Malaga Island, which was once home to a mixed-race fishing community, has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The designation could help draw additional attention — and recognition — to an island that occupies a unique place in Maine's troubled racial history.
Located off the coast of Phippsburg in Casco Bay, Malaga Island was first settled by several Black families in the 1860s. Additional Black, white and mixed-race families would build homes on the 42-acre island in the following decades.
But the state forcibly removed Malaga's residents in 1912 in a decision tied to racial prejudice, the eugenics movement and social tensions with wealthier coastal residents who disapproved of their poorer neighbors across the water.
While some families were able to move their modest homes to the mainland, many were not given any alternative living arrangements. And eight residents were institutionalized at the Home for the Feeble-Minded in New Gloucester as part of the eugenics movement.
Malaga was never re-settled and is now a preserve owned by Maine Coast Heritage Trust.
Marnie Voter, a Windham resident who can trace branches of her family tree to Malaga and other nearby islands, has worked for decades to change the prejudicial narratives about the people who lived there and what really prompted their eviction.
Voter said she is thrilled by the designation and that she hopes it will open the door for more people to learn about and visit Malaga.
"This is for me is the ultimate, from all of this 50 years of work that I have been doing, because it means that Malaga Island is of national historic interest, that the American government, or the Park Service, says this place is worth knowing about," Voter said.
Direct descendants of Malaga's former residents supported the application from Maine Historic Preservation Commission and Maine Coast Heritage Trust to add the island to the Register of Historic Places. While designation doesn't come with any money, it can help sites qualify for benefits.
“Not only is this archaeologically and historically significant, it’s also culturally significant and contributes to long overdue social justice,” Rob Sanford, an archaeologist professor emeritus of environmental science and policy at the University of Southern Maine, said in a statement. “This helps ensure Malaga and its people will not be forgotten."
