There is no electricity, municipal water or paved roads on Bustins Island, but that doesn’t stop upwards of 400 people from occupying the island’s 118 cottages during summer vacations or on weekends.
Transportation to and from the island is no problem. The Bustin Island Ferry docks four times a day at the Freeport Town Wharf near Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster Co., bringing people back and forth on the 2-mile trip.
This week, members of the Freeport Town Council were scheduled to take the ferry for their annual trip to the island to meet with the Bustins Island Village Corp., an entity separate from Freeport under Maine statute, with its own “semi-government,” as Freeport Town Manager Peter Joseph put it.
Rob Boone of Bedford, Mass., who mostly spends weekend on the island, is chairman of the five-person Bustins Island Board of Overseers. Boone and Joseph agreed that there were no significant issues to discuss on Aug. 25, so the 5 p.m. meeting at the Community House was more of a social event, including dinner and perhaps a round of golf on the island’s six-hole course.
“It’s more of a get-together,” Boone said. “They’ve been very supportive of us, with police and fire protection.”
Boone said that people spend time in their Bustins Island cottages Memorial Day through Columbus Day, but mostly from July 4 through Labor Day. It’s a mix of retirees and working people who are there for weekends or vacations, he said.
There’s no beach per se, but Bustins Island people swim near the community dock and go kayaking, Boone said.
Vehicles, except for a tiny few that are grandfathered in and those used by contractors, are not allowed on the island’s two-lane dirt roads.
Bustins Island is mostly uninhabited in the winter, excepting for a contractor here and there.
Boone, an independent sales representative, said he was “born to the land” on Bustins Island. In 1963, he started visiting his grandparents, George and Alice Drew, at the cottage first owned by an aunt in the 1890s.
“That’s the way it is with a lot of the families out here – they go back two, three, four generations,” he said. “I’ve been in town government since the early ‘90s. Most everyone gets picked. It’s all volunteer, except for the codes enforcement officer and the superintendent of the island infrastructure.”
The Board of Overseers spends much of its time doing planning, zoning and issuing building permits to fit the island’s standards. There is a volunteer brush fire department.
Boone said that people use solar power, propane and generators to provide power for their cottages. He is able to work from the island by using his cell phone, and powering his tablet through his solar panels.
“It’s someplace between camping and a summer home,” Boone said. “It’s really laid back and relaxing. We hold events at the Community House.”
Joseph said that, according to a longstanding agreement, Bustins Island residents pay taxes to Freeport, and the town returns 40 percent of that amount. Island residents use some of that money to contract the ferry.
A Freeport fire truck moves through the dirt roads near cottages on Bustins Island. Courtesy photo
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