A tiny island just a few yards offshore from Stonington’s waterfront downtown has been sold.
The sale price for Honk’s Island was $35,000, according to information posted online by The Island Agency, which listed the property.
The island was named after local fisherman Pearl E. “Honk” Billings Jr., who passed away in 2013. Less than one-tenth of an acre in size, it is accessible by foot at low tide. It was sold with a dilapidated former fishermen’s workshop on it that was severely damaged in two January 2024 storms.
The new owners of the tiny island are Richard Shriner and Stephanie Davis of Great Falls, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C., according to records filed with the Hancock County Registry of Deeds. Shriner and Davis also own a local home on Gray Lane, directly next to the town-owned Stonington Fish Pier, that overlooks Honk’s Island, according to the town’s property tax records.
There is no freshwater, sewer or electrical service to the island, and none is allowed, according to the real estate listing. The initial asking price for the island when it was listed for sale last fall, was $95,000. The figure reflected the high demand for any kind of coastal property in Maine, including an Isle Au Haut cottage partially “reclaimed by nature” and a small island off Jonesport where the seller required potential buyers to spend the night.
The assessed value of the Stonington island, which the town uses to determine its annual property tax bill, is $30,500, according to local records.
Billings was the third generation of his family to own the tiny island, which his grandfather Almon Billings purchased nearly 100 years ago, according to Kristie Billings, Honk’s daughter.
Almon, a fisherman, built the original shack as a workshop to repair his lobster traps and paint buoys. Honk bought it from Almon, his grandfather, for $1 in 1968 and also used it as a workshop and later added a second story.
Honk also had a generator and a woodstove in the shack, Kristie Billings has said.
Billings did not return a message Friday afternoon seeking comment about the sale.
