The Gardner House was built by Ebenezer Gardner at the end of 1776. Originally born in Massachusetts, Ebenezer settled in Aulac, Nova Scotia to farm and start a family. After his involvement in a failed patriot attempt to overthrow Fort Cumberland in 1776, the British burned his original farmhouse in retribution. He and his family narrowly escaped to Machiasport were they built the second farmhouse that my family and I live in today. For more information on this event and a history of the Gardner family, please click the links below:

Nova Scotia: The Lost Star and Stripe

The Gardners of Massachusetts: An American Legacy

Ebenezer Gardner and twenty-three other family members are buried on the property in a cemetery I recently had restored. Prior to the restoration, the cemetery had become engulfed in bushes and some of the headstones had fallen down. 

In the years after the Gardner family, local residents knew the house as the Murphy farm. My parents bought the house in 1964 after a summer visit tracing the Corbett branch of my family with roots in Cutler. My parents fell in love with the property and bought the house and all fifty acres for a whopping $10,000! 

The name Micmac Farm came from my mother, Barbara Dunn. The original name for the property was to be “Three Pine Farm” after three tall spruce trees at the driveway’s entrance. When migrant Micmac Indians came down from Nova Scotia to rake blueberries every August, a few would camp out across the road in a makeshift shantytown – the name Micmac Farm was born.

The house was used as our summer home up until 1974 when we sold our Connecticut property and relocated permanently to Maine. My father practiced law part-time, and I went off to boarding school and college. My mother, however, decided to do something different. In the summer of 1981, Micmac Farm Restaurant served its first guests. While my mother was not a chef by profession, she did have a knack for preparing tantalizing, gourmet dinners. A typical dinner would start off with a rich soup, a chilled salad, and piping-hot popovers followed by an entrée such as Filet Mignon Bordelaise or Lobster Graziola. The dinner would be capped by a delicious Meringue Glace or an Orange Bavarian Cream. Probably what was most unusual about the menu was that the appetizer, entrée, and dessert were all included as one price. Guests would dine in two rooms by candlelight and the warm glow of crackling fires from the fireplaces. In 1984, she took her business to the next level – lodging. The three cabins were built on the Machias River that year, and then six years later, a guestroom was added to the main house.  

My father, Daniel, died in 1996. My mother continued the business until she became seriously ill towards the end of 1999, and she served the last dinners on that New Year’s Eve. My wife and I intervened, and we made the difficult decision to discontinue the restaurant. Micmac Farm had become known as one of the best restaurants in Maine, and despite the closing of the restaurant and my mother's untimely death in 2003, we continue to receive phone calls for dinner reservations.

Bonnie, Isabella, and yours truly, Christmas 2003

I am now the second family generation proprietor. After the birth of my daughter, Isabella, we sold our house in southern Maine, I quit my banking job in Boston, and we all moved up to Machiasport. My wife, Bonnie, is a professional photographer, and I am a writer (www.AnthonyTaylorDunn.com). And who knows – maybe our little Isabella will some day be the third generation owner.        

-Anthony Taylor Dunn

April 2005