Castine voters approve name change for Negro Islands
CASTINE Upper and Lower Negro Islands will be no more. Eventually.
Voters at Castine’s annual Town Meeting Saturday approved initiating the process of changing the names in a split vote.
Town Manager Shawn Blodgett said “the result was 44-33 in favor of changing the names of the two islands.”
Upper Negro Island is privately owned while Lower Negro Island is owned by Maine Coast Heritage Trust.
Now the Board of Selectmen will form a committee to get ideas for potential names for the islands. Those options would go on the ballot in November.
Castine to consider Negro Island name change
CASTINE Voters headed to the May 8 Town Meeting will decide if they want to initiate the process of changing the name of Negro Island.
The island has borne the name for hundreds of years and is actually two small islands connected by a sandbar in the mouth of the Bagaduce River off Castine. Upper Negro Island is in private hands while Lower Negro Island is owned by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. The area is popular with kayakers and Lower Negro Island has a short hiking loop and a campsite.
It’s not clear how the island got its name, but the local lore that it was part of the Underground Railroad is a myth, said Lisa Simpson Lutts, the executive director of the Castine Historical Society.