MARROWSTONE ISLAND, Wash. - World-famous Twilight series author Stephenie Meyer has bought a million-dollar waterfront home on Marrowstone Island - and has been apparently living there with her family on a part-time basis.

The surprise news of her ownership was revealed when the Jefferson County Public Utility District updated its water service assessment records this week.

The purchase evidently was made two years ago, but kept low-key for privacy reasons.

The Pennsylvania Dutch-style farmhouse is on 5.25 acres off the end of Jansen Road on Marrowstone, which is east of Port Townsend, and overlooks Admiralty Inlet's shipping lanes between Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Neighbors say it's mostly a summer home for Meyer and her husband and family -- they spend the rest of the year in Scottsdale, Ariz. -- and that they usually have security guards and "want their privacy."

It's been a "well-known secret around the island," said one neighbor.

The Meyer family is apparently not in the home at present.

Countrywide Financial sold the home to Meyer and her husband, Christian, for $1.33 million in 2007, according to Jefferson County records. It was listed as being for sale for $1.48 milion.

Meyer is responsible for bringing thousands to the North Olympic Peninsula, although fans of her best-selling, four-novel series about vampires and teen love are headed to the other side of it, traveling to Forks, the setting for the books.

The Arizona author has said she chose Forks because of its reputation for rain and gloom.

The town just last weekend celebrated Stephenie Meyer Weekend, a Twilight-themed coinciding with the birthday of the saga's fictional heroine.

Though the festival carried her name, Meyer did not attend.

Her property on the much-drier northeastern side of the Peninsula is listed with the Meyers as trustees in the Jefferson County tax assessment roles under a Scottsdale address.

Phone calls by the Peninsula Daily News to the Meyers' home in Arizona requesting comment were not returned. Despite her connection through her books with the Peninsula, she had never announced her Marrowstone Island purchase.

Neighbors knew
While the Meyers' purchase of the 3,675-square-foot three-bedroom, 3 ½-bath home has been kept under wraps, many Marrowstone Island residents already knew about their famous neighbor.

"I know, but I don't talk about it," said Lillian Lovato, the Meyers' next-door neighbor who has never met them. "It's just a summer home.

"They have a lot of security down there and want their privacy. I can see where it could be a real problem there because (Twilight tourists) will turn around in my driveway," a gravel drive that winds through woods leads from the end of Jansen Road to the home.

"It's well-known secret around the island, but no one is talking out of respect for their privacy," she said.

"I think she kind of plays it low-key."

Carol Fletcher, owner-broker with Hadlock Realty & Development who specializes in waterfront property and had previously shown the home, said the house has undergone a great deal of remodeling.

"It looks better now," Fletcher said, after she saw photographs of it through the real estate Multiple Listing Service.

The home built in 1986 was listed as having a dry sauna off the master bath, a solarium and atrium, a main-level apartment with a separate entry, and a recreational vehicle and boat garage.

It has stairs from the yard to the beach and fronts about 220 feet of shoreline with tideland rights.

Fletcher and other real estate agents at her office on Chimacum Road said they hoped the news of Meyer's ownership will draw more interest in the area, possibly generating tourist dollars to help fuel Port Hadlock's economy.

Marrowstone Island, largely rural with a population of about 900, is east of Port Hadlock and Port Townsend and about 35 miles northwest of Seattle.

A narrow land bridge connects the southwestern end of Marrowstone with the southern end of adjacent Indian Island. It is necessary to cross a short bridge on the western side of Indian Island to get to the Jefferson County mainland.

Twilight tourism has become a growth industry in Forks, where thousands of fans have flocked to the setting of their favorite novels.

This is a condensed version of a story in the Peninsula Daily News, a media partner of KOMO News. Read the original Daily news story.