Deer Isle, Maine

The town was incorporated in 1789, at which time it included the islands of Little Deer Isle, Deer Isle, and Isle au Haut.[3] Deer were abundant on these islands, hence the name.[4] In 1868 Isle au Haut became a separate town. In 1897, the southern third of Deer Isle incorporated as the town of Stonington.[5]

In the 19th century, the granite industry flourished on Deer Isle where its quarries supplied granite for structures such as the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, the US Naval Academy, the Manhattan Bridge and at President John F. Kennedy's tomb at Arlington National Cemetery.[6]

In John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley, Deer Isle was a stopping point for the author after the insistence of his literary agent that he visit the cottage of Eleanor Brace, at Dunham's Point. Steinbeck wrote, "One doesn't have to be sensitive to feel the strangeness of Deer Isle".[7]

It was Deer Isle that musician Dan Fogelberg and his wife Jean chose for their final home, and where he died in 2007. This isle was the home town of the dock that was the inspiration for the painter Fairfield Porter. Many small private islands can be found in the waters surrounding Deer Isle. Cabot Lyford, a Maine sculptor, used seven tons of Deer Isle granite to carve one of his best known pieces, "Life Force."[8] "Life Force," which depicts dolphins jumping from the water, stands outside the Regency Hotel in Portland, Maine.[8]

The town of Deer Isle is one of two communities on the island of Deer Isle, the other being Stonington. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 123.67 square miles (320.30 km²), of which 29.72 square miles (76.97 km²) is land and 93.95 square miles (243.33 km²) is water.[1]

Deer Isle is separated from the mainland by Eggemoggin Reach and may be reached by car via a narrow 1939 suspension bridge bearing the island's name.

Deer Isle Bridge

• Gerald Warner Brace (1901–1978), writer, professor, sailor and boat builder
• Dan Fogelberg (1951–2007), singer and songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist
• Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983), architect and inventor[12]
• Robert McCloskey (1914–2003), author and illustrator of children's books
• Francis Sumner Merritt (1913–2000), painter, co-founder and first director of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
• Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903), early urban planner and landscape architect[12]
• Ronald Hayes Pearson (1924–1996) was an American designer, jeweler, and metalsmith[13]
• Thomas E. Ricks (born 1955), Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and author who specializes in the military and national security issues
• Anica Mrose Rissi, author and writer brought up in Deer Isle[14]
• Salome Sellers (1800–1909), last known and documented living person born in the 18th century
• Cynthia Voigt (born 1942), young adults book author[15]

• John Steinbeck describes his visit to Deer Isle in the 1962 novel, Travels with Charley.
• Deer Isle is mentioned in Part II, Chapter 8, of Don DeLillo's 1977 novel entitled Players.
• Deer Isle is heavily referenced in Ken Burns’ docuseries, The Civil War. Stories from the town are used to illustrate the impact the American Civil War had on places across the United States, even towns like Deer Isle which were far away from most of the war's battles. Twenty one residents of Deer Isle were killed fighting in the war.[16]
• Anica Mrose Rissi's 2023 middle grade novel, Wishing Season, is set on Deer Isle.[17]

• Deer Isle – Stonington Chamber of Commerce