Ragged Island (Harpswell, Maine)
Ragged Island (Harpswell, Maine) is a privately owned island in Harpswell, Maine, in Cumberland County, Maine, which is geographically within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. It is located at 43°43′39″N 69°56′13″W / 43.72750°N 69.93694°W.
History
Ragged Island is notable as having been the summer home of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and husband Eugen Jan Boissevain from 1933 until her death in 1950. It is now a private residence.[1]
Whatever the history of the island's name, at least one 1790 maritime chart identifies it simply as Cold Arse. [2]
Preservation
Ragged Island provides habitat for a large and diverse population of nesting seabirds, including the eider duck, black guillemot, greater black-backed gull, herring gull and osprey. In 2008 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant program awarded a $323,000 Coastal Wetland grant to secure the protection of the 76.6-acre (310,000 m2) natural area used by seabirds for nesting on Ragged Island.[3]
Notable people
- Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet[4]
- Elijah Kellogg, minister, lecturer, author[5]
References
- ↑ Felstiner, John "There, there where those black spruces crowd." American Poetry Review. June 2007.
- ↑ Beck, Horace P. (1957). The Folklore of Maine. Philadelphia & New York: J.B. Lippincott Co. p. 13.
- ↑ Fefer, Stewart. "Two National Coastal Wetland Conservation Grants Awarded in Maine". U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. January 9, 2008
- ↑ Milford, Nancy. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Random House, 2001. Print. p. 269
- ↑ History of Brunswick, Topsham, and Harpswell, Maine Including Ancient Pejepscot. By George Augustus Wheeler and Henry Warren Wheeler. Published 1878. Full image at books.google.
External links
- Ragged Island on Google Maps
- Harpswell Historical Society Museum
- Preserving a Storied Casco Bay Island
- Maine Coast Heritage Trust
- Songs about Ragged Island