Restrictions on access to the Eagle Island State Historic Site will continue for a seventh straight year, with no replacement for its storm-wrecked pier and no solution for long-term issues at the museum.
A new pier may be on the way in time for next summer, but the state has yet to fund the restoration of the museum and former summer home of Arctic explorer Adm. Robert E. Peary.
It’s possible to get onto the island, hike the trails and talk to an employee of the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, but the state and two nonprofit groups agree there is a long road ahead to revitalize the site.
“Unfortunately, 2026 will be awfully similar to the two previous summers” with regard to public access, said John Burgess, park manager of the Eagle Island State Historic Site for the Bureau of Parks and Lands.
In 2024, the nonprofit Maine Preservation added Eagle Island to its list of Maine’s Most Endangered Historic Places. That designation followed violent coastal storms in January 2024 that wiped out the island’s pier and caused other damage.
Maine Preservation considers a historic site endangered if “without intervention the continued existence of the place is at risk” and “there is potential to eliminate the threat and to rehabilitate/re-use the property.”
Burgess said he considers the designation accurate, noting that the site has suffered from “decades of deferred attention.”
The problems at Eagle Island started long before the 2024 storms. When the state closed the museum during the COVID-19 pandemic, the building “was not properly ventilated in the process, resulting in the proliferation of mildew and mold,” according to Maine Preservation.
“Biological growth now threatens not only the house, but the priceless artifacts stored within its walls,” the organization says.
Efforts to secure funds for restoration from the federal and state governments have run into obstacles, but Burgess said he remains optimistic about the island’s future as a historic site and tourist attraction.
The Bureau of Parks and Lands is working on funding and awareness with Maine Preservation, while another nonprofit, Friends of Eagle Island, hopes to have two or three moorings open to the public by mid-June.
Visitors may land on the island with a dinghy or kayak, Burgess said, but should only land on a beach on the north end of the island and shouldn’t attempt that within two hours of high tide. “That gets a little hairy,” Burgess said.
The museum remains closed, but the windows will be open and popular displays are visible from the outside. The Bureau of Parks and Lands will staff the island’s welcome center, which offers an informational video about the house, the island and Peary himself.
Long-term plans for Eagle Island, Burgess said, involve two big-time projects: rebuilding the pier and restoring the home.
The state has an engineering firm under contract for design and construction of the pier, according to Burgess. The state hopes that job is completed by May 2027, along with masonry work for cliffside retaining walls.
The house and museum is another matter. Accessing funding, including grants from the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and the National Park Service, has not been easy – not only for Eagle Island, but for historic sites all over Maine.
“I understand the public’s frustration,” Burgess said. “We’re doing what we can, and we depend on the Legislature. We don’t want Band-Aid fixes.”
Tapping into his optimism, Burgess said anyone who plans to visit Eagle Island this summer can frame the experience as a tour of “picturesque ruins” or “a unique opportunity to experience part of what Admiral Peary had to endure.”
