Swan Island in the Kennebec —

This book serves to demonstrate the history and stories of a freshwater wildlife preserve island, which hosted over 100 residents at its height during the ice harvesting done on the Kennebec River in the 1800s, an ancient island village with abandoned, deteriorating houses today, and deer, fox, raccoons, birds, and many forms of flora and fauna, stay overnight in camping lean-tos, enjoy a meal from the grills provided, walk the hiking trails and ponds, and where a catch and release fishing experience can be enjoyed.

How, where, and why did these first individuals conclude life would be improved by journeying to another continent, an ocean away from the comfortable life we presumed they enjoyed? Did they initially plan to stay where they first landed or plan to relocate northward from Plymouth or Massachusetts Bay? Had they intended to establish where they landed on Cape Ann, or were they initially blown off course, making the decision to stay where conditions seemed conducive to live peacefully and raise families? Did they offer encouragement to family members to look beyond Plymouth, or were they banished from that colony due to religious or other beliefs of their fellow settlers? What businesses did they create? Were they drawn to what they believed were lucrative business deals up the coastline or enticed by relatives who sailed directly up the Kennebec River and farther inland? The reader will find answers to these and other questions as the story unfolds.