Ferry between Sargentville and Deer Isle (TRA.3)
Prior to the Deer Isle Bridge being completed in 1939, vehicles were transported to the island via a ferry located at the beach at the end of the Shore Road.
The Car Ferry between Sargentville and Deer Isle
Prior to the Deer Isle Bridge being completed in 1939, vehicles were transported to the island via a ferry located at the beach at the end of the Shore Road. Before the advent of cars and engines that could be used in tow boats or steamboats, passengers and materials were rowed back and forth or transported in sail boats. Clayton Gross, in his booklet, Steel Over Eggemoggin, writes of the evidence that “ferry service of some kind existed for about 147 years from 1792 to 1939.”1
Model T getting on to the ferry on the Sargentville side
The landing at Sargentville was next to the Eastern Steamship wharf.
In this photo of the Sargentville Landing there is a delay because a truck, said to be a Tarvia tar truck, has gone off the back of a scow.
The ferry was towed by a boat to the Deer Isle Ferry Landing.
Docking on the Deer Isle side.
This photo is of of the buildings remaining at the original site of the ferry landing.
The Deer Isle Ferry Landing David Webb said that Maynard Scott was the last person to work the ferry between Deer Isle and Sedgwick. His father, Charlie Scott, was the longest serving ferryman.
John Scott, the son of settler Nathaniel Scott is thought to have started the ferry service. The family continued that work until 1939.
Ready to head back to Sargentville
Deer Isle Ferry Schedule from Aug 26, 1937 “Island Ad-Vantages”
You can see the Sargentville wharf across the Reach when standing next to this remnant of the Deer Isle ferry landing.
In 2021 this is all that’s left of the Deer Isle Ferry Landing. The ferry was discontinued when the Sedgwick-Deer Isle Bridge was completed in 1939.
_______________________________________
1Gross, Clayton H., Steel Over Eggemoggin, Penobscot Books, Stonington, Maine 1898.