Your own private island

When A.J. Longmaid spent his boyhood summers on Spectacle Island, a private 4.5-acre (1.8 hectare) refuge off the coast of Bar Harbor, Maine, his family had no electricity or pressurized water. He read by kerosene lamp and showered by pouring a bucket of freezing water over his head. Today Longmaid, 30, not only has hot showers and electric power on the island but also can make cell-phone calls, watch television and surf the Net via satellite. "People don't even realize they aren't connected to the mainland when they're here because everything is the same," says Longmaid, who lives on Spectacle Island with his girlfriend from May to October and rents a second house to guests. The couple spends the winter in Florida, where he works as

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