ISLESFORD Little Cranberry Island

44° 15.60’N 068° 14.45’W

4th ed. Cruising Guide page 316

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Charts: 13312, 13318, 13321

Chart Kit: 74, 23

Mount Desert region overview chart Harbor chart

LITTLE CRANBERRY ISLAND lies less than two miles to seaward of Mount Desert Island. From that vantage, there are spectacular views of the mountains to the north and the lights of Southwest Harbor twinkling to the west. This small, quiet island has pleasant walks, an interesting little museum, and a waterfront restaurant. Transportation is furnished by the Beal & Bunker ferry from Northeast Harbor and the constant coming and going of water taxis, fishing boats, and yachts in the anchorage.
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Little Cranberry, Great Cranberry, Bear, Baker, and Sutton Island are all part of the town of Cranberry Isles. In 1884, tired of having Little Cranberry Island mail accidentally end up at the Cranberry Isles post office on Great Cranberry, the residents of Little Cranberry came up with the more distinctive village name of Islesford.
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Approaches. The harbor in Hadlock Cove can be approached from the west or north. From the west, leave red bell “2” marking Spurling Rock in Gilley Thorofare to starboard. Leave cans “1” and “3” to port.
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As you look toward land from the harbor, there are three docks: the one to the left is Islesford Dock, the Fishermen’s Co-op is in the center, and the town dock is to the right. Be careful of the granite remains of a former pier (shown on the chart) just left of the Islesford Dock.
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Anchorages, Moorings. All of Cranberry Harbor can be used as an anchorage, with depths of 14 to 23 feet at low, though it is broad and quite exposed. The best protection is found in Hadlock Cove, the wide bight where the docks are located.
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The Little Cranberry Yacht Club, whose one-room clubhouse is on Islesford Dock, has two memorial guest moorings. One has a pink float, which may or may not be marked “LCYC.” The other is white and marked “guest.” Islesford Dock Restaurant also manages several rental moorings. The moorings are actually owned by restaurant patrons, and, as one insider put it, “the rentals pay off the bar tabs.”
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If no mooring is available, there is plenty of room to anchor outside the moored boats. Some people have reported difficulty with kelp on the bottom, so be sure your hook is well set before you leave your boat.
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Getting Ashore. Land your dinghy at the town dock or at Islesford Dock.
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For the Boat. Fisherman’s Co-op. If you are stuck, limited amounts of gas and diesel are available at the floats of the Fisherman’s Co-op, with 9 feet at low. It is much more convenient to fuel up at Northeast or Southwest Harbor or Manset.
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Islesford Dock Restaurant (207-244-7494). The restaurant has slips for patrons at the end of Islesford Dock and several rental moorings.
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Islesford Lumber. This little yard, just up from the waterfront, carries a variety of lumber and hardware, including some marine hardware.
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For the Crew. The Islesford Dock Restaurant serves meals overlooking the harbor with occasional live music.
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Public restrooms are in the “Blue Duck,” an outbuilding at the head of the dock owned by the National Park Service. Until recently, management of these vital facilities was shared with the restaurant, which depends on them to stay in business. A change in this management agreement, however, now threatens to close the heads when the museum is closed, and it highlights just how tenuous basic necessities can be on an island. Negotiations between the dock owners, the Park Service, and the town are in the works, but no relief is in sight.
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A short walk eastward on the main road will bring you to the Islesford Market (244-7667), where local notices are thumbtacked to the bulletin board and the screen door creaks and slams. The post office cubby inside sells $58,000 of stamps a year, more than any other post office in Maine. The trick? Mail order.
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Lobsters can be bought at the Fishermen’s Co-op.
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Things to Do. Be sure to visit the Islesford Historic Museum, part of Acadia National Park, in the handsome Georgian brick-and-granite building close to the docks. It houses a collection of nautical memorabilia, old documents, tools, charts, photos, and domestic furnishings depicting the history of the Cranberry Islands. The museum has a small but interesting collection of books about the history and natural history of the Maine coast for sale.
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The women of Islesford display and sell their “winter work” in a shop on Islesford Dock, and a potter has a gallery there. The Islesford Artists gallery, a short walk “uptown,” displays the works of island artists.
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A short walk leads down Sand Beach to the Maypole, site of the island’s 18th-century spring celebrations. According to Ted Spurling, “this custom was brought by a beautiful Frenchwoman, Margarite La Croix Stanley, wife of John Stanley, the first permanent settler.”
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It’s a half-hour walk from the waterfront to the old Coast Guard station at Bar Point. The road that leads straight to the shore is public, but the Coast Guard station and the road that leads to it to the right are private. On July 4, 1944, a month after D-day, a patrol boat from this station towed ashore the collapsed remains of a Navy dirigible known as K-14. The dirigible had been on patrol looking for enemy submarines when it plummeted into the sea under somewhat mysterious circumstances. The Navy insists that no coastal patrol dirigible was ever lost to enemy fire, but rumors abounded on Islesford of sub-sightings, bullet holes, and gunfire.