Thumbing through the display ads for real estate in Down East magazine is like seeing a Maine you never knew.

The sweeping water views. The majestic, built-for generations homes. The sheer grandiosity of islands, and cliffs , and rolling fields on which breathtaking residences are built.

I've never seen them up close.

To say nothing of the fact that I couldn't afford to buy a week's time share in such places, much less purchase a property.

But I like to look.

They aren't located in "cabin country" per se.

Most are in Surry, or Blue Hill, or Camden, or Bar Harbor, or Pemaquid Point, or Seal Harbor, or Kennebunkport, or Kittery.

The Hollywood crowd could do a season's worth of shows of "Life Styles of the Rich and Famous" right here in Maine.

Why not?

Beverly Hills is plush but is not on the water!

The property that turned my head this week was an estate in the Belgrade Lakes, no less than eight miles from my camp.

Advertised by Sotheby's, it offers 7,000 square feet of indoor living space.

The property has more than 100 acres, with 1,000 feet on one of the picturesque lakes there.

There are tennis courts, garages and outbuildings for the guests. (As if hosts couldn't find a spare bedroom and bath in all those 7,000 square feet).

(An aside: I am thinking the property might belong to Mike LaVerdiere. I used to play tennis with him while I was doing time in Waterville in the early '90s. More relevantly, he and family members sold their chain of drug stores to a national outfit at that time, making millions. I heard he built a massive estate, with tennis facilities, in the Belgrade region. I was never invited out there to play, as should be obvious).

Anyway, the property is listed for $12.9 million.

That is a bundle but there are hundreds of homes throughout the state that are listed at more than $1 million.

I won't get near one, either by car, plane or bank book.

But I am intrigued by looking at them and their beautiful surroundings in that glossy magazine published in Camden.

I am not a booster of Down East, but I do love the vicarious thrill of viewing some of the state's most picturesque homes that I never knew existed.

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