LOST HOMES OF SWAN ISLAND

SAUNDERS-M.C. PRIEST HOUSE at the KENNEBEC RIVERSIDE. Mr. Priest had the house dismantled rather than sell it, as described in the Richmond Bee story below:

THEOBALD house at the south end of the island may have been the first home built there.

GARDINER-DUMARESQUE house. DOCTOR SYLVESTER GARDINER built this house as a wedding gift for his daughter who married CAPTAIN PHILIP DUMARESQUE. During the 1968 renovation of the house, the style was changed to a saltbox, as seen in the photos below.

TALLMAN-EASLER property

Upper PRIEST house sat approximately where the new garage was built to house tractors.

Lower PRIEST house, sat at the bottom of the circle driveway at the DUNBAR-BLEN-STAFF house.

DARRAH FAMILY

CAPTAIN WILLIAM LILLY & wife SARAH TALLMAN LILLY’S property. The house was dismantled in 1962. The windows were donated to the Boothbay Railway Village where they are now in a building in the village.

E.C. HATCH-MAXWELL-TARR-HIGGINS house. Jesse Tarr once operated a black fox farm here.

UNDERWOOD house, sat on the KENNEBEC RIVERSIDE

C.F. and LILLIAN WADE house. The WADE family began an apple orchard with many varieties of apples. A well-sweep sits on the front lawn where the family obtained fresh water.

W.A. LEWIS house. Note the stone base for the front porch.

MACDONALD-PUSHARD house. A small gazebo once sat to the front and right of the house.

One of the first lean-2s built at the campground. Looking across the channel to Little Swan Island

POEM by a former resident of PERKINS, on SWAN ISLAND, MAINE

M.C. PRIEST HOME – dismantled rather than being sold!

“SWANGO”

by MRS. M.C. PRIEST in 1905

There’s a spot by the banks of a river

Far away from all turmoil and strife,

By the banks of a swift-flowing River

Where one breathes in the meaning of LIFE.

And when turbid and slow runs the life-sap,

And a lash is stern duty’s command…

Come with me where eternal the tides lap

Soft caress to the deep-wooded land.

And the great vault of blue arching over

Swaying vistas of green reaching north…

Star-eyed daisies and sweet-scented clover,

Make a fragment of Heaven on earth.

O, ’tis Life just to bathe in the sunshine,

And ’tis living to feel yourself part

In this wonderful bit of creation.

Here’s to SWANGO…the Home of my Heart!