Witch Island is accessible by paddlecraft, boat tender, or skiff. Please note, the wooden stairs at the north landing were demolished during the 2024 winter storms and have not yet been replaced, so there is a bit of a scramble to get up to the trail from the beach. The stairs at the southern landing are intact. A narrow woods path encircles the island. There are some gentle changes in elevation, and rocks and roots to step over or around.
There are 2 loop trails: a shorter loop on the eastern side with spurs to view points to the northeast and southeast, and a longer loop on the western side. There are eagle nests near the beach on the north side and the eastern loop trail, but neither appears to have been occupied in recent years.
Witch Island was privately owned until Jane Sewall donated it to the Maine Audubon Society in 1986, which in turn transferred it to Coastal Rivers (then DRA) in 2009. Previously known as Davis Island, the island was owned from 1897 to 1916 by Grace Courtland Chittenden, who liked to refer to herself as the “Witch of Wall Street”, hence the name Witch Island. When Sewall bought the island in 1964, the existing summer home and a boathouse had been vandalized. She had them both burned and built a small cottage, which still stands.
Explore the rocky shoreline, enjoy a picnic lunch on the south beach or on the rocks at the eastern end of the island, and keep an eye out for shorebirds, osprey, or bald eagle. A tiny cottage stands near the northwest end of the island, still used occasionally by Coastal Rivers’ Island School program. Along the trail on the north side of the island is an old set of stone steps and the remains of a landing, traces of the former summer residence.
Witch Island is a very short paddle east and slightly north from the gut or the public landing off of Thompson Inn Road in South Bristol. Most kayakers land at the rocky beach on the north side, however, the wooden stairs at the north landing were demolished during the 2024 winter storms and have not yet been replaced. There is another landing spot on the south side, closer to the Gut, with (intact) stairs up to a trail spur. Keep an eye on the tides!
