[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…
Settled in the early 1800s, the island had a population of 19 in 1820, when fishing and some logging sustained the community. Other than for a period of pulpwood harvesting, few roads were constructed outside Lunt Harbor. See amateur film, video and photos. While many Maine islands struggle to maintain a critical mass of population, Frenchboro experienced a substantial reversal of three decades of decline when the 2010 U.S. Census confirmed sixty-one people as resident.
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.
John Steinbeck on Deer Isle: “There is something about it that opens no door to words.” Deer Isle-Sedgwick Bridge links the island to the mainland. See photos. The town, in Hancock County and incorporated 1789, includes nature preserves and 77 coastal islands. .
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.
[DICKS ISLAND] is located three miles off shore from the town of South Thomaston in the Muscle Ridge Islands group of about fifteen islands and a fair number of ledges and reefs. Dix Island Harbor lies to the southeast of the island among ledges and several other islands. For most boaters, the north shore with…
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…
[BAY-lee iland] The island is in the town of Harpswell on Casco Bay. For over two centuries of European settlement, Bailey Island was unconnected from the mainland. Though proposed as early as 1872, a bridge…
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…
text by Craig McLaughlin Wildlife Biologist, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Bear Facts Physical Characteristics The black bear, featured above at the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, is the smallest of the three species of bears inhabiting North America (black, brown/grizzly, and polar), has the widest distribution on the continent, and is the…
Most text from Jennifer Vashon, Wildlife Biologist. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Images, video and supplemental text by Jim Henderson. Along with Moose, the Encyclopedia features 15,000 images of lakes, farm buildings, barns, farmhouses, villages, cities, mountains, rivers, Did You Know… ♦ A lactating cow has the highest nutritional requirements of any moose…
The town hosts a U.S. Coast Guard station, headquartered at the entrance to the Jonesport-Beals Bridge. See video and photos. The main village, a lobster fishing center, is located on Moosabec Reach and the Indian River. Two nature preserves are in the town, both on islands. A bridge across the Reach leads to the island community of Beals.