Some are only accessible by boat, and others are designated nature preserves. Some are only visible when the tide is low. Believe it or not, there are more than 4,600 islands off Maine, many of which are scenic and visitable. Records of the Maine Home for the Feeble Minded, Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine.We don’t mean to alarm you, but you might want to be sitting down for this. Historic USGS Maps of New England & New York. Thesis (M.A.)–University of Southern Maine. No Greater Abomination: Ethnicity, Class and Power Relations on Malaga Island, Maine, 1880-1912. The Shame of Maine: The Forced Eviction of Malaga Island Residents. “Malaga Island, Fragmented Lives.” Maine State Museum. “Malaga Island: A Tragic Expulsion.” Summertime in the Belgrades. Maine Roots: The Manuel, Mathews, Ruby Family. September, 1909, pp 521-530.ĭubrule, Deborah, “Evicted: How the State of Maine Destroyed a ‘Different’ Island Community,” Island Journal, Vol. “The Queer Folk of the Maine Coast.” Harper’s Monthly Magazine. 527.īarry, William David, ” The Shameful Story of Malaga Island,” Down East, November 1980, pp. Photo credit: detail from “Entertaining the Missionary – Sunday on Malaga Island,” from Holman Day, “The Queer Folk of the Maine Coast,” p. This time by people researching its history and seeking an apology from the State of Maine for its actions a century earlier. In the twenty-first century, the story of Malaga Island has become the focus of attention again. That year forty-five people were evicted from the island and the State destroyed all the buildings. In 1912 the State made offers for the homes of the remaining residents, offering $50 to $300 each. Nevertheless, with pressure building to “clean up” the place, the State of Maine bought the island and in 1911 began placing some of the residents in the the Maine Home for the Feeble Minded, the former Pineland Center in Pownal, even though many were normal and active. Holman Day wrote in the September 1909 Harpers Monthly, after investigating the conditions on Malaga, that “With the exception that their ideas of the social code of morals are primitive, they are blameless so far as their relations with the world go they are not vicious, they show none of that sullenness that marks similar strata of society, they extend the rude hospitality of their island with touching warmth and sincerity.” p. White civic groups attempted to aid the residents with little effect. In the early twentieth century, much was made of life on the island in the local press. Cove and cape, the coast is pretty well monopolized by non-residents “no-trespass” signs are so thickly set that they form a blazed trail.”ĭuring a time when the concept of “degenerates” and “feeble-minded” people as dangers to themselves and others became popular, the struggling poor residents of Malaga were considered an embarrassment to the new “proper” summer people.Įntertaining the Missionary – Sunday on Malaga Island (Holman Day) Then in the 1880’s and 1890’s, the Maine coast blossomed as a tourist destination, with summer homes, resorts, new roads and boat services springing up.Īs Maine’s Holman Day noted, in what seems a very modern observation:īetween Kittery Point and Quoddy Head “resorters” have acquired hundreds of headlands and thousands of islands. 55)Įssentially the developing community on the island was left to its own devices throughout most of that century. In fact, Maine showed little anti-black feeling until the early nineteenth century, and then mostly in Portland.” (p. any skin color – other than red – was acceptable in those frontier days. According to author William David Barry, having Black people living in midcoast Maine was not a significant social event at the time. His son Isaac sold it and probably moved to the unoccupied Malaga Island in 1847. One of the more shameful episodes in Maine history is the treatment of the black residents of Malaga Island, in the New Meadows River just off Phippsburg.īenjamin Darling, a freed slave, bought the nearby Horse Island in 1794. Articles about Maine history, government, ecology, economy, recreation, towns, natural features, famous people, sports, with maps, photos, and videos.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |