Bakers Island

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The island appears to be pear-shaped and inhabited. Most of the island's coast are rocky ledges, except for its western coast. There are three small landlocked ponds located near one another at the island's center. There is some shrubbery, trees, and possible vegetation spread across some parts of the island.

There is a pier on the island's western coast, which is the main and possibly only way off or on the island. Most of the buildings of the island are concentrated to the western and southern portions of the island.

The approximately 55-acre island was known as Baker's Island as early as the 1630s. Originally state's public property, it was granted to Salem, MA in 1660. John Turner was the first private owner of the island and has continued to have privately owned plots up to the present. The island once housed a hotel, but is now almost entirely cottages, most with particular names to identify each cottage. The island also has a store, fire house, meeting hall (Sherman C. Burnham Hall), and gift shop known as "Driftwood".

The United States of America owns approximately ten acres of land on the island where Baker's Island Light and the accompanying buildings sit. The island initially had twin lights first lit on January 3, 1798, and were in response to numerous shipwrecks in the Misery Islands. The shorter lighthouse was eventually demolished in 1926.

The island has long served as a summer retreat for those with cottages on the island. A ferry named the Double Eagle shuttles residents to the island, which still remains without electricity. A similar routine is followed by almost all residents upon departure of the ferry: load your luggage onto your custom wheelbarrow and as soon as you get to your cottage, grab your water cooler and head to the water pump outside the fire house to fill for the weekend. Some other common memories of islanders are the pitter-patter of seagulls on the roof taking off in the early morning, the sounds of fisherman in small boats along the rocky shore, and diving off the end of the pier on hot summer afternoons. The Double Eagle is owned by Walter Beebe-Center, and it captained by either Eric Ashwell or John Hagood and Max Elder is the first mate. He has worked on the ferry for 2 summers.

The Baker's Island Association is a group of members first formed in 1914 to ensure the "promotion of the social and religious welfare of the Islanders" still remains, but in a more governing role. They maintain the pier, common buildings, and oversee general concerns of the Islanders.

Sources: Wise, DeWitt E., "Now, Then: Baker's Island", Baker's Island Associtaion (1964).Unauthored, "The Baker's Island Chronicle 1964-1988", Baker's Island Association (1989).

(Coordinates: Lat. = 42.533'N, Lon. = 70.787'W)