Hog Island is an island spanning located in

Muscongus Bay Muscongus Bay is a bay on the coast of Maine, United States, between Penobscot Bay and John's Bay. Muscongus was the name of an Abenaki village meaning "fishing place" or "many r largerock ledges." John Smith recorded the river in 1616 as Nusc ...

in Bremen,

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

at the end of Keene Neck Road. It is a part of the Todd Wildlife Sanctuary, which includes an additional on the mainland across from the island, as well as the current home to the Audubon Camp in Maine operated by the Seabird Restoration Program (

Project Puffin Project Puffin is an effort initiated by Dr. Stephen W. Kress of the National Audubon Society to learn how to restore puffins to historic nesting islands in the Gulf of Maine. It was started in 1973 when puffins were nesting in only two locatio ...

) of the National Audubon Society.

History

Hog Island has an agricultural history like most Hog Islands. In the late nineteenth century it was summer home to The Point Breeze Inn and Bungalows, a recreational settlement. By 1910, Hog Island became a project of

Mabel Loomis Todd Mabel Loomis Todd or Mabel Loomis (November 10, 1856 – October 14, 1932) was an American editor and writer. She is remembered as the editor of posthumously published editions of Emily Dickinson and also wrote several novels and logs of her ...

, original editor of

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

’s poetry. Todd purchased tracts of the island to save its timber from clearcutting. Together with her husband,

David Peck Todd David Peck Todd (March 19, 1855 — June 1, 1939) was an American astronomer. He produced a complete set of photographs of the 1882 transit of Venus. Biography Todd was born in Lake Ridge, New York, the son of Sereno Edwards Todd and Rhoda (Pec ...

(head astronomer at Amherst College), they built a rustic summer camp there that was occupied by family members and their friends into the 1960s. The only Todd child, daughter

Millicent Todd Bingham Millicent Todd Bingham (1880–1968), was an American geographer and the first woman to receive a doctorate in geology and geography from Harvard. She was also a leading expert on the poet Emily Dickinson. Biography Born Millicent Todd on Febr ...

, negotiated with John Baker of the National Audubon Society to have a nature study facility established on the island at the more developed Point Breeze site. The Audubon Nature Camp opened in the summer of 1936. The staff included Roger Tory Peterson, noted author of the new ''

Peterson Field Guide The Peterson Field Guides (PFG) are a popular and influential series of American field guides intended to assist the layman in identification of birds, plants, insects and other natural phenomena. The series was created and edited by renowned ornith ...

'' series and director Carl W. Buchheister, who would go on to serve as president of the National Audubon Society from 1959 to 1967.

Hog Island Audubon Camp

From late May through September, Audubon'
Seabird Institute/Project Puffin
runs 6-day residential

ornithology Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

and environmental education programs for adults, teens, families, environmental educators and Audubon leaders. For more information about these camp sessions, visit https://hogisland.audubon.org/

References

Hog Island Audubon Camp

Friends of Hog Island
{{Maine Islands Islands of Lincoln County, Maine Protected areas of Lincoln County, Maine Nature centers in Maine Education in Lincoln County, Maine

History

Hog Island Audubon Camp

See also

References