House Island (Maine) facts for kids
House Island is a special private island located in Portland Harbor. This harbor is part of Casco Bay in Maine, United States. The island is actually part of the city of Portland. You can only get to House Island by boat. Most people aren't allowed to visit, but sometimes the owners let special tours happen.
On the east side of House Island, there are three buildings that people use for vacations or summer homes. On the west side, you'll find an old fort called Fort Scammell. The island got its name because it's believed to be where an early European house was built by Captain Christopher Levett, an English explorer.
In 2022, House Island was sold for a lot of money – $5.35 million!
Fort Scammell: Protecting the Harbor
Quick facts for kids Fort Scammell |
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| House Island, Portland, Maine | |
Fort Scammell in 2012
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 Fort Scammell
Location in Maine
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| Coordinates | 43°39′10″N 70°12′35″W / 43.65278°N 70.20972°W |
| Type | Coastal Defense |
| Site information | |
| Owner | private |
| Controlled by | private |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1808 |
| Built by | Henry A. S. Dearborn |
| In use | 1808-1900 |
| Battles/wars | War of 1812 |
Henry A. S. Dearborn, who later became a general, built Fort Scammell in 1808. This was part of a big plan to build forts all along the coast of the United States. The fort was named after Alexander Scammell, a brave general from the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He died in battle during the Battle of Yorktown.
The fort was built to protect Portland's harbor. It had powerful cannons to guard the main shipping channel, working with another fort called Fort Preble. Fort Scammell was made from stone, brick, and earth. When it was first built, it had fifteen guns and a large 10-inch mortar. A mortar is a type of short cannon that fires shells high into the air.
In 1811, a report described Fort Scammell as a round stone fort with fifteen heavy guns. It also had a wooden blockhouse behind it with six more guns. The guns used back then were usually 24-pounder or 32-pounder smoothbore cannons. These were big, heavy guns that fired round cannonballs.
Modernizing the Fort
In the 1840s and 1850s, Fort Scammell was updated. Its walls were made longer to cover a bigger area. Then, during the American Civil War in 1862, an Army engineer named Thomas Lincoln Casey Sr. completely rebuilt the fort. He was famous for his work on the Washington Monument.
The new design for Fort Scammell was very unique in the United States. It had two large stone-and-brick sections called bastions. These bastions were connected by earth walls. A bastion is a strong, projecting part of a fort wall, allowing defenders to fire along the wall. The west bastion had one level of casemates, which are armored rooms for guns, and the east bastion had two levels.
In the 1870s, more earthworks were built for even bigger guns, like 10-inch and 15-inch Rodman guns. However, not all of these were finished because fort construction stopped across the country. Fort Scammell was not used for battles during the Spanish-American War in 1898. By 1903, its guns had been removed.
Later, in 1917, two spots were added for anti-aircraft guns. These guns were used to shoot down airplanes. Interestingly, out of all the forts in Casco Bay, Fort Scammell was the only one to actually fire a shot and be fired upon in battle. This happened in August 1813 during the War of 1812.
Immigration Quarantine Station: A Northern Ellis Island
After its military use, House Island became an immigration quarantine station from 1907 to 1937. A quarantine station is a place where people are kept separate to stop the spread of diseases. This station was even called the "Ellis Island of the North." Ellis Island was a famous place in New York where many immigrants arrived in the U.S.
The quarantine station was busiest in the early 1920s. This was after a law called the Emergency Quota Act was passed. This law limited how many immigrants could enter the country. In November 1923, two ships, the President Polk and George Washington, were sent to Portland instead of New York City. Because of this, 218 immigrants from those ships had to stay at the station. Many of these immigrants were Jewish people from Russia. Jewish women from Portland even built a kosher kitchen on the island for them. Kosher food follows special Jewish dietary rules.
Immigration officials thought House Island was a perfect spot for the station. There was a train station right at the docks in Portland. This made it easy for immigrants to travel by train after arriving. Also, a government official named William Husband said the whole island was safe and secure. He liked that people could walk freely on the island, unlike other places where they were kept in small, guarded areas.
The brick building used as detention barracks from the 1920s has been taken down. However, some of the original buildings from 1907 are still there. These include the doctor's house, the detention barracks (where people stayed), and the quarantine hospital.
