ROME, Maine — The former Maine summer home of beauty magnate Elizabeth Arden will soon become a retreat center for veterans and their family members.
Maine's First Lady Ann LePage will join retired Army Staff Sgt. Travis Mills at the groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the restoration project at Arden's former home in Rome on Tuesday.
It will be turned into the Travis Mills Foundation National Family Retreat Center. The foundation hopes to create the nation's first fully accessible, "smart home," where combat-wounded veterans can recover and participate in recreational activities. Restoration is expected to take about two years.
Arden built the main house in the town of Rome as her summer estate in the 1920s and later established the Maine Chance Spa at the site.
