic egg carton. That success led him to form the Huntsman Container Corporation, which manufactured the “clamshell” container for McDonald’s Big Macs and as well as plastic plates, bowls and containers for other fast-food companies. He then founded Huntsman Chemical, transitioning it to the Huntsman Corporation, which went public in 2005.

The Huntsman patriarch designed the home for his family in 1989 out of reclaimed logs from the forests surrounding Yellowstone Park, said listing agent Paul Benson of Summit Sotheby’s International Realty.

“The whole home, even the guest rooms, are filled with timber ceilings and walls,” explained Benson.

The home contains several living areas with cathedral ceilings, stone fireplaces and picture windows, as well as a dining room that seats 20, a paneled library, fitness center and children’s playrooms and massive indoor pool.

Many of the furnishings in the home are available for purchase as well. Benson notes that the estate holds one of the largest collections of American Indian art in the U.S.

Situated in Utah’s ski haven of Upper Deer Valley on 60 acres, the property is private, yet accessible. The seclusion of the home is perfect for the Huntsman family to entertain high-profile guests. Huntsman Sr. previously served as the national committeeman for the Republican Party of Utah, as well as special assistant and staff secretary to President Nixon. Before running as a Republican party presidential nominee this past year, Huntsman Jr., was governor of Utah and an ambassador to China under President Obama.

Huntsman Sr. first listed his home on the Park City real estate market in September 2009 for $55 million. The house was removed in April 2010 and later re-listed with its current lower price. According Benson, Huntsman is letting go of the property to focus on his new development: Huntsman Springs, a golf course and high-end community in Driggs, Idaho

According to Zillow’s mortgage payment calculator, a monthly payment on Huntsman’s estate would be $182,093, assuming a 20 percent down payment on a 30-year-fixed rate mortgage.

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Huntsman’s home includes an enormous indoor pool.

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Some of the rugs, art and other furnishings are also available for sale.

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By Erika Riggs, Zillow

ScarJo’s and Ryan Reynolds’ former love nest for sale

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Scarlett Johannson and Ryan Reynolds’ gorgeous former home.

When Scarlett Johannson and Ryan Reynolds announced their engagement in 2008, it seemed like an A-Lister match made in Hollywood heaven, akin to the beautiful pairing of Brad and Jennifer Aniston. Unfortunately, like Brad and Jen, the celebrity union didn’t last and after three years of marriage, Scarlett and Ryan filed for divorce.

A little over six months after finalizing their divorce, the couple has cut another tie to their marriage and placed their Los Angeles home on the Los Feliz real estate market for $3.65 million

Named the “Wong House,” Scarlett and Ryan’s home is a classic mid-century modern home designed by Buff & Hensman in 1969. Perched on nearly half an acre, the glass-walled home features sprawling views of the city below. Typical of an outdoor California lifestyle, the home’s enormous living areas open out to spacious decks, a salt-water pool, and grassy yard.

Tennessee home where Johnny Cash lived his final days for sale

Johnny Cash spent his final days at this ranch house.

One of the most famous homes in country music — or any musical genre, given the reach of Johnny Cash’s career — was the home of Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash.

The property at 200 Claudill Drive in Hendersonville, Tenn. — which figured in the award-winning Cash biopic, “Walk The Line”  — was the Cash family’s home for nearly all of their 35-year marriage. The massive, 13,880-square-foot home, runs along on Old Hickory Lake.

What is less known, however, is that Cash wound up living in the house he owned across the street at 185 Claudill Drive. The ranch home was built by the same architect, Braxton Dixon, and Cash had used it to house his own parents prior to their passing.

“He spent his last days there after it was harder for him to get around in a wheelchair in lake house,” said Stan Peacock, whose father-in-law the — a former Grand Ole Opry musician — bought the house from the Cash family in 2004.

The ranch house, which was always referred to as “Mama Cash’s house” because it was where Cash’s mother lived, has been listed for sale on and off since 2009. It was last listed for $595,000. While it is not officially on the market right now, Peacock with Crye-Leike Realtors in Hendersonville said interested buyers could reach out to him.

In addition to being the place where Cash last stayed, the house at 185 Claudill Drive once housed some very unique Cash mementos, including the Gold Record for “I Walk The Line.”

Read more about Johnny Cash’s house.

Tae Bo guru Billy Blanks sells Hidden Hills home for $7.3 million

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Billy Blanks’ former home opens out to a large pool and landscaped yard.

Jazzercise, Yoga, Pilates and Zumba — fitness crazes come and go, but none ruled the ’90s more than Billy Blanks’ Tae Bo home workout. Blanks’ workout videos made him a household name and pop culture icon.

Blanks recently sold his home, which was listed on the Hidden Hills real estate market, pocketing close to $5.8 million in profit from the recent sale.

The home was initially listed with an asking price of $11.5 million back in October of 2008 after Blanks and his wife of 33 years divorced. Three years and several price cuts later, Blanks finally kicked free of his one-of-a -kind pad for $7.3 million.

Blanks’ one-of-a-kind Mediterranean estate has more than enough room to work out in with over 16,000-square feet of living space, that includes 7 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms. True to many multimillion dollar estates, the home includes over-the-top amenities like an indoor basketball court, massive home theater, game and piano rooms. The master suite includes a stone bath, and private balcony with staircase to the pool, spa and grotto. Surprisingly, the listing doesn’t include a home gym

By Erika Riggs, Zillow

Mackenzie-Childs estate, Kings Ferry, N.Y.

For sale: $1,100,000

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Richard and Victoria Mackenzie-Childs stand in front of their estate.

Calling it “rustic” would be too kind. Perhaps “dilapidated” or “a tear-down” would be a better description for the upstate New York farmhouse artists Richard and Victoria MacKenzie-Childs purchased in 1980 and brought back to life. It is now for sale for $1.1 million.

The circa-1790 home had been abandoned for 30 years. The only signs of upkeep were the boarded-up broken windows. Undaunted, the struggling ceramic artists who turned their fanciful sensibilities into a multimillion-dollar enterprise through their MacKenzie-Childs line knew what they were looking at. Even if no one else, including the previous owners, could see it.

“How we would describe livable may be different from someone else,” said Richard. “Every window was broken. Electricity was minimal; I think we had a single light bulb.”

Mackenzie-Childs

Mackenzie-Childs house, circa 1980.

Even more rustic was the heating source, or lack of one. For six years, the MacKenzie-Childses didn’t have central heating, but instead, used the home’s original fireplace.

“We were busy doing other things,” Richard explained. “We were hardy enough so it didn’t bother us. We thought if people had survived 200 years without heat, we could.”

Doing other things meant restoring the farmhouse and transforming the 42-acre estate into a wondrous, whimsical place. They also started their successful line of home decor there. That business turned into such a success they opened stores on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and Madison Avenue in New York.

“We built everything,” said Richard. “That’s what ended up propelling us into our business.”

The couple no longer own MacKenzie-Childs. Facing bankruptcy, they sold the company in 2001 for $15.3 million to Pleasant T. Rowland, founder of American Girl. But the line of playful wares — ceramics, furniture, art and jewelry — is still hot in high-end stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. Fans include the hard-to-impress set, including Barbra Streisand, Joe Montana, Bill Cosby, Garrison Keillor, Geena Davis and former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush.

Secret passageways
The MacKenzie-Childses’ fanciful and colorful style is reflected throughout the farmhouse. From hand-painted tiles throughout several rooms, secret passageways leading to bedrooms, a handwritten poem that wraps around an upper hallway and a “toilet seat that includes an intricate painting of the reverse of room,” the property is one-of-a-kind, says listing agent Mike Franklin of Sotheby’s.

“The house is a museum of MacKenzie-Childs artifacts,” he said.

In addition to the captivating farmhouse, the MacKenzie-Childs estate includes a carriage house with additional living quarters, an artist’s studio, office and retail gift shop on 43 acres bordered by the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail. It totals seven bedrooms and four baths.

The surrounding grounds are part of the property’s allure: Recycled ballast stones pave the driveway and courtyards, and twisted vine canopies and colorful gardens surround the buildings.

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Much of the home reflects the Mackenzie-Childs’ whimsical taste.

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The master bedroom includes a working clawfoot tub.

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Each of the tiles in the sunroom were hand-painted by the artistic couple.

Next stop: Ferryboat
While the MacKenzie-Childses love the farmhouse, they’ve moved and are ready to find a buyer who will “fall in love with the home the way we did,” said Richard.

The pair are currently living on an Ellis Island ferryboat docked in Hoboken, N.J.

Wait, a ferryboat? In Hoboken?

Turns out that the New York City apartment they tried to inhabit after selling their company could not contain them — or their imaginations — as they worked on their new line, Victoria and Richard Emprise.

“We weren’t very good at apartment dwelling and needed more space,” Richard said.

Victoria was the first to hear about the historically significant ferryboat and the couple was naturally pulled to the challenge. Previously called the Machigonne, the circa-1907 ferryboat (below) — now called the Yankee — was first used in World War I to carry supplies. In the 1920s, the boat shuttled new immigrants from Ellis Island to Manhattan. In 1990, a buyer for the then-abandoned boat began the process of converting it into a home. The Mackenzie-Childses purchased the ferry in 2007 and continued the restoration, adding their usual fanciful touches.

Mackenzie-Childs

The Mackenzie-Childs’ current home is a historic ferry boat.

Turns out the boat is being used as a little bait for prospective buyers of the couple’s farmhouse. Whoever buys the MacKenzie-Childs estate can tour the ferryboat, a home that real estate agent Franklin says is as wild as the farmhouse. And if that’s not enough, the couple is throwing in dinner on the boat with them.

Any takers?

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The lighthouse was a specific part of this Maine home’s design.

By Erika Riggs, Zillow

85 Buck and Doe, Deer Isle, Maine
For sale: $2,873,000

Long before GPS and smartphones, sailors depended on the blinking light of a far-off lighthouse to guide them. Although ships no longer rely on lighthouses, there’s still something alluring about a lighthouse, sitting alone as a beacon on the shore.

The romanticism and appeal of a bygone era is captured in this Maine home for sale, which is located on Maine’s Penobscot Bay. Although the statwe has more than 60 lighthouses, this home was not converted from a previous working lighthouse. Rather it was built as an unusual, private residence with a lighthouse tower affixed.

The current owner bought the residence partially unfinished and completed the construction in 1990. Listed on the Hancock County real estate market, the lighthouse home sits only 10 minutes from two local towns, but has a private and remote feel, explains listing agent Story Litchfield.

The 5,859-square-foot home features enormous living areas with floor-to-ceiling windows and of course, an attached tower that has 360-degree views from its top look-out point.

“The top floor is totally surrounded by windows and you can see so far because it’s so high,” Litchfield said.

On the floor of the lighthouse is an enormous chart and map of the area to explain the surrounding views.

In addition to views of the Atlantic Ocean, islands and Camden Hills, the 4-bedroom, 4-bath home has a gourmet kitchen, two-story granite fireplace and cathedral ceilings. Two of the bedrooms are located in the lighthouse tower on the first floor.

With current mortgage rates, and assuming a 20 percent down payment on a 30-year-fixed mortgage, a monthly payment on the lighthouse home is $10,660 a month.

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A granite two-story fireplace dominates the living room of the home.

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The stone lighthouse is located on Maine’s Penobscot Bay.