Yankee Jigs and country dances: Weddings on the Cranberry Isles

Hugh L. Dwelley's "A History of Little Cranberry Island, Maine," p. 119, has descriptions of the first wedding known to be held in the Cranberry Isles, plus social events on Islesford:

When British Captain William Owen visited the Isaac Bunker family on Great Cranberry in 1770, he performed a wedding and then noted that "a great time was had by all." ... Island neighbors attended []. Very likely someone played a fiddle or a banjo. Rum, cider, and a haunch of beef were consumed and Captain Owen wrote: "The evening was spent in Yankee jigs and country dances, much innocent mirth & social glee."

The selling of Maine's coast

Interesting article about declining waterfront access in Maine:

The selling of Maine's coast
Fishing industry access squeezed by development
By Jenna Russell, Globe Staff June 17, 2007

SPRUCE HEAD ISLAND, Maine -- Fishermen on this rocky, pine-studded peninsula have felt a creeping unease in recent years, as real estate prices leapt skyward and stories circulated up and down the coast of fishing piers sold to make room for million-dollar vacation homes.

Two years ago, in response to growing concerns on the coast, state officials and researchers set out to map the waterfront access of Maine's working fishermen. What they found was more alarming than anyone expected: Along Maine's 5,300-mile coast, only 20 miles of shoreline remain open to commercial fishermen, according to the study the Island Institute released last month.
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Advocates for fishermen say towns should recognize the value of their presence, which adds character and attracts visitors. That perspective was not lost on the developer of the upscale Harborside Hotel and Marina in Bar Harbor, who bought the last privately owned fishing dock in the harbor. Instead of evicting the fishermen, the hotel has preserved their access to the pier and the sandy beach nearby where they repair their boats. Guests are fascinated by the scene, said Eben Salvatore , director of operations for the resort. "They're hard-working guys, and they've always been respectful of the fact that our customers are right above them," said Salvatore, who grew up in town. "It feels good when you can run a nice property and at the same time help people feed their families."
...

Get Some Sarse: The Islesford Congregational Church

From Hugh L. Dwelley's "A History of Little Cranberry Island, Maine."

On September 1, 1898, the Islesford Congregational Society was formed ... Ground was broken for the church on November 7, and the cornerstone was laid on December 30th. ... Construction of the Islesford Church was under the supervision of the island's master builder Alonzo J. Bryant and it proceeded rapidly. The handsome new building was prominently situated on Colonel William Hadlock's "ledge lot" near the center of the community. On August 4th, 1899, Vincent Bowditch wrote: "The new church is nearly finished and a stained glass window was put up yesterday. A 'memorial' window to the soldiers in the Civil War, but some of the names inscribed represent living men. Colonel Hadlock's idea, apparently not wishing to be 'left out in the cold'. Speaking of the window, Charlie Jarvis evidently thinks it a piece of extravagance. When 'Geo. Hen' (George Henry Fernald) said to me: 'it cost $81.00'. Charlie remarked: '$81.00 -- thunder!, the next time they ask me for church contributions, they'll get some sarse.'"

One-Armed Job: Settling Islesford

A few guests are staying in a house near Eagle Point, which is the northwest corner of the island (on your left as you come into the dock). They may be interested to learn that the first white settlers to Little Cranberry landed there. From Hugh L. Dwelley's "A History of Little Cranberry Island, Maine," pp. 16-17:

One-armed Job Stanwood is thought to have come to Little Cranberry in 1762 and Benjamin Bunker to Great Cranberry. Ted Spurling tells us that Stanwood and Bunker were both veterans of the 1745 First Battle of Louisburg where Stanwood lost an arm. Both came from communities in Sussex County, Massachusetts as did Some and Richardson. They may well have known one another before they came.
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Governor Bernard returned [to Little Cranberry] in 1764 to survey his grant more fully. Wendell Hadlock wrote that: "His [Bernard's] surveyor took his departure from Sutton's Island to a spruce tree on Job Stanwood's Landing Place on Little Cranberry Island." Thus is Job Stanwood's presence and even the place of his landing (near Eagle Point) confirmed.

The Downeast coast

From Colin Woodward's "The Lobster Coast," p. 32:

The often-used Maine moniker "Downeast" is a sailing term that refers to direction, not location. The prevailing winds on the Maine coast blow from the southwest in the warm months, so ships from Boston were able to run downwind as they sailed along Maine's northeasterly-trending coast. ...

The Downeast coast was the last region to be settled by British subjects because it belonged to France until 1763. France never established much more than a garrison here, in large part because the region's colder climate, ferocious tides, and thin, glacially scoured soil made such undertakings difficult. The task of settlement fell to a great wave of land-hungry English and Scotch-Irish settlers who moved here from other parts of Maine and New England in the last decades of the eighteenth century. It was this movement that pushed Maine to the forefront of the American fishing industry in the first half of the nineteenth century. Most Downeast people discovered they couldn't survive by farming, and turned to the sea by necessity. There they discovered the Gulf of Maine's incredible bounty, and helped establish the maritime way of life on the coast. But the Downeast coast's harsh conditions and remote location have always minimized both settlement and economic activity, and today the region remains the poorest, least developed part of the Maine seaboard.