“Saltwater farm for sale in Harpswell with 100-year-old stone wall.”
-November 1999 Boston Globe

That four-line ad in the Boston Globe was all it took to convince Marguerite Kelly to take a chance on Harpswell. She had visited Maine before on vacations, and her in-laws had recently purchased a place in Cundy’s Harbor. So Marguerite made the trip to Harpswell to see the farm for herself.

It was late November (perhaps not Harpswell at its most inviting!) but Marguerite saw something special in the property. She was captivated by its history and by the tidal flat ecosystem, and she fell in love with the farm and the community around it.

Marguerite grew up in Hingham, Massachusetts, and met her husband, Tony Barrett, while they were both studying at the University of Chicago. After working as a CPA at Deloitte & Touche for 14 years, the couple moved to Cairo, Egypt for Tony’s job. When Marguerite was unable to get a permit to work as an accountant, she found another way to make a difference, helping start a nonprofit organization focused on improving childhood cancer survival rates in Egypt.

After returning to the United States, Marguerite and Tony sold all their belongings and spent two years traveling around the country in an RV before ultimately settling in Harpswell.

Her love for Harpswell soon extended beyond her own property. Marguerite volunteered on several Town committees and served as Harpswell’s Town Treasurer for 16 years. She and Tony also became involved with the Harpswell Heritage Land Trust and supported several efforts to conserve land in the community.

When Marguerite passed away in 2020 from complications of a bacterial infection, her family knew they wanted to honor the deep love she had developed for Harpswell—for its people, its landscapes, and its sense of community.

In late 2025, 24 acres of Marguerite’s Great Island property were sold to HHLT at a significant discount, a remarkable gift and the largest donation in HHLT’s history to date. The forest and tidal flat landscape that Marguerite loved will now be conserved forever.

It’s a fitting legacy for someone who took a chance on Harpswell more than 25 years ago and, in the process, became part of the community she loved so much. Her family’s generosity ensures that a place that meant so much to Marguerite will continue to mean something for generations to come.