From collection Place
Birch Island is within the Penobscot Bay Group of unorganized islands in Hancock County.
Historical Context
"After colonization, coastal islands were held by the Sovereign (European states such as England and France before the American Revolution, the State of Massachusetts before 1820, and the State of Maine after 1820) as part of the public domain; and, like other undeveloped portions of the territory, they were viewed as having little value other than to encourage settlement. Throughout Maine’s early statehood, its coastal islands were auctioned off to the highest bidder. The Legislature, realizing that some of Maine’s islands should be reserved for the public to use and enjoy, enacted a law in 1913 (Chapter 132, P.L., 1913) resolving that all coastal islands not already conveyed by the Sovereign would be held for purposes of public use. In accordance with the new law, the State commissioned Melvin H. Simmons, Esq. to examine titles to the coastal islands; and in 1915, he produced a detailed report known as the Simmons Report which described the islands and attempted to identify those which had already been conveyed by the Sovereign.
"It was not uncommon during the 18th and 19th centuries for real estate in these northern territories to be conveyed informally on a "handshake and a nod." This created gaps in the written record which would later obscure many written chains of title. Confusion over land ownership in some areas was so prevalent during the early 19th century that all lands in one coastal region were "repossessed" by the Sovereign and subsequently redistributed to create a single "new" source of title from which the record could be re-established. Such uncertainty surrounding title issues also extended to coastal islands in public ownership which in turn led to the enactment of the Coastal Island Registry in 1973. Read the statute here: MRSA, Title 33, Chapter 25" ("Coastal Island Registry: History" at Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands [ https://www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/about/coastal_island_registry.shtml : accessed 23 October 2025]).
"It was not uncommon during the 18th and 19th centuries for real estate in these northern territories to be conveyed informally on a "handshake and a nod." This created gaps in the written record which would later obscure many written chains of title. Confusion over land ownership in some areas was so prevalent during the early 19th century that all lands in one coastal region were "repossessed" by the Sovereign and subsequently redistributed to create a single "new" source of title from which the record could be re-established. Such uncertainty surrounding title issues also extended to coastal islands in public ownership which in turn led to the enactment of the Coastal Island Registry in 1973. Read the statute here: MRSA, Title 33, Chapter 25" ("Coastal Island Registry: History" at Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands [ https://www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/about/coastal_island_registry.shtml : accessed 23 October 2025]).
Latitude (decimal)
44.3003562
Longitude (decimal)
-68.7480838
GNIS/GNS Feature ID
562315
Authoritative Source
U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS). “Archive database of 2021” at U.S. Geographic Information Names System (GNIS) ( https://www.usgs.gov/us-board-on-geographic-names/download-gnis-data : CSV data downloaded 31 May 2024).
