Swan Island is in the Kennebec river,
between the towns of Dresden, on the east bank, and Richmond and
Bowdoinham, on the west bank. Before the Europeans arrived, and into
the 17th century, Little Swan Island was the seat of the Norridgewock
tribe of Abenakis. Swan Island was apparently first settled by
Europeans in the 17th century, but native hostility prevented permanent
settlement until the 1750s.  In 1752, the Kennebeck Proprietors,
an unscrupulous group of Boston investors, organized the settlement of
a group of Huguenots at what is now Dresden (calling it Frankfort), and
this included Swan Island. They were soon joined by some German and
native (English) settlers.  In 1760, Frankfort was merged with the
larger town of Wiscasset, the new town being called Pownalborough, and
it was the seat for the new county of Lincoln. Pownalborough was split
up in 1794 into the current towns of Dresden, Alna and Wiscasset, with
Swan Island being part of Dresden until 1847, when it became the very
small town of Perkins. The town seems to have managed well enough for a
few decades, by farming in the summer, cutting ice in the winter, and
shipbuilding, though the population was never more than 100. But times
changed: The river became less important as a highway, as roads and
railroads were built; a bridge was built between Dresden and Richmond,
so Perkins was not a necessary part of the trip; wooden ships became
obsolete; ice cutting faded due to a New York-based monopoly and
mechanical refrigeration. I don't know why farming didn't survive,
except that farming in New England was always a challenge. So Perkins
was gradually abandoned, it was legally disincorporated in 1918, and
the state bought it up. Swan Island is now part of the Steve Powell
Wildlife Management Area, with a nice campground, and a few of the old houses
intact.