Unlike many other big names who buy real estate here, Patrick "McDreamy" Dempsey, 41, did not need to discover Maine. For him, it's home turf.

Born in Turner and raised in Buckfield, he attended St. Dominic Regional High School in Lewiston. Diagnosed with dyslexia at age 12 and a high-school dropout, he made it big after a 10-year, acting- career drought.

This month, he was chosen by People Magazine as one of its annual, 100 most beautiful people.

By Hollywood standards, his picturesque country home that offers a splendid view of Harpswell Sound and Orr's Island, is modest in the extreme. Land and building are assessed at $312,900, according to town records.

"I see him now and then," said a Harpswell town office receptionist. "I've only said, ÔHi, how are you?' He's very nice. He came in to get his fishing license or to register a car, I'm not sure which," she said.

Actually, the actor has two properties listed under his name, she said. About three years ago, he purchased a charming cottage right next door, so his mom and stepdad, Amanda and Harold Lowell, could live there. Formerly of Buckfield, his mother retired as secretary from Buckfield High School about 11 years ago. Town records assess their smaller cottage at $218,000.

Fans have nicknamed the 2007 Golden Globes nominee, "Dr. McDreamy" for his role as neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd on "Grey's Anatomy." Dempsey earns $200,000 per episode, according to the Feb. 2, 2007 issue of Entertainment Weekly. (To put his salary in "Tinseltown" perspective, "24's" Keifer Sutherland makes $400,000 per hour, according to EW.)

On a pleasant mid-April day, an impromptu visit to Dempsey's mom found her working outside, raking up fallen branches near newly pruned, vintage apple trees growing on an uninterrupted sweep of mellow farm land between her property and his.

She didn't flinch when a reporter walked up to her, unexpectedly. "Lots of branches fell after the storm," she said, casually, while her red-brown-and-white Welsh corgi ambled about the yard. "My husband is going to run them through the chipper," she added, as down- home as a slice of warm apple pie.

"Yes, I am proud of him," she said, of her son. But Lowell politely declined an interview.

That day, a Harpswell contractor was constructing a new beam in her attached garage.

"She is a nice lady. She isn't big on reporters," he said.

Later, local contractor and Harpswell native Ron Ponziani, who lives in a paint-worn, white frame house about one-quarter mile down the road from the actor, said he once got a personal invitation from Dempsey to a family barbecue.

He said the celeb not only mingles well with locals but is regarded as one of their own.

"He's a regular old country boy, very pleasant. We sat together and talked a lot. One time, I saw him mowing the lawn."

In a "Weekend Window" interview for ABC News, Dempsey said he is looking forward to coming back home to Maine. But he wasn't always high on the state.

"Growing up, you feel so isolated from the rest of the country . . . that you don't think there is much hope of getting out and going away and doing things," he said.

Now that he has had a taste of glitz and glamour, he appreciates his home state more than ever.

"It's still raw . . . undeveloped . . . and you really feel there is a timelessness about the country. . . . I think the mentality of the small town is being lost. . . . It (Harpswell) is a working village. A lot of lobster fisherman are working. It's nice to see people who are third-and-fourth generation working with their fathers.

"I want to get back to that environment, especially with a child," he said, of his now 5-year-old daughter Talulah. He and his wife, Jill Fink, have three children, including twin boys Sullivan Patrick and Darby Galen, born Feb. 1, 2007.