Rebecca Returns

Rebecca is back. The 139-foot yacht, owned by seasonal Northeast Harbor resident Charles Butt, is pretty easy to recognize. It's the only boat I know of (outside the enormous cruise ships that anchor off Bar Harbor) that can be seen from offshore islands sticking up from behind Greening Island. I have no idea how tall its main mast is, but it juts up above the island's trees. Other technical details and measurements about the yacht can be found here.
Butt owns an oceanfront home in the village of Northeast Harbor on Manchester Drive, which overlooks Somes Sound. His crew moors the boat at the mouth of the sound off Connor Point, within view of Butt's home.
The town of Mount Desert has its fair share of wealthy summer residents, but Butt sticks out. He is one of five local billionaire property owners who routinely appear on Forbes Magazine's annual list of 400 richest Americans. According to the magazine's latest listing, Butt ranks 50th with an estimated net worth of $5.3 billion.
Such overt symbols of mega-wealth like Rebecca are rare for MDI, however. There's plenty of Lilly Pulitzer apparel and Rolex watches to be seen strolling Main Street in Northeast Harbor, but you rarely (if ever) see anything like a gold-plated Bentley parked outside Colonel's Deli. I do not know how much Rebecca cost, but am confident Butt shelled out an eight-figure sum for it.
Aside from Rebecca, the best local example of billionaire spending is Mitchell Rales' new home on Peabody Drive, on the eastern side of Northeast Harbor, on the site where Susan Mary Alsop used to own a much smaller home. According to a 2010 story posted by Fenceviewer.com, Rales' mansion cost approximately $30 million to build.
From what I hear, Rales' tastes are such that he requested (and paid for) brass firehose connections that were installed along the road in front of the property. Apparently, he didn't like the more traditional type of fireplugs that would have been installed instead.