Bette Davis’s former seaside estate in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, sold last week for $13.4 million, marking the highest residential sale in the state in a decade. The 8-acre property, which the actress once nicknamed “Witch Way,” spent roughly two months on the market after being listed in July for $15 million.
The roughly 1,200 feet of ocean frontage and extensive grounds helped drive rapid buyer interest, according to the listing agents. Sam Michaud of Legacy Properties Sotheby’s International Realty, who co-listed the property with Bill Gaynor, said the opportunity attracted bidders from abroad and described the estate as "one of the finest estates in Maine." The sale is a recent high for the state but falls short of Maine’s overall record residential sale — the 2008 purchase of David Rockefeller’s former summer home for $19 million.
The property marketed most recently as “Seascape” bears limited resemblance to the compound Davis occupied midcentury. The current 7,600-square-foot main house was constructed in 2002 and is designed in a farmhouse style with five bedrooms and eight bathrooms. Interior features include a double-height foyer, a cherry-paneled study and a fireside breakfast nook, while an octagonal cupola atop the residence offers panoramic views of manicured lawns and the estate’s granite shoreline.
A 2,000-square-foot carriage house, also built in 2002, provides two-bedroom guest accommodations with a fully equipped kitchen and a balcony. The sale also included a barn, space suitable for animals, and a pond within the 8-acre parcel.
Davis and actor Gary Merrill, who met on the set of the 1950 film All About Eve, purchased and lived on the coastal property during the 1950s while raising their blended family. The couple adopted two children, Margot and Michael, and Davis’s daughter from a previous marriage, Barbara Davis Hyman, also lived there. Family accounts describe a hands-on coastal life, including lobster fishing and local social activities; Michael Merrill told Portland Monthly in 2014 that his father formed a local hockey team known as the Merrill Marauders.
Davis and Merrill divorced in 1960, ending their decade at the estate. Davis did not remarry and died in France in 1989 at the age of 81. The property has since been redeveloped and maintained as a modern coastal retreat, reflecting renovations and new construction completed in the early 2000s.
The quick sale and reported international interest underscore continued demand for distinctive coastal properties in Maine, particularly those combining extensive shoreline, privacy and contemporary amenities. Listing agents said the combination of historic association and updated accommodations contributed to robust buyer activity and a closing price that sets the state’s recent benchmark for residential transactions.
