Sears Island, known as Wassumkeag or shining beach by the indigenous Wabanaki tribes of northern New England, is located off the coast of Searsport in Waldo County, Maine, at the top of Penobscot Bay.[2] The island is the largest undeveloped, uninhabited, causeway-accessible island on the eastern coast of the United States. It is 940 acres (3.8km2) in area. It is part of the Town of Searsport.
It was named after David Sears of Boston after he agreed to grant a large sum of money towards founding of Searsport. Sears Island is state-owned land, but is part of the town of Searsport. It used to be known as Brigadier's Island.
A causeway was built in the 1980s upon what had been a tidal bar. At high tide Sears Island was a true island, and at low tide the exposed gravel bar allowed for easy access. Locals would drive over at low tide, always careful to return in time, lest they would have to wade or swim and leave the car stranded until the next tide. There were farms on the island from the mid-18th century until the last vacant farm was removed in 1934 . Only stone cellar holes and a few small fields remain today.[3]
Sears Island acts as a great element barrier for one of the most well-protected harbors in the state of Maine: Stockton Harbor, an attractive anchorage for not only the protection it offers, but also its convenience to upper Penobscot Bay towns Searsport, Belfast and Castine. Bar Harbor is about an hour's car ride east, and both Camden and Bangor are about a half-hour south and north, respectively. Sears Island also has views of Cape Jellison.
It is home to a number of species of birds, mammals, fish, amphibians and plant life. The shallow shoal off the west side of the island supports meadows of eelgrass (Zostera marina) and other nursery habitats and features that play an important role in the fish and shellfish populations of greater Penobscot Bay.[citation needed]
Environmental controversies
The possible industrial development of the island has been a point of controversy for many years. Writer E. B. White, a resident of nearby Brooklin, Maine, noted in a 1975 essay for the New Yorker that he had attended an evening forum about a Central Maine Power Company proposal to construct a nuclear power plant on Sears Island. White reported to New Yorker readers that the Central Maine Power Company "feels very good about nuclear generating plants, is not worried about radiation or accidents." In response to a goat farmer, their spokesman acknowledged radioactive "iodine can contaminate milk... [b]ut he was cheerful about the prospect. You would simply put the animals on a controlled diet, he said, and after about forty days the radioactivity would be gone." Facing local opposition, the plant was not built.[4]
A three-year-long consensus-driven effort by Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) and its Sears Island Joint Use Planning Committee culminated on January 22, 2009, in the signing by Maine transportation commissioner David Cole and by Maine Coast Heritage Trust President Paul Gallay of a perpetual conservation easement granting Maine Coast Heritage Trust control of 600 acres (240ha) of the island, while leaving the remaining 340 acres (140ha) of the island open to port development.
On February 19, 2009, however, Penobscot Bay environmental activist Ron Huber filed an 80-C appeal in Maine Superior Court "to rescind the Jan. 22, 2009, conservation easement until the MDOT has fully complied with the requirements of the Maine Sensible Transportation Policy Act and the Maine Site Location of Development Law." Huber's suit was joined separately by Augusta resident Douglass H. Watts and by Searsport resident Harlan McLaughlin. Maine Superior Court Justice Jeffrey Hjelm reviewed the cases. On May 14, 2009, Hjelm consolidated the three cases. On September 8, 2010, Justice Hjelm dismissed all three cases as premature, concluding that the current lack of port development, and lack of any interest in port development by the Plaintifs, made the injury theoretical and impossible to evaluate: the Plaintiffs as yet lacked demonstrable standing to sue.
On December 17, 2010 Plaintiff Huber appealed Hjelm's decisio n to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. On May 3, 2011, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Superior Court Justice Hjelm's decision.[5]
In March 2020, Governor Janet Mills identified the Port of Searsport as a leading site in Maine to support the transportation, assembly and fabrication of offshore wind turbines and called for a study to further analyze this opportunity. [6]The study was released in 2021 and included Sears Island as a viable site for the wind turbine facility. The existing Port of Searsport at Mack Point, a "brownfield" site was also assessed. [7] This proposed use of the island has been opposed by environmental and land preservation groups.[8] On February 20, 2024, Governor Janet Mills announced that Sears Island was the preferred site for an offshore wind power port in the area. The backlash from some was that Sears Island was next to another contender for the port, Mack Point (Which had previously been industrially developed) which could have been chosen rather than Sears Island, which is used for recreational use. The wind port is to be built on the 1/3 of the island belonging to the Maine Department of Transportation. The Mills Administration said, "For more than two years, my Administration has evaluated Sears Island and Mack Point thoroughly and with an open mind, recognizing that each site has its own set of benefits and its own set of drawbacks. In carefully considering all of these, I believe that, on balance, Sears Island is the best choice for an offshore wind port because it is already owned by the state, designated for the purpose of port development, will cost less in the short-term and long-term, and is expected to result in less environmental harm", adding, "the parcel on Sears Island fundamentally makes the most sense and provides us with the best opportunity to responsibly advance offshore wind in Maine [9][10][11][12]
Uses
Visitors can drive out to the end of the causeway, and despite the presence of a road traveling down the center of the island to the southern tip, they may not actually drive on the island itself, as it is blocked off by large concrete blocks and fencing. Visitors however, may walk, hike, bike, and explore the island, by the road — approximately1-mile (1.6km) long — which has views of Penobscot Bay, Cape Rosier/Castine, and Islesboro Island), and by the many walking trails that zig-zag their way around the island. Beaches surround the perimeter of the island. Friends of Sears Island is a comprehensive source of information about the Island.
The Bay of Fundy is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its tidal range is the highest in the world. The name is probably a corruption of the French word fendu, meaning 'split'.
Castine is a town in Hancock County in eastern Maine, United States. The population was 1,320 at the 2020 census. Castine is the home of Maine Maritime Academy, a four-year institution that graduates officers and engineers for the United States Merchant Marine and marine related industries. Approximately 1000 students are enrolled. During the French colonial period, Castine was the southern tip of Acadia and served as the regional capital between 1670 and 1674.
Belfast is a city in Waldo County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 6,938. Located at the mouth of the Passagassawakeag River estuary on Belfast Bay and Penobscot Bay. Belfast is the county seat of Waldo County. Its seaport has a wealth of antique architecture in several historic districts, and remains popular with tourists.
The Penobscot River is a 109-mile-long (175 km) river in the U.S. state of Maine. Including the river's West Branch and South Branch increases the Penobscot's length to 264 miles (425 km), making it the second-longest river system in Maine and the longest entirely in the state. Its drainage basin contains 8,610 square miles (22,300 km2).
The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad was a United States railroad company that brought rail service to Aroostook County in northern Maine. Brightly-painted BAR boxcars attracted national attention in the 1950s. First-generation diesel locomotives operated on BAR until they were museum pieces. The economic downturn of the 1980s, coupled with the departure of heavy industry from northern Maine, forced the railroad to seek a buyer and end operations in 2003. It was succeeded by the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway.
Penobscot Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine and Atlantic Ocean in south central Maine. The bay originates from the mouth of Maine's Penobscot River, downriver from Belfast. Penobscot Bay has many working waterfronts including Rockland, Rockport, and Stonington, and Belfast upriver. Penobscot Bay is between Muscongus Bay and Blue Hill Bay, just west of Acadia National Park.
David Sears II was a prominent 19th-century Boston philanthropist, merchant, real estate developer, and landowner.
The Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine, United States, is Maine's oldest maritime museum and is designed to preserve and educate people regarding Maine's and Searsport's rich and unique maritime and shipbuilding history. It was founded in 1936, and is located at 5 Church Street in the center of Searsport.
Cape Jellison is a 1,600-acre (6.5 km2) peninsula that juts into Penobscot Bay on the coast of Maine. In colonial times it was known as Wasaumkeag Point. It is part of the town of Stockton Springs, between Searsport and Bucksport, in the upper mid-coast region of the state. It was the site of the first port facility built by the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad.
Fort Pentagouët was a French fort established in present-day Castine, Maine, which was the capital of Acadia (1670–1674). It is the oldest permanent settlement in New England.
There are a number of wind power projects in the state of Maine, totaling more than 900 megawatts (MW) in capacity. In 2020 they were responsible for 24% of in-state electricity production. In 2019, Maine had more wind capacity than the other five New England states combined, at 923 MW.
Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind is an offshore wind energy development group that is affiliated with Ørsted, a Danish firm. It is joint headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. As of 2019, it was involved in some of the largest offshore wind farm projects in the United States.
Fort George was a palisaded earthwork fort built in 1779 by Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War in Castine, Maine. Located at a high point on the Bagaduce Peninsula, the fort was built as part of an initiative by the British to establish a new colony called New Ireland. It was the principal site of the British defense during the Massachusetts-organized Penobscot Expedition, a disastrous attempt in July and August of 1779 to retake Castine in response to the British move. The British re-occupied Castine in the War of 1812 from September 1814 to April 1815, rebuilding Fort George and establishing smaller forts around it, again creating the New Ireland colony. The remains of the fort, now little more than its earthworks, are part of a state-owned and town-maintained park.
Julian Clifford Holmes was an American physicist, rocket scientist, inventor, political activist and environmental gadfly.
The Castine Historic District encompasses the entire southern tip of the peninsula on which the town of Castine, Maine is located. Covering about 1,800 acres (730 ha), this area was a center of colonial conflicts dating to the early 17th century, and was the site of military action during the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. Bypassed by the railroads, it has retained a village feel reminiscent of the early 19th century. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Benjamin Milliken was an American Loyalist, major landowner, mill and ship owner in Maine in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, British North America. He was the founder of Ellsworth, Maine in 1763, laid out and received the land grant for the Township of Bridgton, Maine in 1765 and was one of the first settlers in Bocabec and St. Andrew's, New Brunswick in 1784.
Searsport is an incorporated town and deep water seaport located at the confluence of the Penobscot River estuary and the Penobscot Bay immediately northwest of Sears Island and Cape Jellison in Waldo County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,649 at the 2020 census. Searsport includes the village of North Searsport. The town is known as "the home of the famous sea captains" and the "Antique Capital of Maine".
The VolturnUS is a floating concrete structure that supports a wind turbine, designed by University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center and deployed by DeepCwind Consortium in 2013. The VolturnUS can support wind turbines in water depths of 150 ft (46 m) or more. The DeepCwind Consortium and its partners deployed a 1:8 scale VolturnUS in 2013. Efforts are now underway by Maine Aqua Ventus 1, GP, LLC, to deploy to full-scale VolturnUS structures off the coast of Monhegan Island, Maine, in the UMaine Deepwater Offshore Wind Test Site. This demonstration project, known as New England Aqua Ventus I, is planned to deploy two 6 MW wind turbines by 2020.
Captain Phineas Banning Blanchard (1879–1962) was a tall ship sea captain, among the last of the American merchant trade in the age of sail.
Offshore wind power is in the early stages of development in the United States. In 2016, the United States Department of Energy estimated that the country has a gross resource potential of 10,800GW of offshore wind capacity, with a "technical" resource potential of 2,058GW. Offshore wind projects are under development in wind-rich areas of the East Coast, Great Lakes, and Pacific coast. The first commercial offshore wind farm, Block Island Wind Farm, began operation in 2016. As of 2017, about 30 projects totaling 24 gigawatts (GW) of potential installed capacity were being planned.
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