Pine Island
Pine Island sits off Meredith Neck on the western side of Lake Winnipesaukee, roughly 72 acres of pine and shoreline, and it is one of the few islands on the lake that was deliberately planned rather than simply subdivided over time.
What that planning produced is still the shape of the place. Twenty lots ring the shoreline, and the interior was set aside as common ground the founders called the Oval. Nobody builds in the middle. The result is a summer colony where every house faces the water and the woods behind it belong to everyone, an arrangement settled in 1901 and largely intact since.
For a buyer, the thing to understand about Pine Island is turnover. This is a small community of cottages that pass down through families, so listings are years apart rather than months. Stretches with nothing available at all are normal here, and the figures at the top of this page update with the feed so you can see exactly where the market stands today.
Methodist Ministers and the $75 Island
Pine Island enters the written record in 1781, grouped with Stonedam Island as Lot #12 in the Masonian Proprietors' division of the larger Winnipesaukee islands. It was drawn in the name of Jotham Odiorne, who had been dead for thirty years, and passed to Portsmouth men who had married his daughters. In 1827 it was sold to Caleb Lovejoy, a Meredith Neck farmer who used it for seasonal grazing and as a woodlot, essentially a floating extension of his mainland farm. After he died the island went to auction and was split informally among three more Meredith Neck farmers.
The best story from that era belongs to Captain John Goodhue, who as a boy of about twelve was hired at 25 cents a day plus board to haul cordwood off the island by horse boat, a vessel driven by a horse walking a treadmill on deck. The captain offered to sell him the whole island for $75, and Goodhue was ready to work off the price. His father refused, certain there was no money in it. Within a few years single lots on that island were selling for thousands. Goodhue was still telling the story at 80, in a 1947 profile.
The turn came in 1888, when John S. Roberts sold the island to four Massachusetts Methodist ministers: William E. Huntington of Newton, who would later become president of Boston University, along with William I. Haven of Malden, James H. Humphrey of Reading, and Joseph W. Dearborn of Stoneham. They incorporated the Pine Island Outing Club in 1892, had the island surveyed into twenty shoreline lots in 1898 with roughly ten acres kept communal at the center, and on May 3, 1901 sold every lot to members. Nine ministers took twelve of them. The deeds carried binding restrictions: no manufacturing, no making or selling liquor, no more than two dwellings to a lot, no horse stables, no pig sties. With the founder of the Navy Temperance League in residence, the liquor clause was no accident. By 1902 the mail boat was stopping here, and the island had gone from woodlot to established summer colony in about fifteen years.
Drawn from our own history of the island, which works from the Masonian Proprietors' 1781 island lot division, Meredith deed records, and a 1947 newspaper profile of Captain John Goodhue.
Read the full story of Pine IslandFor Sale on Pine Island
Hover a marker for the listing, or tap on a phone. Use the Depth toggle to see the water around Pine Island.
The MLS record shows 5 sales on Pine Island. You can also search Pine Island in the full listings browse.
IDX display courtesy of Yankee Pedlar Realtors, Wolfeboro NH.
PrimeMLS Listing Information displayed herein is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by PrimeMLS. This display of listings may or may not be the entire Compilation from the PrimeMLS database, and PrimeMLS does not guarantee the accuracy of such information. © PrimeMLS, Inc.
Listing brokers may report inaccurate data to michelle@yankeepedlarrealtors.com or call (603) 569-1000.
Getting There
Pine Island is boat access only. There is no bridge and no causeway. The nearest mainland is Meredith Neck, and as on every Winnipesaukee island the practical question is not the crossing itself but where you keep the boat and the car in winter, so a slip or mooring on the Meredith side is part of what you are really buying.
The island is private. There are no public docks, beaches, or trails, and the Oval at the center is common land belonging to the lot owners, not open space. If you want to set foot on an island in this part of the lake, Stonedam Island just to the north is a Lakes Region Conservation Trust preserve with public trails, and it shared a Masonian lot with Pine back in 1781.
Looking for a slip or mooring on the mainland side? See boat slips, marinas, and launches.
Frequently Asked Questions
Pine Island sits in Meredith, New Hampshire, off Meredith Neck on the western side of Lake Winnipesaukee. It covers roughly 72 acres, which puts it among the fifteen largest islands on the lake. An early estimate from 1772 put it at only 42 acres, but inconsistent acreage figures are common in Winnipesaukee island records.
By boat only. There is no bridge, and the nearest mainland is Meredith Neck. Owners generally keep a boat plus a slip, mooring, or dock on the Meredith side, along with somewhere to leave a car, which is the practical side of island ownership worth sorting out before you buy rather than after.
Rarely. Cottages here tend to stay in families for generations, and the MLS record shows only a handful of sales across more than a decade, with multi-year stretches where nothing is listed at all. The market figures at the top of this page come straight from the feed, so they show exactly what is available today. If nothing is, tell us you are watching Pine and we will call you when something moves.
When the Pine Island Outing Club had the island surveyed in 1898, the founders laid out twenty private lots around the shoreline and deliberately kept roughly ten acres at the center as shared land, known as the Oval or the Ellipse. It is common ground for the lot owners rather than public open space, and it is the reason every house on the island faces the water.
The original 1901 deeds carried binding restrictions prohibiting manufacturing, the making or sale of intoxicating liquors, horse stables, pig sties, and more than two dwelling houses per lot. How much of that still runs with a given lot today, and what the association enforces in practice, is a title question for your attorney. We will make sure you are asking it before you go under contract.
No. It is a private summer community with no public docks, beaches, or trails, so plan to enjoy it from the water. For a public island landing nearby, Stonedam Island to the north is a Lakes Region Conservation Trust preserve with trails, and it was grouped with Pine as a single Masonian lot in 1781.
Not on Pine itself. The one home we rent on an island is on Cow Island in Tuftonboro, and it is the closest you can get to trying the boat-access life for a week before committing to a deed.
New to island buying? Start with our island guide and the NH buyer's guide.
Watching Pine Island?
Island sales often happen by word of mouth before they happen on the MLS. We have worked this lake from Wolfeboro since 1940. Tell us what you are looking for and we will keep you ahead of the listings.