Two islands in the Bagaduce River were officially renamed earlier this month after a yearslong process to change their racially offensive titles. Now, one of them is for sale.
The islands off the Castine shore, called Upper and Lower Negro islands for centuries, received new recommended names from town voters in 2022: Esther and Emanuel, after two of the earliest known enslaved people in the area.
That process began in 2021 after the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, which sets official place names and has final say over renaming requests, received a petition asking it be changed.
At least 16 places in Maine have names including racial or ethnic slurs, and more than 80 use terms that are controversial, according to a state project begun as part of ongoing efforts to change them; towns here and in other states have increasingly asked the federal board to replace such names in recent years.
The state has outlawed use of the n-word and offensive terms for Indigenous women for years, but that prohibition has not always been enforced, and efforts are continuing to change other inappropriate names around Maine.
“The continued use of offensive language in place names within our state sends a clear message to entire groups of people that they are not welcome or valued here,” Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross has said, according to the state’s “Place Justice” website. “It is critical that we work together to ensure these harmful messages have no place in our beautiful state.”
In Castine, a local committee recommended two choices for new name pairings for the islands that would still recognize the history of Black and Indigenous people in the area, a member told the BDN at the time. Voters in 2022 chose Esther and Emanuel, who appeared in one Castine store’s log book in the late 1700s but are otherwise lost to history.
To refer to both islands together — a requirement by the naming board for navigation purposes — voters initially chose the Wabanaki word Meguntic, referring to the swelling of the sea. But finalizing a collective name was delayed for more consulting with the Penobscot Nation, the Maine Morning Star reported in February.
There were also questions earlier this year about whether renaming such places would be possible under the Trump administration after the president overrode the board to change the names of several sites nationwide, such as renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Because of federal actions, Talbot Ross withdrew a bill that would formalize the renaming process, according to the Morning Star.
The board of names database shows that the individual Castine island name changes were made on May 8, but it still lists the islands collectively as Negro Islands.
The lower island is owned by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust and the upper by a private family. Both parties were on the renaming committee.
The upper island, spanning about four acres with two small cabins, hit the market again on Saturday for $599,000. Twice in the last two years, it has been listed for sale and removed at the same price, but that was just because paperwork had expired, according to listing agent Hank De Raat.
“I don’t think people are as concerned about the name as they are of the attributes of [the island],” De Raat said Wednesday.
De Raat said potential buyers have been more concerned about whether the island sits high enough to withstand floods, which it does. He noted that flooding has become more of a concern for coastal properties since devastating storms hit Maine’s coast last year.
De Raat already refers to the island as Esther, he said, but he used its old name in the latest real estate listing before he knew the formal change had gone through.
“The former owners showed up on Memorial Day and left on Labor Day for many decades during their ownership,” the listing reads. The family could not be reached for comment.
The Maine Coast Heritage Trust is open to new conservation opportunities but doesn’t currently plan to acquire the upper island, a spokesperson said Wednesday.
