Meserve Head

MCHT acquired the Meserve Head property thanks to a generous donation from the previous owner in 2020.

The 71-acre Meserve Head Preserve rises from the southern shore of the Machias River, just east of downtown Machias. The property is mostly forested in a mix of spruce and northern hardwoods and includes roughly 23 acres of salt marsh along the river. The preserve is named for the central high point, Meserve Head, which was in turn named for the first known European family to inhabit the land.

The preserve features varied and interesting topography, two small freshwater wetlands, and many ephemeral drainages leading to the river. Look for the remains of 1700s- and 1800s-era human settlement, including old woods roads and a cemetery with weathered gravestones. At least six mammal species inhabit the preserve (white-tailed deer, snowshoe hare, otter, raccoon, chipmunks, and red squirrel) and dozens of bird species have been identified. Please do not approach the active bald eagle nest located in a large white pine along the river’s edge.

The Meserve family first settled the land now known as the preserve in the late 1700s and lived here until at least 1881. The property then passed out of their ownership and into that of the Libby family, and then the Small family. By 1975, the property was essentially abandoned.

Evidence of the early settlement is still plentiful today. You can find remains of two distinct areas of occupation—both with old cellar holes, compacted ground, dug wells, and woods roads. A third settled area has been identified as the site of a possible sawmill, though little is definitively known. Of perhaps greatest historical interest is the Meserve family burial ground, located just south of the central high point. There are thought to be 13 people interred here, with the last burial date in 1853.