KENNEBEC JOURNAL • July 29, 2023
A year after the U.S. Coast Guard halted ferry service between Swan Island and Richmond over safety concerns, state wildlife officials say the service won’t be restarted. Requirements dictated by the Coast Guard proved too expensive to meet, ending the practice of carrying school groups and others across the Kennebec River to spend a day or a night camping on the island that sits at the head of Merrymeeting Bay. Swan Island will remain open to the public, but visitors will now have to get there under their own power. Once they arrive, they’ll no longer have to pay to use the island, nor will they be able to reserve a campsite. The 4-mile-long Swan Island is on the National Register of Historic Places, with evidence of human use and habitation going back thousands of years.