Islesford is a hamlet located on Little Cranberry Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. It is one of the five islands of the town of Cranberry Isles. It lies in the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Mount Desert Island, which is the site of Acadia National Park. As of 2013, the year-round population was approximately sixty-five.
Travelers can reach the island village via the Beal and Bunker mail boat and ferry service that runs from the village of Northeast Harbor in the town of Mount Desert; the Cranberry Cove Boating ferry service from Southwest Harbor and Manset; and during the summer on various water taxis including 'Cadillac Water Taxi", and "Delight," both leaving from various harbors. [1]
Little Cranberry Island hosts several seasonal cultural venues including the Islesford Dock Gallery and Restaurant, Islesford Pottery, Islesford Artists Fine Art Gallery, The Islesford Congregational Church, (housing the famed Sea Glass Windows by Ashley Bryan), and the Islesford Historical Museum, which is part of Acadia National Park. In 1980, the museum was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. [2]
Islesford is home to the town's two-room public school, the Ashley Bryan School. The school was named in 2011 and is the first Maine public school to be named for a visual artist or for an African-American.[ citation needed ] As of 2017, the school had 14 students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade, with two full-time teachers. The Ashley Bryan School is one of six one and two-room island schools that make up the inter-island Outer Island Teaching and Learning Collaborative. This collaboration allows for remote live teaching and learning among schools and students on Matinicus Island, Monhegan Island, Isle au Haut, Cliff Island, Frenchboro, and The Ashley Bryan School in the Cranberry Islands. [3] [4]
Following his retirement from his professorship of art at Dartmouth College, illustrator and artist Ashley Bryan retired to Islesford. [5] The Ashley Bryan Center is located there. [6]
Folklorist Mary Winslow Smyth summered in Islesford, and used the town as her base for the fieldwork, which produced Minstrelsy of Maine: Folk-songs and Ballads of the Woods and the Coast and British Ballads from Maine. [7]
Acadia National Park is an American national park located along the mid-section of the Maine coast, southwest of Bar Harbor. The park preserves about half of Mount Desert Island, part of the Isle au Haut, the tip of the Schoodic Peninsula, and portions of 16 smaller outlying islands. It protects the natural beauty of the rocky headlands, including the highest mountains along the Atlantic coast. Acadia boasts a glaciated coastal and island landscape, an abundance of habitats, a high level of biodiversity, clean air and water, and a rich cultural heritage.
Hancock County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2020 census, the population was 55,478. Its county seat is Ellsworth. The county was incorporated on June 25, 1789, and named for John Hancock, the first governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Cranberry Isles is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 160 at the 2020 census.
Hancock is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,466 at the 2020 census. Located on the mainland at the head of Frenchman Bay, Hancock has commanding views of Mount Desert Island.
Mount Desert is a town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,146 at the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1789, the town currently encompasses the villages of Otter Creek, Seal Harbor, Northeast Harbor, Somesville, Hall Quarry, and Pretty Marsh.
Sullivan is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,219 at the 2020 census. The town was named for Daniel Sullivan, an early settler. Colloquially referred to as "Sully" or "the Sullivans"—like many Maine municipalities composed of villages with geographic designations of the town proper—the municipality was incorporated in 1789. Located in the Upper Schoodic Peninsula sub-region of Maine's Downeast Acadia region, the municipality has been known as "Waukeag", "New Bristol", and later Sullivan; and once included the nearby communities of Hancock, Sorrento, and what would later be Township 7, South & Middle Districts. Once home to abundant granite quarries, the town of Sullivan is now a residential community for nearby Ellsworth and Mount Desert Island. Located along U.S. Route 1, the Taunton River, and Hog Bay, Sullivan is home to a reversing tidal falls and many scenic turnouts that dot the Schoodic National Scenic Byway along the Upper Schoodic Peninsula.
Tremont is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. It is located on the southwestern side of Mount Desert Island, known to locals as "the quiet side."
Bar Harbor is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. During the summer and fall seasons, it is a popular tourist destination and, until a catastrophic fire in 1947, the town was a summer colony for the wealthy.
Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of 108 square miles (280 km2) it is the 52nd-largest island in the United States, the sixth-largest island in the contiguous United States, and the second-largest island on the Eastern Seaboard, behind Long Island and ahead of Martha's Vineyard. According to the 2010 census, the island has a year-round population of 10,615. In 2017, an estimated 3.5 million tourists visited Acadia National Park on MDI. The island is home to numerous well-known summer colonies such as Northeast Harbor and Bar Harbor.
Bear Island is an 11-acre (4.5 ha) island located in Maine. It is one of the five islands of the Town of Cranberry Isles, Maine. The island is located just off Northeast Harbor, Maine and south of Mount Desert Island.
Sutton Island, in Hancock County, Maine, is a small, private island south of Mount Desert Island, and north of Cranberry Isles, Maine. Its dimensions are roughly 2.1 km on its east–west axis by 1.1 km north to south.
Bass Harbor is a village in Hancock County, Maine, United States. It is within the town of Tremont on Mount Desert Island, and near Acadia National Park. With its well-protected natural harbor, it ranks as one of the most lucrative lobster-producing ports in the state. Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse lies at the mouth of the harbor. The village is also the departure point for Maine State Ferry Service transport to Swans Island and Frenchboro.
Great Cranberry Island is an island located in Maine. It is the largest of the five islands of the Town of Cranberry Isles, Maine. It is roughly two miles long and one mile wide.
The Monteux Schooland Music Festival for conductors and orchestra musicians, founded by conductor Pierre Monteux, is a 6-week summer orchestra program located in Hancock, Maine, United States.
Frenchman Bay is a bay in Hancock County, Maine, named for Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer who visited the area in 1604.
Minturn is a small village on the south side of Swan's Island, a part of Hancock County, Maine, United States. Its approximate latitude and longitude are 44°8’ N, 68°27’ W. The decline of fishing in general and of the local population has caused the village to dwindle. Its post office was consolidated with the Swans Island post office.
Ashley Frederick Bryan was an American writer and illustrator of children's books. Most of his subjects are from the African-American experience. He was U.S. nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2006 and he won the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for his contribution to American children's literature in 2009. His picture book Freedom Over Me was short-listed for the 2016 Kirkus Prize and received a Newbery Honor.
State Route 102 (SR 102) is a north-south state highway located on Mount Desert Island in eastern Maine. As of 2007, its southern terminus is located at an intersection with SR 102A in Tremont on the southern part of the island. Its northern terminus is at intersection with SR 3 in Bar Harbor, a terminus it shares with SR 198.
The Islesford Historical Museum and Blue Duck Ships' Store are related historical exhibits on Little Cranberry Island in Maine, USA, within the boundaries of Acadia National Park.
Bar Harbor is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Bar Harbor in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The CDP population was 2,552 at the 2010 census, out of a population of 5,235 in the town of Bar Harbor as a whole.