Once bearing the name Hog Island, Little Diamond has overcome its past and has been a respectable community of the City of Portland for decades. Few people make it their year-round home, even though there are 50+ homes and cottages on the Island. A major reason is that the City turns off the water supply in…
One of the more shameful episodes in Maine history is the treatment of the black residents of Malaga Island, in the New Meadows River just off Phippsburg. Benjamin Darling, a freed slave, bought the nearby Horse Island in 1794. His son Isaac sold it and probably moved to the unoccupied Malaga Island in 1847. According…
[like BANANA] is part of Monhegan Plantation, just across Monhegan Harbor. It has no major buildings, except for the Fog Signal. The long ramp that runs from the harbor to the Fog Station is the “road” for supplies and fuel. Seguin Island had a similar arrangement with a rail tramway operated by machinery at the…
[muh-TIN-ih-kuss] is an island plantation, organized on October 22, 1840, in Knox County in the Gulf of Maine 20 miles south of Rockland from which it is accessible by ferry. Its name, says Lawrence Bond, means “far off island,” from the Abenaki “metin” meaning “cut off, separate” and “nic” meaning island. The Indians supposedly gave…
Attractive to artists since the late 19th century, its first draw was fish. See video and photos. After early European explorers passed by (Cabot in 1497, Weymouth and Champlain in 1605), the abundance of fish soon became apparent. Botanists have identified over six hundred varieties of wildflowers on the island. Monhegan Light was commissioned on July 2, 1824.
[mount dez-ERT] is an island in Hancock County, containing the towns of Mount Desert, Bar Harbor, Tremont, and Southwest Harbor. Though only 400 years have passed since Europeans first viewed it, the island has been visited by native people for thousands of years. The first were the ancestors of the so-called “Red Paint People.” Later…
Located in Penobscot Bay, it is accessible via the State Ferry Service from Rockland, with connections to Vinalhaven. See video and photos. Fishing was the major industry on the island for many years, with a brief venture into canning. Boat building emerged as a major economic activity producing both fishing vessels and yachts for summer people. Long a resort community, it has few permanent residents. The “Turner Farm Site,” on the National Register, is a treasure of artifacts from Maine pre-history. Calderwood Island nature preserve is here.
Inhabited since 1762, the island has many historic structures, such as the 1855 Meetinghouse and 1900 Chapel, that have survived the test of time. Part of the town of Harpswell, it is home to the Coastal Studies Center of Bowdoin College, on the shore of Harpswell Sound near Casco Bay. Several wooded walking trails offer ocean views.
The Island is a City of Portland neighborhood in Casco Bay, accessible by ferry from the terminal on Portland’s waterfront. The brief trip carries freight, vehicles, bicycles and tourists. Little Diamond Island and Great Diamond Island are just to the west. While the population is about 900, the number of people on this 720-acre island…
Peary (1856-1920), who summered on Eagle Island, received a degree in civil engineering from Bowdoin College in 1877. He then returned to his boyhood home in Fryeburg and worked as a land surveyor. He later became a noted Arctic explorer, famous as the discoverer of the North Pole, though many experts believe that the claim has not…
The City of Portland has over eighty places and historic districts on the National Register, including Eastern Promenade, Evergreen Cemetery, Fort Gorges, Longfellow Monument, Portland City Hall, Portland Observatory, Wadsworth-Longfellow House, Westbrook College Historic District, and Western Promenade
Some uncertainty exists about the meaning of the famous island’s name of “Seguin” or “Satquin” according to Eckstorm. One explanation is that “From the east it does resemble a tortoise, whence evidently its name from the Indian, che-quen-ocks, called Siguenoc.” Another view is that it means “alone out to sea” from the Algonquin segunau. Yet…
Located between Sheepscot Bay and Booth Bay, it is connected by a swing bridge to the town of Boothbay Harbor, and the casual visitor might not assume the town with two lighthouses was on an island. See photos. At the height of the summer, traffic is often backed up at the bridge as boats pass. Townsend Gut is the narrow waterway that separates the two towns. It is a shortcut from Boothbay Harbor to the Sheepscot River. The general store in West Southport village has been an institution for over a century.
in Hancock County is southeast of Mount Desert Island, accessible by ferry from Bass Harbor in Tremont. See amateur film clip. Beaches and picnic areas may be found at the villages of Minturn and Atlantic, in addition to Swan’s Island village.
The island town is home to two nature preserves, both managed by the Nature Conservancy. See photos. Granite quarrying was an important industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries, both on the main island and on nearby Hurricane Island, which is in the town of Vinalhaven. Now a community of summer residents and Maine residents, it is accessible by the State Ferry Service, which provides transportation, for passengers and vehicles, to and from Rockland.