File:Witch's House (41594740112).jpg

This house is on Cape Island in Southport, Maine. It is called Witch's House because for a number of years Margaret Hamiltion, who played the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, spent her summers in this house. I read and re-read all the Baum-authored books in our village library when I was young.

The following is from online archives of a local paper "The Working Waterfront" from January 2014.

Tour boat operators sometimes entertained their passengers by referring to Cape Island as “Witch’s Island.”

That’s because the primary resident there, during summers from 1961 to 1985, was Margaret Hamilton, the actor who played the Wicked Witch of the West and Elmira Gulch in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

Contrary to her character, one of the top villains in movie history, Hamilton was known by her mainland neighbors, in Maine and everywhere else, for her sweet nature.

Cape Island is located off the tip of the tiny village of Cape Newagen, which is itself on the larger island of Southport, south of Boothbay. According to the Boothbay Historical Society, the Boothbay region has a settlement history going back to the early 17th century, when English fishermen and farmers settled there. The islands were considered excellent outposts for keeping the harbor and mainland safe from French privateers.