List_of_islands_of_Maine

List of islands of Maine

List of islands of Maine

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This list primarily derives from the Maine Coastal Island Registry,[1] a database of the 3166 coastal islands from the largest (Mount Desert Island) to the smallest islets and ledges exposed above mean high tide. Some notable inland freshwater islands, like Frye Island in Sebago Lake, have been included.

Description of columns

Registry # refers to the Maine Coastal Island Registry ("MCIR") assigning each island an identifying number. Many islands have the same Island Name (there are over 20 "Bar Islands," for instance; more than 30 named "Little"), but each has a unique number. Some islands comprising more than one landmass have several registry numbers under one name.

The table lists Cities, Towns, and Counties primarily as a finding aid, since governmental jurisdiction over Maine islands is rife with confusing historical anomalies. For instance, of Maine's 15 island communities inhabited year-round,[2] eight are independent towns, two are part of one town, three belong to mainland municipalities, and two govern themselves as island plantations.[3][4] Some Maine islands never belonged to any township[5] or once belonged to plantations now defunct;[6] several islands recently seceded from mainland cities,[7] and the sovereignty of two islands remains disputed between the US and Canada.[8]

The Code column refers to Maine Island Registry status. All islands coded as "R" are registered and privately owned. Those listed as "U" are unregistered and held in trust by the State of Maine (some of these may be privately owned but the owners did not register the islands). Islands listed as "E" are exempt from the registry requirements because they are either owned by the state or federal government or have four or more structures on them and were presumed to be privately owned. Islands listed as "T" are held in trust by the state and management transferred to a particular state agency or organization, such as the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife ("ME IF&W").

The Description column is from secondary sources as noted. The description and Acreage are not always available, nor constant since construction, quarrying, farming, logging, fire, or even a single storm can alter the features of an island.[9]

Table

More information Registry #, Island name ...

See also

Notes

  1. [1]
    The Maine Coastal Island Registry is maintained by the Maine Department of Conservation. It originated in the 1970s as a means of identifying and cataloging private and public ownership of islands. The registry largely pre-dates conservation easements which often involve some degree of public use of private island property, as for the Maine Island Trail.
  2. [2]
    The Island Institute's webpage lists Maine's 15 year-round island communities. An overview of the year-round islands is found in Sustaining Island Communities 1998.
  3. [3]
    Plantations are an old unit of self-government pre-dating towns and counties: islands or clusters of islands once independently administered by town meeting but since the 1970s subject to zoning, taxation, and oversight by a state agency, the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission. There are 116 islands in unorganized townships and plantations under the jurisdiction of the Commission. Preliminary Study of the Coastal Islands 1976, pp. 1–3
  4. [4]
    Island Institute discussion of secession. Archived 2009-12-27 at the Wayback Machine
  5. [5]
    Unorganized island not part of any town and subject to direct jurisdiction of the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission. Preliminary Study of the Coastal Islands 1976, pp. 2–3
  6. [6]
    For instance, several Penobscot Bay islands were included within the Muscle Ridges Plantation organized in 1878 by the Dix Island Granite Company. The Muscle Ridges plantation ceased functioning with the company's collapse in the 1880s, but was reactivated in 1905 with town meetings, budgets, and a school. It lasted only a decade, however, finally expiring in the midst of World War I. Likewise the Eagle Island Military Plantation in the mid-Penobscot Bay including Eagle, Butter, Bradbury, Bear, and Great Spruce Head islands was organized for a short time to resist Civil War recruitment and then to claim compensation for their volunteers; nothing is heard of it after 1873. McLane, Vol.I pp 74-75, p. 213
  7. [7]
    Long, Chebeague, and Frye seceded and became independent townships; Peaks failed in its attempt to secede from Portland, but secession efforts are periodically renewed.
  8. [8]
    Canada and the US dispute sovereignty over Machias Seal Island and North Rock.
  9. [9]
    An island is more sensitive than the mainland to change attributable man's activities, due to its limited useful land (glacial surficial deposit creating friable soil as opposed to barren bedrock), small aquifer vulnerable to salt water intrusion, and unique easily disrupted ecosystems. Preliminary Study of the Coastal Islands 1976, pp. 7 & 30
  10. [10]
    Description from McLane, Vols. I-IV
  11. [11]
    List of Nationally Significant Seabird, Wading Bird and Eagle Nesting Islands in Coastal Maine maintained by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
  12. [12]
    The town of Bar Harbor has repeatedly attempted to obtain jurisdiction over this island barred to it at Bridge Street, but a 1903 court decision confirmed Gouldsboro retains jurisdiction under its 1798 articles of incorporation. McLane, Vol.II at 131
  13. [13]
    Acadia National Park Superintendent's Compendium, 1/1/2010
  14. [14]
    McLane, Vol III p. 97 n.1
  15. [15]
    Richards, Allison & Twomey, Michelle, "Dream Islands", Portland Monthly (Summerguide 2009) (describing several islands for sale)
  16. [16]
    Part of Long Island Plantation within jurisdiction of Maine Land Use Regulation Commission. Preliminary Study of the Coastal Islands 1976, pp. 2–3
  17. [17]
    Part of Matinicus Island Plantation, now within jurisdiction of Maine Land Use Regulation Commission. Preliminary Study of the Coastal Islands 1976, pp. 2–3
  18. [18]
    An online list of islands comprising the Maine Island Trail requires a Maine Island Trail Association membership fee for access.
  19. [19]
    In 2007 Chebeague seceded from the town of Cumberland, a suburb of the mainland city Portland, and is now an independent jurisdiction.
  20. [20]
    McLane, Vol. III p. 107
  21. [21]
    Osgood, Kris, "Maine granite graces Yankee Stadium", Working Waterfront, 22 April 2009.
  22. [22]
    Part of Monhegan Island Plantation, now within jurisdiction of Maine Land Use Regulation Commission. Preliminary Study of the Coastal Islands 1976, pp. 2–3
  23. [23]
    Frye seceded from the town of Standish in 1998 and is now an independent jurisdiction.
  24. [24]
    Cartwright, Steve, "Audubon Turning Hog Island Over To Camp Kieve", Working Waterfront, Nov. 2010
  25. [25]
    The two private owners attempted but failed to secede from the town of Cumberland in a dispute over escalating property taxes. Canfield, Clarke (2001), "Couple Seek Shelter from Taxing Problem", Los Angeles Times, retrieved November 25, 2012
  26. [26]
    Description of House Island tours
  27. [27]
    McLane, Vol. III p. 148
  28. [28]
    For further information see Richardson, Eleanor (1989). The Town that Disappeared. Rockland: Island Institute. ISBN 0942719085. (discussing Hurricane Island history)
  29. [29]
    Seceded from Deer Isle in 1874, the new township of Isle au Haut included Kimball, Merchant, York, Burnt and Fog islands. McLane, Vol.I p.343
  30. [30]
    Long Island seceded from the mainland city of Portland in 1993 and is now an independent jurisdiction.
  31. [31]
    Bristol is the closest town, but the island seceded not only from the town of Bristol but from the United States in the 1860s, and has "remained townless to the present day and remained stateless until the early 1900s." McLane, Vol II p. 192 It is now an unorganized island overseen by the Maine Land Use Commission. Preliminary Study of the Coastal Islands 1976, pp. 2–3
  32. [32]
    "Little Mark Island Monument". Lighthouse Explorer. Foghorn Publishing. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
  33. [33]
    Auciello, Schlomit, "Islanders Save Matinicus Plane Crash Victims" Archived 2011-10-03 at the Wayback Machine, July 19, 2011
  34. [34]
    Sari Bunker, "Matinicus," in Sustaining Island Communities 1998, pp. 35–36
  35. [35]
    McLane, Vol. III p. 123
  36. [36]
    Originally the North Island of Vinalhaven, North Haven seceded in 1846 and took the name Fox Isle, changed in 1847 to North Haven
  37. [37]
    Peaks attempted but failed to secede from the city of Portland in 2007; there are still ongoing efforts to establish some degree of autonomy.
  38. [38]
    The plantation of Criehaven dissolved in 1925, but the name persists. Sustaining Island Communities 1998, pp. 39–40
  39. [39]
    Silk, Ezra, "Conservation Trust Sells Two Islands to Coastal Refuge", Bar Harbor Times Soup, Sept 21, 2011.
  40. [40]
    Subject to a jurisdictional dispute between Maine and New Hampshire in 2002, U.S. Supreme Court in New Hampshire v. Maine (2002) confirmed Maine's jurisdiction.
  41. [41]
    Organized as a village corporation, giving some degree of autonomy from the township and a share of tax revenues.
  42. [42]
    When the town of Eden (Bar Harbor) raised his taxes in the 1830s, Thompson secured passage of a bill in the state legislature changing the island's governing jurisdiction to Trenton. McLane, Vol. II, pp. 11-112

References

  • McLane, Charles (1982–97), Islands of the Mid-Maine Coast, vol. I–IV, Rockland, Maine: Island Institute, ISBN 0-933858-00-0
  • (misc. authors) (1998), Sustaining Island Communities, Rockland, Maine: Island Institute & Coastal Program, State Planning Office, State of Maine
  • Connors, James (1976), A Preliminary Study of the Coastal Islands, Bangor: Land Use Regulation Commission, State of Maine
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