Location. Along east side of Bay View Drive, Eden. UTM: 19T 0553766, 4919797; Lat./Long.: N 44°25′46.1″ x W 68°19′28.2″
Directions. From the intersection of Routes 3 and 102/198 at the north end of Mount Desert Island (just after you cross the bridge from Thompson Island), bear left on Route 3. Follow Route 3 for 2.3–2.4 miles to the intersection on the left with Bay View Drive. Turn left onto Bay View Drive, and the cemetery is on the right in less than 0.1 miles.
Property description. The following description of the cemetery boundary is reconstructed from the 16 December 2004 deed (Hancock County Registry of Deeds book 4094, pages 172–177) for the land that abuts the cemetery on three sides— Bay View Drive abuts the fourth side:
Beginning at an iron fence foot at the southwesterly corner of the cemetery;
then along the southerly line of the cemetery plot N 60°44′40″ E 52.78 feet to a #6 rebar set in 1991 at the southeasterly corner of the cemetery plot;
then N 32°57′25″ W 69.70 feet along the easterly line of the cemetery plot to an iron fence foot found at the northeasterly corner of the cemetery plot;
then along the northerly line of the cemetery plot S 57°28′25″ W 52.39 feet to an iron fence foot at the northwesterly corner of the cemetery;
then southerly along the road to the first-mentioned bound.
History. The earliest deed that mentions this cemetery (by location but not by name) is recorded in the Hancock Country Registry of Deeds book 145, page 484, and is dated 12 December 1873. It conveyed 100 acres, more or less, from Isaac H. Thomas to Edward J. Hodgkins. In this deed, the dimensions of the cemetery were given as 40 feet wide and 80 feet long, and the deed included “the privilege of a road or passage way from the county road to the said cemetery”. By 7 January 1970 (1091:67–70), an access route to the cemetery was no longer mentioned, and it is now directly from Bay View Road.
Isaac H. Thomas obtained this land from Abraham Thomas via two deeds 66:155–156 (6 November 1838) and 66:160–161 (7 November 1838). No cemetery was mentioned in these two deeds, which is consistent with the earliest death date on any current stone in the cemetery being that of Abraham Thomas on 15 November 1838, eight days after the second of these two deeds.
The 5 May 1971 deed (1119:401–403) from Meyer J. Garber to C. T. Gay & Son, Inc., recorded the dimensions of the cemetery as 55 feet x 66 feet. When C. T. Gay & Son, Inc., sold the property to Joseph A. Paluga and Paul E. Baker (1386:611–613; 8 September 1980), the dimensions were reported to be 52.5 feet along the southerly side of the cemetery, 65.7 feet along the easterly side, and 53.5 along the northerly side. The current deed (16 December 2004; 4094:172–177) give the dimensions as 52.78 feet (southerly side), 69.70 feet (easterly side), and 52.39 feet (northerly side).
Notes:
1. The apparent boundary of the property that contains this cemetery is well marked with iron stakes. Within this boundary a natural-wood fence was erected in 2000. By 10 April 2025, a white plastic fence had replaced the wood fence. A space in the fence on the west side of the cemetery along Bay View Road allows for entrance/exit. Most low, woody vegetation has been removed from the cemetery. A few stones are standing, but most are propped up or laying on the ground.
2. Eben M. Hamor’s notes about this cemetery were published in The Bar Harbor Times on Saturday, 20 March 1915 (page 2, column 3). In addition to shedding light as to the “owner” of the “B. P.” footstone (see footnote 4 below), they reported a gravestone for a Nicholas Wasgatt that reads “Died Jan. 21, 1863; aged 73 years, 1 month and 3 days” and a stone for Jane Thomas (wife of Abraham Thomas), who died 15 January 1870 at the age of 76 years. A search for these stone needs to be made.
3. Two large stones lay face down, obscuring their information, and a base with a slot in it for a tablet needs to be matched with a missing tablet.
4. Thank you to Dona Parker for her help with this page.
Names and dates on gravestones and other markers. (complete as of 30 April 1999)
P.
B. [footstone only]4 (footstone)
THOMAS
Abraham (Capt.; husb. of Jane) - d. 15 November 1838 Æ 53 y., 1 d. (grave, gravestone, footstone)
Bancroft W. - d. 29 April 1878 Æ 57 y., 7 m. (gravestone)
George [H.?]1 (son of Nicholas J. and Nancy T. [no stones]) - d. 11 September 1846 Æ 8 m., 3 d. (gravestone)
Hannah (wife of Nicholas) - d. 20 May 1870 Æ 85 y. (lot, headstone, misplaced footstone)
Lafayette (son of Nicholas J. and Nancy T. [no stones]) - d. 4 April 1846 Æ […]2 (gravestone)
Jane (wife of Capt. Abraham) - d. 15 January 1870 Æ 76 y. (gravestone)
Morton (son of Nicholas J. and Nancy T. [no stones]) - d. 27 January 1842 Æ 1 y., [3?]1 m., 6 d. (gravestone)
Nicholas (husb. of Hannah) - d. 18 October 1865 Æ 85 y., 5 m. (lot, headstone, misplaced footstone)
WASGATT
George B. (son of William N. and Mary […]3 [no stones]) - d. 30 November 18[…]1 Æ 22 d. (gravestone)
John T. (husb. of Huldah [no stone]) - d. 22 May 1853 Æ 66 y. (grave, gravestone, footstone)
Julia A. - d. 10 April 1836 Æ 13 y.; (“was interred at Deer Isle, New Brunswick”) (headstone)
Margaret J. D. (dau. of John T. and Huldah [no stone]) - d. 18 April 1849 Æ 19 y. (headstone)
Notes:
1Difficult to read.
2Stone broken.
3Initial illegible.
4According to Eben M. Hamor’s notes about this cemetery, there is a gravestone, or more likely a cenotaph, for Benjamin Peach—the “B. P.” footstone is likely his—that reads “Sacred to the memory of Capt. Benjamin Peach. who died at sea Sept. 25, 1851. Lat. 14 north; long. 78 west; aged 41 years, 5 months and 17 days”. This stone was not found during a search on 10 April 2025.
