Ferry takes riders to slower time

IF YOU GO

What: Swan Island, a state-owned wildlife preserve and historic site, in the Kennebec River between Richmond and Dresden. It's part of the Steve Powell Wildlife Management Area. Reservations are required for day visits and camping, whether transportation is by state ferry service or a private canoe or kayak.

Getting there: Take Interstate 295 to Exit 43 (Richmond/Litchfield). From the exit, follow Route 197 east for about three miles to Richmond Village. Turn left at the intersection of routes 197 and 24. The Swan Island parking lot, marked with a brown State of Maine sign, is immediately on your right, next to the brick Richmond Utilities District building.

Cost: Day use fees are free for children age 3 and under; $3.50 for children age 4 to 12; $5 for children 13 and older and adults; $4 for age 60 and older. Overnight fees are free for children age 3 and under; $6.50 for children age 4 to 12; $8 for children 13 and older and adults; $7 for seniors age 60 and older. Overnight visits also are subject to a 7 percent state lodging tax.

Dates and hours: Open daily from 9 a.m. until sunset from May 1 through Labor Day by reservation. Camping, also by reservation, is limited to a two-night stay unless extended by the island manager. From Labor Day until the end of September, Swan Island is open for a limited number of days and times by reservation. A maximum of 60 visitors is allowed on the island at one time.

What else: For more information, go to www.maine.gov call the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife at 287-8000; call the Swan Island reservation clerk at 547-5322; or e-mail swan.island@maine.gov.

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SWAN ISLAND — The ferry is the first sign that a visit to Swan Island is a trip back to a simpler place and time. The word "ferry" carries an image of big, multi-deck car ships, like the ones that serve the islands off Portland in Casco Bay.

But ferry service to state-owned Swan Island, between Richmond and Dresden in the Kennebec River, consists of a small steel skiff built six decades ago. Powered by an outboard motor, the Swanee can only hold about 15 visitors.

The ride to Swan Island - a wildlife sanctuary dotted with abandoned historic homes - also has to be one of the shortest ferry trips in the world. It takes about three minutes to putter across the Kennebec from the landing in Richmond village to the dock on the island.

But even on that short ride, I had my first glimpse of the varied wildlife that inhabits the island: a large and powerful bird - an osprey or maybe an eagle - winging toward shore.

I also found it easy to conjure up a sense of Swan Island's past as I sat in the small boat riding low in the water.

As I looked up and down the winding reaches of the Kennebec and at the approaching green tangle of trees and underbrush on the island's shore, I imagined myself looking through the eyes of one of the American Indians who lived here centuries ago, paddling in a canoe to my wilderness home.

The boat landed on the island and I and the other ferry passengers clambered into the back of a pickup truck lined with wooden benches.

On the trip with me early this month were some youngsters from the Riverview Foundation, a Topsham organization that combines the teaching of martial arts with wilderness training. School groups account for many of the approximately 4,000 visitors to Swan Island each year.

Derek Lucas, a conservation aide with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, was our guide. The department owns and manages the Steve Powell Wildlife Management Area, comprised of Swan and Little Swan islands and surrounding tidal flats.

Lucas tutored us on the wildlife as we traveled a dirt road running the length of the island from north to south. Deer grazing in a meadow, startled at our approach, ran into the woods, their white tails flashing. "That's the first time I saw a deer!" said Joshua Veroneau, 9, of South Portland.

Lucas pointed out places where wild turkeys gather, and an eagle's nest. He also indicated hiking trails and a rustic overnight campground visitors can use.

Our guide gave brief histories of the 18th- and 19th-century homes left behind after 1936, when regular ferry service to the island ceased and it lost the last of its year-round residents.

My favorite was the Tubbs-Reed house. It was built around 1800 by Samuel Tubbs, a Revolutionary War major. His island real estate may have been a reward for his service.

The square, two-story, wood-frame house is elegant in its simplicity. Maj. Tubbs chose a beautiful spot on which to build, a hill that is the second-highest point on the island.

I can't imagine the carnage he may have witnessed in the war. However, I can picture him at his home overlooking the flowing waters of the Kennebec, enjoying the peace and beauty that is Swan Island.

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