EUSTIS – The mention of a Maine vacation home evokes visions of grand mansions overlooking white-capped waves crashing along a rocky coastline dotted with lighthouses.

In reality, a second home in Maine is more often than not a modest fishing or hunting camp deep in the woods.

Thanks to seaside cottages and woodsy camps, Maine leads the nation for the percentage of vacation homes, beating out sunny states like Florida and Arizona, according to figures from the 2000 census.

In Maine, 15.6 percent of all housing units are for seasonal use. Nationally, 3.1 percent are vacation homes.

The rich and famous have long flocked to Maine’s shores. President Bush’s family has summered in Kennebunkport since the early 1900s, and the Rockefeller clan has roots in the Bar Harbor area. More recently, John Travolta and Martha Stewart have set up summer residences on Maine islands.

But those mansions don’t account for the bulk of the state’s vacation homes. A large portion are modest “camps,” as Mainers call them.

Piscataquis and Franklin counties, both of which are miles from the ocean, have the highest proportion of seasonal homes, accounting for 40 percent and 33.9 percent of total housing units, respectively.

Some camps are as simple as the one that was transformed from an old barn that Evie Brackett and her husband of Farmington bought for $600 in 1971 and moved across the road on skidders normally used to haul timber logs.

Still barnlike on the outside, Brackett’s Barn retains a rustic feel inside even though it has electricity and insulation.

The hayloft has been turned into two bedrooms, and roughhewn planks form the walls of the building. A 55-gallon oil drum has been converted into a wood stove, but Brackett also has a small oven and stove.

The retired secretary uses bottled water for drinking and cooking but uses a spring for washing. There’s an outhouse, as well.

“There’s no view or anything. I just like it – a home away from home, you know?” said Brackett.

The coast has its share of vacation homes, as well. York County has 16,597, the most among Maine’s 16 counties.

Areas around Penobscot Bay and Mount Desert Island have some of the biggest concentrations. In some small coastal communities, vacation homes account for more than a third of all the housing.

In Maine, which proclaims itself “Vacationland,” 101,470 of 651,901 housing units are devoted to seasonal use. Vermont is second and New Hampshire third on a percentage basis, followed by Alaska.

Florida came in sixth place but had the highest number of vacation homes by far, at 482,944.

Proximity to large population centers in the Northeast is a factor in Maine’s high percentage of seasonal homes. And because the state is sparsely populated – Maine has fewer residents than the Bronx – there’s a fair amount of property.

Inland property also is cheap enough that many Mainers own second homes even though the state has the lowest median household income in New England. The median value is $98,700 for a house in Maine.

In Eustis, 54.2 percent of the town’s 749 housing units are for seasonal use, according to census figures. The rate grew from 43.7 percent of 623 homes in 1990 as more people discovered the area.

Some owners are lured by snowmobile trails and the nearby Sugarloaf USA ski resort. Others take to the Appalachian Trail or go fishing, hunting or boating.

Many of these getaways dot Eustis Ridge, which offers stunning views of forested mountains. A fair portion of the homes are humble boxy buildings with names like “Shangri-La” and “This is It.”

Prices start out at about $40,000 and can go as high as $400,000, said Wendy Glenn, owner of Maine West Properties.

Clients who want to get away from it all head to the far side of Flagstaff Lake to the simplest camps without running water or electricity, Glenn said.

“On the other hand, the skiers have gone from the one-bedroom camp with an outhouse to five bedrooms, three baths and a hot tub,” she said.

Ralph and Dori Gallagher of Windham sought something in between.

Their two-bedroom camp has plumbing, gas heat, electricity and the usual kitchen appliances. The telephone is for emergencies; a TV and VCR were concessions to their children.

There are also remnants of a more rustic lifestyle – wood stoves and an outhouse that serves as a conversation piece.

Dori Gallagher recalls the best time of her life as the summer she was an 18-year-old camp counselor in the Rangeley area. It was an experience of “peace, quiet and tranquillity,” she said.

Nowadays, her work week is hectic; she helps out at her daughter’s hair salon and is also a hostess at a restaurant. But the camp offers a retreat and re-creates a bit of that idyllic summer.

“It’s nice that people can know it can still exist in your life,” she said. “You can come here and just listen to the rain if you want to.”