Cranberry Isles Names
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— 1 — Placenames of the Cranberry Isles, Maine Henry A. Raup, Mount Desert, Maine February, 2016 The accompanying gazetteer of the placenames of the Cranberry Isles is part of a larger project that will include the placenames of Mount Desert Island. It is presented here in a preliminary form with the hope that it will be found interesting and useful. Comments, corrections, and additions will be welcome ([email protected]). Gazetteer Format. Information for each feature noted in the text follows a standard format. Below is an example of a typical entry, and a guide to the individual elements contained in each entry (where applicable). An individual name entry will not necessarily include all elements. Entry Example: Spurling Cove Cranberry Isles (*) Bay on the north shore of Great Cranberry Island, east of Spurling Point at the present town landing. (44°15’29”N, 68°16’07”W). Common (Rand 1893; USGS 1942a, 1956a; NOAA 1978, 1979; BHT 8/11/1983, p. 2; 7/14/1987, p. B20). Origin: Surname of nearby resident (Fernald 1890b). More specifically, for Capt. Benjamin Spurling (Spurling, T. 1979; Smart 2010, p. 11). Variants: Spurlings Cove. Rare (Fernald 1890b; Komusin 2012). Sperlin Cove. Rare (Colby and Stuart 1887). Sperlins Cove. Occasional former use (USCS 1872; Colby 1881). Cranberry Cove. Rare (BHT 8/27/1987, p. B32). BGN decision: (BGN 1933, p. 716). Listing Elements: [A] Feature Name [B] Town (*) [C] Type of Feature. [D] (Elevation). [E] Location. [F] (Coordinates). [G] Usage Frequency. [H] Use citations; typically including the earliest recorded use followed by other examples of use. [I] Origin: [J] Variants: [alternate names, if any] [K] Comment: [if any] [L] U. S. Board on Geographic Names decision: [if any] — 2 — Asshole Rock Cranberry Isles (*) Marine ledge in The Gut, between Great Cranberry Island and Little Cranberry Island. (44°15’57”N, 68°14’18”W). Uncommon (Libby 1985; oral use 6/17/2011). Not recorded in print. Variants: A. Rock. Rare (Libby 1985). The Dirty Rock. Uncommon (Libby 1985; Dwelley 2011). Not recorded in print. Back Beach See Gilley Beach. Back Shore Cranberry Isles (*) Locale along the western shore of Great Cranberry Island, especially the central section south of Great Head. (44°14’38”N, 68°16’32”W). Uncommon (Barrett ca.1958, p. 21; BHT 7/14/2010, p. 27; Smart 2010, p. 65; oral use 7/23/2010). Variants: Back Side. Rare (McSorley 1996, p. 4). Backside. Rare (Cranberry Chronicle 2011, No. 21, p. 3; Liebow 2013). Baker Island Cranberry Isles (*) Southeastern-most island of the Cranberry Isles group. (44°14’27”N, 68°11’56”W). Common (Williamson, W. D. 1832, Vol. 1, p. 78; BGN 1892, p. 12; Rand 1893; USGS 1922, 1971). Common oral use. Origin: Unknown (Fernald 1890a; Morison, S. E. 1960, p. 76; BHT 10/4/62, p. 8; McLane 1989, p. 89). Presumably a personal name. At least two theories have been suggested, neither of which is correct since the island was named before the island was settled. “Somebody guesses a Mr. Baker once lived there … ” (Fernald 1890a, and repeated subsequently). An occasional oral suggestion is that one of the Gilleys living here was a particularly “good cook” (for the story of the Gilley family see Eliot, C. W. 1899). Variants: Bakers Island. Common (Owen 1770, p. 731; Des Barres 1776a; USCS 1872; BHT 9/5/1996, p. C4; oral use in Smythe 2008, p. 16). Bakers Isle. Rare (1830 use in Vining 2002, p. 55; Grant, L. S. 1874, p. 78). Backers Island. Rare (Baring and Baring 1827). Comment: Site of the Baker Island Lighthouse, 1828. BGN decision: 1891, “not Baker’s”. Baker Island Bar Cranberry Isles (*) Bar extending from the southeastern point of Little Cranberry Island southeasterly to Baker Island. Submerged at high tide, except at Green Nubble. (44°14’54”N, 68°12’32”W). Common (Rand 1893; Bates et al. 1896a; USGS 1935, 1971; BHT 9/10/2009, p. 18). Variants: Bakers Island Bar. Rare (Mount Desert Herald 5/21/1886, p. 2; oral use in Smythe 2008, p. 33). Green Bar. Rare (NOAA 1978; Bunker, Tud 1992, p. 9). After Green Nubble, an islet in the middle of the bar. Baker Island Cove Cranberry Isles (*) Small bay on the north side of Baker Island; east of Baker Island Bar. Rare (oral use by lobstermen 11/13/1992). Baker Island Ledge Cranberry Isles (*) Marine ledge 0.25 mile NE of Baker Island. (44°14’55”N, 68°11’35”W). Rare (U.S. Lighthouse Service 1930, p. 98; U.S. Coast Guard 2009, p. 21). Ballroom Floor; Ballroom Rocks See Dancing Rocks. — 3 — Bar Beach Cranberry Isles (*) Beach on the southern shore of Little Cranberry Island, between Gilley Beach and Bar Point. (44°15’26”N, 68°13’12”W). Occasional (ca.1905 postcard in Locke and Montgomery 1998, p. 98; Spurling, T. 1995, p. 85; Dwelley 2000, p. 160). Oral use (Ted Spurling 8/6/2000). Origin: For the nearby Bar Point and Baker Island Bar. Variants: Coast Guard Beach. Uncommon (USNPS 1984[?]; Pyle 1985; Shaw 1995, p. 38; oral use 10/19/2009). Lighthouse Beach and Station Beach. Oral use 10/19/2009, 5/25/2011, reportedly common. For the former lifesaving facility at Bar Point (q.v.). Bar Island See Crow Island Bar Ledges Cranberry Isles (*) Marine ledge 0.4 mile west of Baker Island. (44°14’38”N, 68°12’48”W). Rare (NOAA 1978). Barn Cove Cranberry Isles (*) Bay on Great Cranberry Island; on the northern shore of The Pool, at the western base of Long Point. (44°15’23”N, 68°15’28”W). Uncommon (1892 deed cited at Great Cranberry Island Historical Society website; Komusin 2001; Liebow 2013). Bar Point Cranberry Isles (*) Cape at the southeastern tip of Little Cranberry Island; at the northern end of Baker Island Bar. (44°15’23”N, 68°12’49”W). Common (Rand 1893; USGS 1935, 1971; NOAA 1978, 1979; BHT 8/16/1990, p. C1; Paigen 1997, p. 83). Origin: After Baker Island Bar. Variants: Coast Guard Point. Occasional (BHT 12/13/1935, p. 5; 6/4/1942, p. 6; Cranberry Isles Town 1975, Sheet #3; Libby 1985). After the U.S. Coast Guard facility located here 1915- 1946, The U.S. Life Saving Service previously had established a station on the site in 1879 (Street 1905, p. 222). Lighthouse Point. Rare (BHT 6/24/1982, p. 5). Mistakes the Life Saving Station watch tower for a lighthouse; local users recognize that it never served that purpose. South East Point. Rare (Dwelley 1995, p. 14; 2000, p. 107), Oral use (Ted Spurling 8/6/2000). For its position on Little Cranberry Island. Bear Island Cranberry Isles (*) Island 0.7 mile SE of Northeast Harbor entrance; 0.2 mile due S of Savage Point. (44°17’03”N, 68°16’06”W). Common (Des Barres 1776a; Anderson 1839; USCS 1872, USGS 1971; DeLorme 2000). Variants: Bare Island. Rare (BHT 5/16/1940, p. 6). Although no documents or maps are recorded using Bare Island, McLane (1989, p. 76) speculates “This island is named Bear on most editions of the ‘Atlantic Neptune’ (1776), but seems, because of its small size, so unlikely a habitat for the beast of the name that it is probable the intent was to identify the island by its treeless western aspect. Bear and Bare were frequently interchanged in early island nomenclature.” The Atlantic Neptune uses Bear on at least two maps (Des Barres 1776a and 1776b). In 1847 the American Coast Pilot describes Bear Island as “… a small island covered with spruce trees” (Blunt 1847, p. 137). And 19th century photographs of the island show it to be heavily wooded. Robersons Island. Rare. “Their names are Great Cranberry, Little Cranberry, Sutton’s, Roberson’s and Baker’s Islands” (Varney 1881, p. 183). “The first English settler within the present limits of the [Cranberry Isles] town, was John Roberson [sic], who, about 1761, settled upon the — 4 — island which bears his name” (Wasson 1878, p. 25). “The Cranberry Isles were first settled by John Roberson [sic], in the year 1761 … ” (Sweetser 1888, p. 97). Robertsons Island. Rare. “ … not especially spoken of until John Robertson settled on one of them, which is known as Robertson’s Island” (Dodge, E. H. 1871, p. 36); “ … in 1763 … John Robertson [settled] upon one of the Cranberry Isles, since called by his name” (Tuck and Homer 1880, p. 56); and “The first English settler within the limits of the [Cranberry Isles] town was John Robertson, who located upon the island which bears his name in 1761-62” (Chadbourne 1955, p. 498). Robertsons Island was an early variant for Tinker Island where John Robinson was the first settler (McLane 1982, p. 410). Comment: The western end of the island is the site of the Bear Island Lighthouse, built in 1839, but decommissioned in 1981 and transferred to Acadia National Park in 1986 (U.S. Congress 1986, Sec. 104). Big Island See Great Cranberry Island. Big Marsh Pond Cranberry Isles (*) Lake at eastern end of Little Cranberry Island; in The Marsh, south of Marsh Head, northwest of Bar Point. (44°15’34”N, 68°12’57”W). Rare (USNPS 1984[?]; Dwelley 2011). Variant: Marsh Pond. Rare (Dwelley 1994, p. 20; oral use 8/22/1999). Birlem Cove Cranberry Isles (*) Bay on the southern shore of Great Cranberry Island; southwest of Bulger Hill; at the mouth of Mink Brook. (44°14’13”N, 68°15’39”W). Rare (Komusin 2001, 2012). Origin: For Capt. Augustus Birlem, adjacent landowner (Colby and Stuart 1887; Vining 2000, p. 195). Variant: Burlems Cove.