Pine Hill Preserve

Pine Hill Preserve was donated to Island Heritage Trust in 2006 by Pat and Kurt Fairchild, who recognized it as "a place treasured by islanders and scientists." Both descriptions are accurate. The site has been studied by botanists, entomologists, mycologists, geologists, and soil scientists, producing numerous published scientific papers. It's also where locals have picnicked and climbed for decades.

The rock is serpentinized peridotite — an uncommon igneous rock high in iron-magnesium minerals, with soil chemistry so hostile to most plants that only specialized species survive here. Sixty-three lichen species have been identified on this small outcrop, including twenty-two uncommon in Maine and two not found anywhere else in New England. Even the common trees (white pine, white spruce, eastern white cedar) are stunted. Geoecologist Nishanta Rajakaruna has noted that the bedrock's origin in the southern hemisphere is near certain, likely caught up in the ancient plate collision that built coastal Maine.

The State of Maine blasted the rock face in 1946 to harvest stone for causeway construction, leaving the quarry floor you see today. Through the 1960s people drove cars into the space for parties; the road was eventually closed off. IHT took ownership in 2006 and the site became a formal preserve.

The trail to the summit is short but steep — use your hands on the upper section. The view from the top takes in the Deer Isle Bridge, Eggemoggin Reach, and Caterpillar Hill to the north.