Perkins Township (Swan Island) is an

unorganized territory Unorganized territory may refer to: * An unincorporated area in any number of countries * One of the current or former territories of the United States that has not had a government "organized" with an "organic act" by the U.S. Congress * Unorganize ...

in Sagadahoc County,

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 north ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Originally incorporated as the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of Perkins, it was later abandoned, and has been uninhabited since the 1940s. The township comprises Swan Island, Little Swan Island and some tidal flats—all within the

Kennebec River The Kennebec River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Kinəpékʷihtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 30, 2011 river within the U.S. state of Maine. It ri ...

between the towns of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

and

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

. The Swan Island Historic District comprises most of the township, with 8 buildings, 5 structures and . Some of the buildings date to the 1750s. The district was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1995. The entire township is now protected as the Steve Powell Wildlife Management Area, and is under the jurisdiction of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Camping, hunting, fishing, and wildlife viewing are permitted between May and October; reservations are required.

History

The town of Perkins was incorporated in the mid-19th century and then disincorporated in 1918. During the 19th century, the town was a community of almost 100 residents who engaged in shipbuilding, farming and

ice harvesting Ice cutting is a winter task of collecting surface ice from lakes and rivers for storage in ice houses and use or sale as a cooling method. Rare today, it was common (see ice trade) before the era of widespread mechanical refrigeration and air ...

. The island also attracted summer residents who built summer homes, and its most famous summer resident was

Thomas Handasyd Perkins Colonel Thomas Handasyd Perkins, also known as T. H. Perkins (December 15, 1764 – January 11, 1854), was an American merchant, slave trader, smuggler and philanthropist from a wealthy Boston Brahmin family. Starting with bequests from his grand ...

. The town was named for him when it was incorporated in the mid-19th century, after he paid for its incorporation. Besides town government, the town also had a schoolhouse and cemetery. However the town was disincorporated in 1918, so it became a township managed by the state. By the mid-1940s the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and ongoing pollution of the

led to the decline of the island's industries and the island was abandoned. Little was done until the 1990s when efforts were made to protect some of the buildings, a process that is ongoing.

Geography and historic features

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, Swan Island has a total area of 9.7 km (3.7 mi²); 5.8 km (2.2 mi²) of it is land and 3.9 km (1.5 mi²) of it (40.37%) is water. The township consists of Swan Island and Little Swan Island. Swan Island is long and relatively narrow, with its northernmost tip roughly opposite the village center of

, across the main channel of the Kennebec River, and whose southernmost tip is just north of the northern extent of

Merrymeeting Bay Merrymeeting Bay is a large freshwater tidal bay located in the U.S. state of Maine. Merrymeeting Bay's unusual geography defies common landform terms. It is not what is usually meant by the word bay. It is somewhat like an estuary but it has fres ...

. Little Swan Island is about one third of the way south of the northern tip of Swan Island, on its east side. Access to Swan Island is via a boat dock near its northern tip. The island is roughly divided by its former main road, which ran along its spine. The land is a mix of woods and former fields, a proportion that is maintained by the state as part of its wildlife management activities. Historic features of the island include several cemeteries and the c. 1763 house of Dr. Silvester Gardiner, one of the island's first colonial owners, and which is one of the state's only examples of 18th-century

saltbox A saltbox house is a gable-roofed residential structure that is typically two stories in the front and one in the rear. It is a traditional New England style of home, originally timber framed, which takes its name from its resemblance to a woode ...

architecture. with

References

External links

Swan Island
at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife
Maine Genealogy: Perkins Township, Sagadahoc County, Maine
{{authority control Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Portland metropolitan area, Maine Unorganized territories in Maine Ghost towns in Maine National Register of Historic Places in Sagadahoc County, Maine Kennebec River Protected areas of Sagadahoc County, Maine Populated places on the National Register of Historic Places

History

Geography and historic features

See also

References

External links