|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Harpswell Schoolhouse property has been sold to the owners of two other local businesses.
Elyse Dana, owner of Iris Eats on Great Island, and Courtney Mongell and Ryan Ravenscroft, owners of Mare Brook Farm in Brunswick, purchased the property Sept. 18 from Harpswell Neck philanthropist Helen Norton.
“We are grateful to Helen and her family for entrusting us with this special Harpswell landmark, and are actively working on a plan that honors its history while creating something meaningful for the broader community,” the new owners said in a statement. “As local business owners with deep roots in this community, we look forward to sharing more details in November.”
The new owners were not ready to reveal their plans for the property at the corner of Harpswell and Mountain roads. Norton declined to comment on the sale.
Dana grew up in South Harpswell and has operated her Iris Eats cafe since 2021. She also runs a catering service.
Mongell and Ravenscroft are Bowdoin College graduates who bought their farm on Route 123, just north of the Harpswell town line, in 2017. They now operate an organic flower farm and retail shop on the property.
The Harpswell Schoolhouse restaurant opened in spring 2024, but struggled to stay open through changes in management. In March, an email to patrons said the restaurant was closing “for the foreseeable future.”
The building previously housed The School House 1913 restaurant from 2019 until a fire shut down the business in November 2023. Both restaurants took their names from the building’s history as a schoolhouse.
Norton and her late husband, Walter, had bought the property in 2005 and leased it to various businesses. Norton remodeled it before The School House 1913 opened. She renovated it again after the 2023 fire.
