For Sale: Shaw's Lodging in Monson, an Appalachian Trail Icon

Home News For Sale: Shaw's Lodging in Monson, an Appalachian Trail Icon

Published Sep 12, 2014

You love the outdoors. You live to fish and hunt and hike. You love all four seasons. You love people and enjoy meeting strangers. You're tired of working for The Man and want to pursue your dreams. You must buy Shaw's Lodging in Monson, Maine.

Anyone who has hiked the 100-Mile-Wilderness knows about the cozy Appalachian Trail Community of Monson. Southbound hikers from Abol Bridge are motivated by the clean rooms and fabulous breakfasts they will enjoy ... if they don't quit the Trail too soon.

Shaw's is for sale for the asking price of $205,000, according to Prudential Northeast Properties.

To put that in perspective, you could purchase Shaw's and get $800,000 change compared to the cost of buying ONE parking space in New York City. Honest.

To a fervent Appalachian Trail hiker looking for a "home business," buying the iconic Shaw's is better than buying the Grand Canyon, the Louvre, the Sphinx or even the telephone museum in Georgia.

Think of the people you'll meet when they stay at YOUR lodge before they blithely and cheerfully hustle into the 100-Mile-Wilderness saying, "Pffft! How hard could this possibly be?"

Often, you'll get to rent hikers a bed and sell them breakfast again a day or so later when they return after learning first-hand how hard it is to trek The Wilderness.

Shaw's has plenty of room for folks looking to rent a room for a night or two -- showers included -- and the breakfasts served are simply famous among those who have fueled up before a day or twelve of hiking the Appalachian Trail.

The AT isn't the only way to have fun in or around Monson.

You'll find lakeside picnic tables and spots to launch your sailboat on Lake Hebron in the summer and taking rides on giant mosquitoes is always fun for the family.

Wintertime in Monson is plenty of fun too. There's lots of room to ice skate, ice fish and ice anything else you'd like to do all winter long.

Just remember, you'll have plenty to do if you purchase Shaw's and spend your life in one of the most magnificent and wild spots in the United States of America.

Monson would be a great place to avoid food riots and the ensuing murderous madness when our society finally tanks.

No one's going to loot the local Walmart -- because there isn't one! Problem solved.

The ever-helpful Wikipedia ("If it weren't true we couldn't put it on the Internet") states Monson is "on Route 15 which is a somewhat major route north to the well known Moosehead Lake Region." Pretty road but watch out for moose.

According to the property listing, "The property is operational & ready! The large boarding house is in excellent condition and comes equipped with everything you need to run your business the day you walk in the door. There is a private owners' quarters and lodging for approximately 35 customers, with private rooms available, bunk rooms and the bunk house. A choice for every budget."

As the new proprietor of Shaw's -- or "Insert Your Name Here" -- Lodging, it'll be easy to meet almost everyone in Monson. That's largely because the 2010 population was 686, fewer than the number of who people bought coffee for strangers in two days at a Starbucks in Florida. Honest.

Play your cards right and you might be the first to open a Starbucks in Monson!

So many workers hate their jobs and their insane commutes.

Here's your big chance, Bucko, to get away from it all.

Even if the lodge only breaks even financially, somebody is going to live their dream of running Shaw's.

And we will wish them well.

Tags: Appalachian Trail, Hiking, Appalachian Trail Community, News, and Robert Sutherland Travel Writer