At the northern end of the island is a Y-shaped clearing in which the site's buildings are located, and a small beach area with a long wooden pier.

[5] The gardens on the island were planted by Josephine Peary, daughter Marie, and daughter-in-law Inez and are maintained by volunteers.

Meals were prepared in the caretaker's house, an apparently inadequate situation that prompted the construction of a small kitchen and dining wing in 1906.

A new fieldstone foundation with concrete piers was built, raising the structure onto a full-height basement, and shed-roof dormers were added to each side of the gabled roof.

Peary also built a pair of circular stone bastions, which served in part as a retaining wall to keep the house from being blown into the water during stormy weather.