"I figured it would be a different kind of experience, and I might learn something. And I did," said Berlin, an Arlington resident.
But she didn't learn it at Starlight Llama, which was booked. The Clapps referred her to Inn Nature, an earth-sheltered concrete home just down the road in Chesterfield, which also is off the electrical grid.
"Sarah [Prince, the owner] took me up on the roof, showed me the solar panels, and described the solar-heated water system. It certainly has me thinking of how I can do that in my own home," Berlin said.
When Prince built her three-bedroom home into a hillside in 2007, she wasn't intending to operate a B&B. Its design, which incorporates a 48-volt so lar electrical system, grew out of a desire for something unusual combined with "serious eco-consciousness," she said.
But then a "need to be able to pay taxes" led her to christen her home Inn Nature and open it to the public in May. Prince's roof, covered with four feet of soil and turf, becomes part of the high side of the hill. She concedes that "it is kind of strange to drive up and see this big pile of dirt, but it's interesting to live in it."
Wayne Crump from Gaithersburg, Md., came to town to attend a hospice fund-raiser. During his visit, he said, a great thunderstorm roiled the outdoors but "we hardly felt a vibration inside."
"Sarah made the comment that she feels safe there, like in a womb, and I said, 'Yes, it's a womb with a view,' " he deadpanned. The vista includes Prince's organic gardens.
An intangible of a different sort is beginning to lead travelers to Williams Pond Lodge in Bucksport, Maine. "There's a lot of romance involved in the idea of a Maine camp in the woods, on the pond," said David Weeda, who opened the lodge in October with his partner, Dominick Rizzo. "Throw in the added ingredient of off the grid, and you can really enjoy the ambience of being so close to nature."
