Islesford is a small village located on Little Cranberry Island three miles off the Maine coast near Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park. The Neighborhood House (INH) is at the center of the village and sits on a parcel of land originally purchased in 1912 for $282 by Mabel Tuttle and Walter Hadlock, Trustees of the "Islesford Neighborhood House Lot". A joint venture of native islanders and the summer colony, the INH was built by Alonzo Bryant in the winter of 1913 and officially opened the following summer. For almost 100 years it has been the hub of community life on Islesford.

Being the primary gathering place on a very small island, the Islesford Neighborhood House is used for a multitude of purposes. It houses the Library and Historical Society; it hosts all manner of cultural presentation, including films, lectures, concerts, the annual Literary Evening, the Islesford Theater Project and the community variety show, Wits & Nitwits; it is used by the Islesford School for gym class, 8th grade graduation and other events; it is the staging area for the Islesford (food) Buying Club; the Islesford Fair happens in and around it; community suppers, socials and dances, as well as weddings, baby showers and memorial services all happen under its roof; the main hall is used for yoga and winter basketball, the upstairs for exercise class and ping pong tournaments; it is home to regular meetings of the various bodies of the municipal government, and biannually it is the location of the Town of Cranberry Isles Annual Meeting. In short, if it happens on Islesford it probably happens at the Neighborhood House.

The Islesford Neighborhood House Association (INHA), which consists of a nine-person Board of Trustees, took ownership of the of the INH property from the original "Islesford Neighborhood House Lot" for one dollar in 1914. The organization was incorporated in the State of Maine on October 28, 1927 as a nonprofit corporation and received its 501(c)(3) determination from the Internal Revenue Service on December 28, 1990.

The INHA is responsible for upkeep and operation of the Neighborhood House and in its 95-year history, the INHA, often with help from community volunteers, has made various improvements to the building and grounds. These include the addition of the theater in 1920, the expansion(s) of the library and the addition of the historical room, installation of an indoor toilet, kitchen remodeling, the addition of a storage room, the creation of Julie’s Garden and the addition of French doors that made the garden accessible from the Great Hall. Each of these improvements or additions was made so that the Islesford Neighborhood House might better meet the needs of the island community.

The original layout was an upstairs meeting room (or rooms?) and downstairs, the Ladies Parlor with fireplace, Library Room, Kitchen and Great Hall.