The Birches is a private summer cottage on Foster Lane, just south of the village, built in 1900 in the shingle style that defined the first generation of Maine lake camps. It is a rare and unaltered survival of the period when wealthy families from New York, Boston and Philadelphia first began building substantial summer homes on the Belgrade chain, and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
You cannot go inside — the property is a private home — but the exterior is visible from the road and from the water. If you are paddling along the southern shore of Great Pond, look for the deep eaves, the wraparound porch and the cluster of paper birches that gave it its name.