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Yesterday |
Island Life: Fishing, Farming and Family
Perhaps it was French
explorer Samuel Champlain who gave the name of Brule-cote to the
large island located southwest of Monts-desert. Whoever it was,
the given name was known to British cartographers in the middle
part of the 17th Century, gradually assuming the English variant
of Burnt Coat.
<complete story>
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Business |
Swan’s Islander Nancy Carter, 58, opened the General Store 17
years ago. She closed for the last time Aug. 9.
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Neighbor |
Sonny
Sprague, an Islander with Reach
Salmon farming might not have come to Swan’s
Island but for the perseverance of several islanders led by
Sonny Sprague.
Remembering when salmon aquaculture was first proposed in 1989,
the former selectman recalled, “The majority of the town was for
it.”
<complete story>
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Today |
Doing
Business on an Island Isn’t Easy
Swan’s Islander
Nancy Carter, 58, opened the General Store 17 years ago. She
closed for the last time Aug. 9. “People have the wrong
perception that you make so much money in the summer that it is
enough to get you by,” Carter said. “But, you couldn’t possibly.
You don’t pick up until mid-June, and by mid-September, it is
over.
<complete story>
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Development |
Summer
People and Development “From Away”
Since the opening of regular ferry service to Swan’s Island in
1960, the summer community on Swan’s has doubled, literally altering
the island’s coastal features. According to Town Selectman Dexter
Lee, about every other house on the shores of Burnt Coat Harbor is a
summer home.
<complete story>
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Neighbors |
The
Lobstering Life
At 27, Joshua Joyce is a seasoned lobsterman who has seen big
changes in the industry. “It is a lot of work, but it pays
off,’’ Joyce said. “It is something of a gamble.” Estimating
that he is probably related to more than half the 360
inhabitants on Swan’s Island, Joyce traces his ancestry back to
the infamous “King David” Smith and his fabled 27 children.
<complete story>
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| Written and
photographed by Kate Pickup and Mark Honey |
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Go
Figure |
THE
FACTS
Acreage: 7,065
Population, 2000:
327
Population, 1990:
348
Population, 19 and younger:
85
Median age: 40.9
Schools: Swan’s
Island School
Library: Swan’s
Island Library and Museum
Churches:
Methodist 1, Advent Christian 1, Baptist 1, Church of
God 1.
Town mtg: First
Monday in March.
<more town facts>
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They
Said It |
“When the ferry first came in, it looked like the Queen Mary to us; it
gave people
independence.”
—Nancy Carter
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Milestones |
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The early years
1800: Swan’s Island
population is 51.
1814: First minister, a Baptist, comes to Swan’s Island.
1834: Methodist Society organizes on Swan’s Island.
1850: Population is 423.
1851: The schooners Liberator and Fly are lost off Prince
Edward Island.
1860: Schooner Constitution is lost at Cape Cod.
1861-65: Swan’s Island is credited with 21 Civil War soldiers.
1861-65: Swan’s Island fishermen share in the prosperity of
high wartime prices for fish.
1880: Federal census reports islanders own 495 sheep and 145
cows.
1883: Islanders build Baptist Church at Atlantic.
1888: Swan’s Island community builds a Methodist Church.
1893: Islanders build Advent Church at Minturn.
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