about Lanes Island Preserve

Lanes Island is a 45-acre preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy since its acquisition in 1968. Lanes Island offers two-to-three miles of trails across rolling lowlands and on top of rocky headlands with spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean and surrounding spruce-covered islands. At the southern edge of the preserve, a sandy beach at Indian Creek, is a special attraction, where ospreys swoop and dive for fish. Guests at Rockaway can access Lanes Island through several “gates” that connect with the trails to Indian Creek, rocky beaches and scenic overlooks.

about Vinalhaven

Vinalhaven is the largest and most populous of the 15 year-round island communities off the Maine coast 1,200 residents, which increases to approximately 3,000 in the summer. The island is 15 miles long and 10 miles wide with innumerable inlets and coves and four harbors around its 270 miles of saltwater coastline. 

Vinalhaven is one of the most productive lobstering communities on the North Atlantic coastline with some 375 registered lobstermen on the island who fish the expansive waters in East and West Penobscot Bays and far offshore into the Gulf of Maine.

Vinalhaven has a long and proud history, first settled before the Revolutionary War, and then famed for its cod fisheries, boatbuilding and granite quarries before lobsters became the island’s economic mainstay. For more than 100 years, Vinalhaven has also attracted renowned artists, including Marsden Hartley, John Marin, and most recently Robert Indiana, whose will provides for the establishment of a museum on the island to celebrate his work.

Vinalhaven Land Trust is an excellent resource for the various activities on the island including 16 hiking trails and preserves, quarry swimming, biking, bird watching. Each season they offer program of events free and open to the public. Visit their website for more information, VinalhavenLandTrust.org.