Tucker Carlson during his Fox News show on Monday.
One of the nation’s most controversial media figures, Tucker Carlson of Fox News, is spending more time than ever at his “favorite place in the world,” the little western Maine village of Bryant Pond in Woodstock.
Carlson told the Sun Journal on Monday he sold his house in the nation’s capital and now lives in Maine much of the year.
Called a racist by critics for his right-wing commentary, Carlson said he’s received some threats from foes who don’t like his presence in the last town in America to have had crank phones.
Spurred by concern about a possible New York Times story about Carlson’s presence in Bryant Pond, the television host said on his show Monday that the Times story, which has not been published, will be “a new hit on this show.”
What the paper plans, he said, is a story about “where my family and I live,” namely Bryant Pond. He said there is no journalistic reason to write it, though Carlson is one of the most high profile people on television. He claimed the Times intended to publish his residential address, but the paper said he knew that was not true when he made the charge on his show.
The story’s purpose, Carlson told his audience, is “to hurt us” and “to injure my wife and kids.”
Explaining further, Carlson said that after the publication of his home address in Washington, “screaming antifa lunatics” showed up outside and scared his family. They sent threatening letters as well.
After putting up with it for a couple of years, Carlson said, they decided to move. He sold his $4 million home in Washington.
“But The New York Times followed us,” he said, and plans a story even though it knows “exactly what will happen” as a result. Its point is “to inflict pain on my family, to terrorize us,” Carlson said.
He told the Sun Journal, though, that it won’t work. He said he’s not going to let detractors chase him away from his place in Maine.
People in Bryant Pond, where he’s summered his entire life, have treated him well, the host of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” said.
Despite his affection for the Pine Tree State, Carlson’s legal residence is in Florida, where in February he registered to vote as a Republican in Lee County on the Gulf Coast.
But Florida is not where his heart is.
Tucker Carlson, host of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News, is renovating the former Woodstock town garage for use as a broadcast studio and storage space in Bryant Pond Village. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
Carlson bought a former town garage from Woodstock last year and renovated it this year to serve as a studio for his nightly show.
Carlson is a political commentator, author and columnist whose highly rated cable show is popular among President Donald Trump’s loyalists — and the president himself.
Carlson began broadcasting from a makeshift studio in the library basement next door to the garage three years ago so he would not have to leave his summer home to air his show.
For the next couple of years, he broadcast from the little studio in rented space occasionally.
But since renovating the old garage, he’s been quietly doing his show regularly from Maine.
Carlson purchased the old garage, which began its life as a stable, for $30,000, initially planning to use it for about 35 shows annually.
Paperwork filed with the town shows he planned to spend about $88,000 of his money to upgrade the decaying garage to house a small studio, a kitchenette, some space to pursue unstated hobbies, storage and a bathroom.
He put on a new roof, made repairs to clapboards, painted the exterior and generally improved its appearance without changing its character.
The television host’s plans for a studio nearly came to an immediate halt after the Sun Journal disclosed in March 2019 that Carlson planned to buy the property. The sale came to light during discussion by selectmen about the sale of the town-owned property.
Carlson told the newspaper that publicity about it meant “I can’t have my building now. I’m kind of crushed.”
He blamed the paper for undermining his project, insisting that his effort to buy the property wasn’t news.
“All it does is hurt me” to have people find out about the studio’s presence, Carlson said at the time, though he later resumed the renovations.
In a letter to the town, Carlson wrote that he planned to retire in Bryant Pond someday and even has a plot in lovely Lakeside Cemetery in the village beside an 1852 Universalist Church.
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