Eagle Island (Casco Bay, Maine)

(Redirected from Eagle Island, Maine (Casco Bay)) Historic house in Maine, United States

United States historic place

Significant dates

Eagle Island
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark


Location in Maine
Nearest city	Harpswell, Maine
Coordinates	43°42′40″N 70°3′10″W / 43.71111°N 70.05278°W / 43.71111; -70.05278
Area	17 acres (6.9 ha)
Built	1904
NRHP reference No.	71000069
Added to NRHP	November 23, 1971
Designated NHL	August 25, 2014

Eagle Island is an island in Maine's Casco Bay and the site of the summer home of the North Pole explorer Admiral Robert Peary (1856–1920). The island and home are preserved as the Eagle Island State Historic Site.

History

Peary purchased the island in 1881 for $200 and built a summer house there in 1904. His family continued to spend summers on the island until the property was donated to the people of Maine in 1967. Eagle Island was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and declared a National Historic Landmark in 2014.

Description

Island

Eagle Island is an 17-acre (6.9 ha) island in the outermost portion of the archipelago of Casco Bay. Administratively part of Harpswell, it is 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Portland, approximately 2 miles from the Dolphin Marina at the end of Harpswell Neck, and 15 miles (24 km) south of Brunswick. The island has a maximum height of 40 feet (12 m) above sea level, and is rocky with a thin layer of topsoil. The forest on the island was replanted by the Pearys and contains species atypical of other island forests. There are trails providing access to most of the island. The island was purchased by Admiral Peary in 1881. At the northern end of the island is a Y-shaped clearing in which the site's buildings are located, and a small beach area with a long wooden pier. There are three major structures on the island in addition to the pier: the Peary house, a caretaker's cabin, and a visitors center. The pier was constructed in 1969, and the visitors center in 2012. The gardens on the island were planted by Josephine Peary, daughter Marie, and daughter-in-law Inez and are maintained by volunteers. Each year about 6,000 tourists visit the island.

Estate

The Peary House is a wood-frame house, built in several stages. The original portion of the house was built in 1904, and consisted of a rectangular structure with a single large living room on the first floor and three bedrooms on the second floor. Meals were prepared in the caretaker's house, an apparently inadequate situation that prompted the construction of a small kitchen and dining wing in 1906. A new fieldstone foundation with concrete piers was built, raising the structure onto a full-height basement, and shed-roof dormers were added to each side of the gabled roof. Following his retirement, Peary embarked on a further expansion of the building in 1912–13. The 1906 kitchen wing was detached, and a new expanded wing added, with a porch on three sides. Peary also built a pair of circular stone bastions, which served in part as a retaining wall to keep the house from being blown into the water during stormy weather. One of these bastions Peary used to house his artifact collection from his many expeditions.

After Peary's death in 1920, his family made only modest alterations before giving the property to the state in 1967. The state built the pier and undertook restoration of the property, which had suffered deterioration due to weather. A portion of the Peary house's roof caved in during 1990, resulting in water damage to Peary's study, and necessitating reconstruction of that part of the house.

References

^ "Eagle Island State Historic Site".
John W. Briggs, Historian (November 23, 1971). "Eagle Island". National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form. National Park Service. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
"List of National Historic Landmarks by State". National Park Service. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
"Secretary Jewell and Director Jarvis announced nine new national historic landmarks highlighting America's diverse history and culture" (Press release). National Park Service. September 30, 2014. Archived from the original on January 9, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
^ Sheila McDonald (September 28, 2001). "Eagle Island (The Admiral Robert E. Peary Summer Home)" (PDF). National Historic Landmark Nomination Form. National Park Service. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
"Eagle Island State Historic Site". Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Retrieved December 11, 2015.

External links

Eagle Island State Historic Site Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
Friends of Peary's Eagle Island

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Protected areas of Maine

Federal

National Parks and Historic Sites	Acadia National Park Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument Saint Croix Island International Historic Site
National Wildlife Refuges	Aroostook Carlton Pond Waterfowl Production Area Cross Island Franklin Island Maine Coastal Islands Moosehorn Petit Manan Pond Island Rachel Carson Seal Island Sunkhaze Meadows Umbagog
National Forests	White Mountain
National Cemeteries	Acadia National Cemetery Togus National Cemetery
National Trails	Appalachian Trail
National Estuarine Research Reserves	Wells
National wild and scenic rivers	Allagash Wilderness Waterway York River

State

State Parks	Allagash Wilderness Waterway Androscoggin Riverlands Aroostook Baxter Birch Point Bradbury Mountain Camden Hills Cobscook Bay Crescent Beach Damariscotta Lake Ferry Beach Fort Point Grafton Notch Holbrook Island Sanctuary Lake St. George Lamoine Lily Bay Mackworth Island Moose Point Mount Blue Mount Kineo State Park Owls Head Light State Park Peacock Beach Peaks-Kenny Penobscot River Corridor Popham Beach Quoddy Head Range Ponds Rangeley Lake Reid Roque Bluffs Shackford Head Sebago Lake Swans Falls Campground Swan Lake Two Lights Vaughan Woods Warren Island Wolfe's Neck Woods
State Historic Sites	Bible Point Colburn House Colonial Pemaquid Eagle Island Fort Baldwin Fort Edgecomb Fort Halifax Fort Kent Fort Knox (Penobscot Narrows Observatory) Fort McClary Fort O'Brien John Paul Jones Katahdin Iron Works Mayall Mills Whaleback Shell Midden
State Forests	Durham

Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry

v t e Casco Bay
Islands	Bailey Island Birch Island Bustins Island Cliff Island Cousins Island Cow Island Cushing Island Dingley Island Eagle Island Frye Island Great Chebeague Island Great Diamond Island Halfway Rock Hog Island Hope Island House Island Jewell Island Little Chebeague Island Little Diamond Island Littlejohn Island Long Island Mackworth Island Malaga Island Orr's Island Peaks Island Ragged Sebascodegan Island

Casco Bay

Islands

v t e Islands of Maine
Cumberland	Bailey Birch Bustins Cliff Cousins Cow Cushing Dingley Eagle Frye Great Chebeague Great Diamond Hog Hope House Jewell Little Chebeague Little Diamond Littlejohn Long Mackworth Orr's Peaks Ragged Sebascodegan
Hancock	Bar Cranberry Isles Baker Bear Great Cranberry Little Cranberry Sutton Deer Isle Eagle Great Duck Great Spruce Head Little Deer Long Marshall Mount Desert Nautilus Porcupine Islands Spectacle Swan's Verona
Knox	Allen Criehaven Curtis Eastern Egg Rock Franklin Isle au Haut Lane's Matinicus Metinic North Haven Seal Two Bush Vinalhaven Whitehead
Lincoln	Burnt the Cuckolds Damariscove Hog Louds Manana Monhegan Squirrel Westport Witch
Penobscot	Ayers
Piscataquis	Gero Sugar
Sagadahoc	Arrowsic Harbor Malaga Pond Swan
Waldo	Islesboro Sears Warren
Washington	Birch Islands Cross Great Wass Machias Seal Moose North Rock Saint Croix
York	Badger's Boon Seavey's Isles of Shoals Appledore Smuttynose
Disputed between the United States and Canada.

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