Louds Island


Louds Island, also once known as Muscongus Island, is an island in Muscongus Bay off the coast of Round Pond, a village of Bristol, Maine. It is also an unorganized territory of Maine. It is approximately long and wide at its widest point. The island did not have a flush toilet until 2009. The 2010 Census lists Louds Island with a population of zero. It is part of the unorganized territory of Lincoln County.

History

According to island chronicler Charles McLane, Louds seceded from the town of Bristol and also the United States in the early 1860s—although there are differing versions of exactly why. McLane says "the secession, in any case, was real enough and Louds has remained townless to the present day and remained stateless until the early 1900s."
Louds Island hosted a "vigorous settlement that peaked in the post-Civil war era," but its year-round community dwindled over the next century. Its school closed in 1962 and the last of the year-round residents departed soon thereafter. Since then Louds has hosted only summer rusticators. As of the 2010 census there were 43 housing units on the island, all for seasonal or vacation use. The Loudville Church, located near the center of the island, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; it was built in 1913 using lumber from a schoolhouse originally on the forcibly evicted settlement of Malaga Island in Phippsburg.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the unorganized territory has a total area of 15.0 square miles, of which 1.6 square miles is land and 13.4 square mile is water. The island itself is 3 miles long and 1 mile wide at its widest point.