Clark Island

Maine Coast Heritage Trust acquired the Clark Island Preserve in 2020 with support from the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Coastal Wetlands Program and many donors.

Clark Island includes a mix of mowed fields, forests, and coastal wetlands—nearly all of which were heavily altered during the 1800s and 1900s due to extensive quarrying. The shoreline features sand and cobble beaches, fringing salt marsh, mudflats, and granite ledge.

Maritime spruce-fir forest and mixed hardwood with numerous vernal pools cover the island. Once entirely cleared of trees while quarrying was ongoing, all forest growth is second- and third-growth

There are two small human-made ponds on the preserve; one set back from the east-facing cobble beach on Clark Cove, and one in the field just across the road which bisects the island.These ponds are hydrologically connected via a brushy swale—and are great places to spot birdlife!

Watch your step: Off-trail areas contain numerous old wells, foundations, sections of heavy cable, and other potential hazards.

Clark Island was Wabanaki territory. European settlement of Clark dates back to the 1780s, with quarrying operations beginning in the 1830s. By 1890, 100 stone cutters and their families, plus supporting crews of quarrymen and sculptors, lived on Clark Island. In 1892, the town of St. George paid for a granite causeway from the mainland to Clark Island, and by 1900, 400 people—300 of them stone cutters—were employed in the quarry operation. By World War II, operations slowed and then ceased, as concrete and steel building materials replaced stone.

Today the island is mostly undeveloped with just two remaining residences off the preserve, but old foundations are still plainly visible. A section of the eastern shoreline is constructed of granite wharf, where large ships once tied up to load quarried stone. Two large, abandoned granite quarries remain on the island, one of which is within the preserve.