When Mount Desert Island became a summer resort back in the 1880s, many of the early “rusticators” built retreats designed to blend in with the smoky-blue mountains, spruce-fir forest, granite shoreline, pristine ponds and other features of the rugged landscape.

Intended for summer use only, these rambling, cedar-shingle “cottages” often boasted gambrel roofs, dormer windows, sleeping porches and sweeping piazzas. Many of these turn-of-the-century summer places still stand today and are being enjoyed by new generations of rusticators.

It was the rustic yet formal character of the shingle-style cottages that caught the eye of Joan Bromage when she summered as a child and later in life vacationed with her husband and children on MDI.

So when Joan and Ted Bromage decided to make the island their permanent home two years ago, the couple had a shingle-style house built that has the air of a summer cottage but is snug and comfortable when pounded by winds and surrounded by snow in the winter.

Designed by Yankee Barn Homes of Grantham, N.H., the Bromages’ home recently won the grand prize for overall design in Country Home Magazine’s annual design contest. Architectural designer Bruce Parsons custom-designed the shingle-style house.

“We chose this house as our grand prize for overall excellence in design for several reasons,” said Dan Weeks of Country Home Journal. “It’s a fine, updated interpretation of classic, New England shingle-style architecture. Dormers, railings and plenty of glass add interest to a pleasingly symmetrical facade, striking just the right balance between gracious dignity and welcoming informality.”

Old spruce and cedars tower along the driveway sweeping up to the Bromages’ home in the Mount Desert village of Pretty Marsh. They bought the property that is part of the Woods Road subdivision developed by Dave Irvin.

The two-story cedar-shingle house with hunter green trim stands in a great clearing atop granite ledge. Below, snowy fields unfold. Trees have been carefully thinned and pruned, creating a natural amphitheater.

Cross-country skis and a child’s wooden sled are propped outside the kitchen door. Entering the front door, one can see clear across the slate-floored entryway through the living room’s bay windows commanding a view of Sargent Mountain to the west and the Beech Hill fire tower to the south.

A German shepherd named Houston answers the door and leads the way into the kitchen where a fresh pot of coffee is perking on the stove.

The Bromages have owned the Pretty Marsh property since 1987. A weathered shiplap barn housing a three-bedroom apartment at the foot of their driveway provided a summer retreat for the couple and their two children from their winter home in Florham Park, N.J.

“It was designed in our motor home on a paper napkin that wasn’t big enough,” joked Joan Bromage, referring to the barn that now serves as a guest house.

The couple have always liked post-and-beam structures. With the idea of eventually retiring to Maine in mind, they ventured to Yankee Barn Homes’ headquarters in Grantham, N.H. They spent the night in one of the company’s custom-designed and crafted timber-frame homes.

“They stock the refrigerator, give you the keys and say go and spend the night,” Joan said. She said wooden blocks were provided so they could play with different designs. There was also a video showing how the timber-frame houses were erected.

Back in New Jersey, Joan came across the design she had in mind by chance. The cover of Building Ideas For Your Home magazine caught her eye one day in a store. It featured a shingle-style cottage similar to those found in Maine. Chicago home builder Bill Barrett had designed the handsome summer place located on the southern tip of Lake Michigan.

Returning to Yankee Barn Homes in the fall of 1993, the Bromages showed the magazine photo for the Lake Michigan cottage to architectural designer Bruce Parsons who took the dormers, porches, railings, latticework and other traditional elements of shingle-style architecture and designed a year-round home with a timber-frame structure as its core.

Yankee Barn Homes builds its custom-designed homes’ structures — the shell, walls and roofs — at its New Hampshire workshop and then transports the material on flat-bed trucks to the building site.

A formidable amount of work had to done over the course of the year before a Yankee Barn crew could arrive and spend more than a week erecting the timber-frame house the next summer.

For one, the house was to be built 800 feet uphill from the Woods Road. The area was densely wooded. A driveway and building site had to be cleared. It took the Ellsworth firm Coastal Drilling & Blasting more than 600 pounds of dynamite to level the granite ledge for the foundation put in by Doug Gott & Sons of Southwest Harbor.

A retired salesman for Armstrong World Industries, Ted Bromage enjoys dealing with people. He is also gifted at woodworking and machinework. His skills and affable, forthright personality were valuable in overseeing the project that proceeded like clockwork.

Once the main structure was in place, Etna-based Brodersen & Jensen Construction did all the finish work as well and built a three-bay garage. The firm’s meticulous work is evident from the hand-dipped scalloped shingles in the dormer gables to the graceful, southern yellow pine staircase inside the house.

“It was Al Jensen and his crew’s craftmanship that put it all together,” said Bruce Parsons, speaking from Yankee Barn Homes in New Hampshire.

The fine, steady work of all of the crews enabled the Bromages to move into their new home as scheduled in mid-October 1994. That very day their third grandchild was born.

Walking through their home, Ted shows some of the trademarks of Yankee Barn Homes such as the resawn, smooth Douglas fir timbers salvaged from the Bigelow Sanford Carpet Mill in Clinton, Mass., and Royal Typewriter Co. factory in Hartford, Conn. He notes the spots where the hand-cut nails were plucked out.

Then there is the fine workmanship of Bass Harbor mason Mike Harkins who created a chimney out of pink, gray and green granite left over from the blasting. A fireplace has been accommodated on one side and a shiny black pellet stove on the other. An old wooden duck decoy, beach stones and brass anchor and running lights adorn small stone shelves.

Looking out the window, Ted admires the work of Lamoine treeman Harold Huebner. He points out an intricate brick walkway hidden beneath the snow. It was laid by New Land Nursery in Ellsworth.

“We liked the definition between the upstairs and downstairs,” said Joan, ascending the yellow pine stairs. An antique white quilt graces the railing on the landing. Each bedroom — even the bathrooms — have their own unique view.

If and when the day comes when they no longer negotiate the stairs, the couple says there is a handicapped-accessible bathroom and study that can be converted into a bedroom downstairs.

Meanwhile, Joan and Ted are enjoying thoroughly their life on MDI. They hike every week with an island group called the Footloose Friends. She sings with the Acadia Chorale and he is busily restoring a Willis jeep and a mechanical mule.

“This retirement business is for the birds,” he said, grinning. “I almost need a job so I have time off to do things.”