[cabinfever]

I don't know why the state didn't jump on it. This has always puzzled me, too. I remember when the entire island was up for sale as one parcel for around $1.5M in 1993 after the previous owner passed away. I still have the original real estate ad. I'm still shocked that one private party, never mind the state, didn't buy the whole thing.

The previous owner's father owned a lumber company and you can still see signs of some minimal logging and excavation work that was done in the 40s to make the man-made peninsula off the big bay property. Ninety percent of the island seems pristine though. The only other activity that I know of is the YMCA Camp that was on the North side at the turn of the century. We have the deed back to the 1700s noting the original sale from the Masonian Proprietors. Only a few individuals owned the island before the Champlins bought it in the 40s. In 1855, Charlotte Smith, after being widowed, sold the island for "$3,000, household furniture, and a certain silver watch formerly belonging to a said Daniel K. Smith." Aaaahhh, if only land were this cheap nowadays. I have a nice Seiko if anyone wants to sell me a small island...