Oar

Oar Island is located at the southern end of the Hockomock Channel to the west of Bremen Long Island. Mudflats on the northwest side connect the island to Keene Neck and create a natural harbor containing a lobster pound, a shipwreck and several moored fishing vessels. Most of the protected western shoreline of Oar Island is in plain view of the Community Shellfish Company. The southern and eastern shores of the island offer a much more remote and wild experience and provide stirring views of Muscongus Bay.

Oar Island measures just over 39 acres in size and consists of three separate parcels. The largest, comprising the southernmost 27 acres, is open to visitors for respectful, low-impact recreational use. This portion of the island is protected by a conservation easement held by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife ensuring that it will remain intact and undeveloped in perpetuity. Visitors to Oar Island are asked to take special care not to disturb wildlife and to refrain from venturing into the private area on the north end of the island.

There are a few reasonable landing spots on the eastern shore, but perhaps the best access to the island can be found at the protuberance of land roughly 600' east of the south end known as Hagerman Point. Camping is allowed at Hagerman Point in a small, natural clearing just up from the stone embankment fortifying the shore. From here, a path connects to an interior trail that runs the length of the island.

Hagerman Point is so named because it is the site of a former cabin known as First Camp that belonged to Van Buren Hagerman who resided on the island during the early part of the 1900s. The cabin ultimately burned down in 1946, forcing Mr. Hagerman to relocate to another structure at the north end of the island. In 1947, Hagerman sold the timber interest in the island to the Pejepscot Paper Company who undertook an extensive softwood harvest around 1950, resulting in the dense, mostly even-aged stand of trees visible today.