Grape Island (Essex County, Massachusetts) facts for kids

Grape Island is a small piece of land that's part of Plum Island in Ipswich, Massachusetts. For almost 200 years, it was a busy home for fishermen, farmers, and people who dug for clams.

In the mid-1900s, the United States Government bought the land. It then became a special place for wildlife. The last person to live on Grape Island was Lewis Kilborn. He lived there his whole life and passed away in 1984.

Where is Grape Island?

Even though Grape Island is often thought of as part of Plum Island, a small creek separates them. You can see Grape Island clearly from a place called "Great Neck" in Ipswich. From there, you get a great view across Plum Island Sound.

You can still reach Grape Island by boat. It might also be possible to walk there at low tide from the marshy areas of Plum Island State Park.

A Look Back at Grape Island's Past

Local stories tell us that fishermen and farmers started living on Grape Island in the 1700s. By the 1870s, Grape Island had a good number of people living there, much like Plum Island.

In the late 1800s, the island even had a hotel run by the MacKinney Family. There was also a school where children from Grape Island went to class from April to November. Many small houses and cottages were owned by people who lived there all year or just for the summer. Some well-known families on the island were the Smalls, Baileys, MacKinneys, and Kilborns.

Summertime brought even more people to the island. It was a popular spot for duck hunters, fishermen, lobstermen, and clam diggers.

Changes Over Time

Grape Island started to become less populated in the 1920s. More and more families moved away to towns like Ipswich, Rowley, Newbury, and Newburyport.

By the 1930s, only the Kilborn Family and one other family remained on the island. Soon after, the Department of the Interior took over the island. It became part of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.

John Kilborn and his son Lewis Kilborn did not want to leave. They paid the government $10.00 a month to keep living on the island. John Kilborn died in 1946. For the next 38 years, Lewis Kilborn and the local wildlife were the only residents on Grape Island.

Lewis Kilborn: The Last Resident

Lewis Kilborn was well-known in the area. Some people called him the "Hermit of Grape Island," a name he really disliked. He continued to live on the island much like people had in earlier times. He collected rain for his water, heated his house with a wood stove, and fished for food.

He would take his boat into town to buy groceries. Lewis listened to news from around the world on a small transistor radio. He loved to read any books and newspapers that friends and family brought him. Lewis Kilborn passed away in March 1984.

Grape Island Today

Today, very little remains of the old houses, cottages, school, or hotel on Grape Island. Anything that wasn't torn down or removed by the government has been taken over by nature.

Many articles about Grape Island have appeared in magazines like Yankee Magazine and local newspapers. Some of these were written by John F. Dolan, who used to be a representative from Ipswich. He was Lewis Kilborn's nephew and lived on the island as a boy in the 1920s.