On a tour of New England's finest fireplaced inns, I discovered that every fire maker has a secret recipe. Fireplaces warm 20 guest rooms and suites at the Harraseeket Inn. Upon entering the Harraseeket Inn in Freeport, Maine, the aroma of a wood fire greets me at the door. The scent leads me to a brick oven and wood-fired grill commanding an entire wall of the inn's Broad Arrow Tavern. It's an open kitchen, and I watch a flurry of chefs tend stews and rotisserie chicken, breads and roasted meats.
Nothing tastes as good as a meal cooked over an open fire.
The inn burns another 75 cords in 20 fireplaced rooms and suites. If you stacked all that wood, it would be as tall as a 14-story building. Chip leads me to the basement of the building to show me the wood operation. And as far as I can tell, romance is the most powerful human emotion. A match-ready fire is laid in each room.