Swan's Song
Forgotten by history, neglected by the state, beautiful Swan Island in the Kennebec faces an uncertain future.
By Edgar Allen Beem, Photography by Kevin Shields
Swan Island lies only a few hundred feet across the Kennebec River from the Richmond waterfront, but it seems farther away than that. If you throw a stone across the brown waters, it will land in the nineteenth century. It sounds like a cliché, but Swan Island really is a land time forgot.These days, it's also a place desperately in search of a new identity. The state of Maine doesn't entirely know what to do with Swan Island, and that concerns the man charged with overseeing it. "My goal is just to make sure Swan Island stays open and available to the public," says Charles "Rusty" Dyke.
