We live on a ridge overlooking the wooded islands of Eggemoggin Reach, a windy channel that starts as an offshoot of Penobscot Bay to our north and empties into the Atlantic Ocean to our south.
As you might expect, weather is a factor in our lives here. As you might not expect, one of the best predictors of our weather happens to be a mountain about seven miles out to sea, which we can view (sometimes) on our south-south-west horizon.
On a clear day, such as yesterday, we see Mount Champlain on Isle au Haut (“High Island”) looming into our view from the sea behind some of the Reach islands. Her presence is one of the first things that we check for in the morning. When we can’t see her, it usually means that bad weather is on the way or already here.
For eons, Isle au Haut reportedly was a popular summer fin-fish and shellfish harvesting island for the Wabanaki tribes of Native Americans. It was put on European maps under its French name in 1604 by its “discoverer,” Samuel Champlain, the famous French explorer of Northeast America. After their Revolution, newly “American” farmers, fishermen, and boatbuilders claimed and began “settling” the island; they soon established a robust community.
In 1943, heirs of the founders of that community donated about 60 percent of the Island to Acadia National Park for its preservation (and maybe in hopes of attracting nature-loving tourists). To this day, Park officials manage that part of the Island and the entire island has become a popular summer tourist attraction. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on November 9, 2022.)