Town of Swans Island

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Swan's Island is an island town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. It is named after Colonel James Swan of Fife, Scotland who purchased this island and some surrounding areas and organized their colonization in the 18th century. The population was 327 at the 2000 census. The town is accessible by ferry from Bass Harbor.

The island has a summertime population of about 1,000. There is a general store on the island, open in Spring 2007. There are also a number of small cottage industry shops. The main industry is lobster fishing, which employees 40 people full-time and many others in part-time work.

Swan's Island was first charted in 1606 by Samuel de Champlain's expedition, and at the time was used as a seasonal hunting ground of local Indians. James Swan purchased the island in 1786, but in 1791, David Smith, an American Revolutionary War veteran, became the first white man to settle on the island.

The population slowly grew to over 1,000 by 1900. Fish processing was the dominant industry into the 1930s, when it no longer was profitable in the area. The state-run ferry, which began service in 1960, helped make Swan's Island a popular summer tourism destination