Portland is a port city and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Historically tied to commercial shipping, the marine economy, and light industry, Portland's economy in the 21st-century relies mostly on the service sector and tourism. The Old Port is a prominent neighborhood known for its nightlife and 19th-century architecture. Despite the economic shift, the Port of Portland was still the second-largest tonnage seaport in New England as of 2019.
Falmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 12,444 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area.
Harpswell is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. The population was 5,031 at the 2020 census. Harpswell is composed of land contiguous with the rest of Cumberland County, called Harpswell Neck, as well as three large islands connected by bridges: Sebascodegan Island, Orr's Island, and Bailey Island and over 200 smaller islands. Harpswell is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth. The city of Portland sits along its southern edge and the Port of Portland lies within.
Chebeague Island is located in Casco Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Maine. It was originally used as a fishing ground by Abenaki Native Americans. Also known as Great Chebeague Island, today it is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. It is located 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Portland, Maine. Chebeague Island is the largest island in Casco Bay that is not connected to the mainland by a bridge. The largest island is Sebascodegan, or "Great Island," which is part of the Town of Harpswell and connected to the mainland by a bridge.
Great Diamond Island is an island in Casco Bay, Maine, United States. It is part of the city of Portland. At the 2000 census, the island had a year-round population of 77. The island is not accessible from the mainland by motor vehicle and has a limited network of roads. The primary modes of transportation are golf carts and bicycles. This fact has become a selling point for the island, marketing the area as "car free" and "kid friendly". The island was used as a military base starting in the late 19th century and continuing through World War II. After the base was decommissioned, the bunkers and residences were left idle for over 30 years before being developed and sold to private citizens.
Yankee is an early-20th-century steel hulled ferry which is registered as a historic vessel with the National Register of Historic Places. As of 2006 it was berthed in Hoboken, New Jersey. In mid-2013, the ferry was moved to the Henry Street pier in the Gowanus Bay Terminal in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Sabino is a small wooden, coal-fired steamboat built in 1908 and located at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut. It is one of only two surviving members of the American mosquito fleet, and it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992. It is America's oldest regularly operating coal-powered steamboat.
The History of Portland, Maine begins when the area was called Machigonne, meaning "great neck," by Algonquians who originally inhabited the peninsula. It extends to the city's recent cultural and economic renaissance.
Hope Island is a privately owned island in Casco Bay near the city of Portland, Maine, United States. It is a part of the Town of Chebeague Island, in Cumberland County. The 89-acre (36 ha) island was considered for an LNG terminal. Developer John Cacoulidis and his wife Phyllis bought the island in 1993. In addition to the existing 10,000 sq. ft. house built in 1913 with nine bedrooms, seven bathrooms and five fireplaces, the Cacoulidises built there a separate 3,300-square-foot guest house, a boathouse with an apartment, and roads looping the island. They've also erected horse stables, a chicken coop, a garage and their own church, and for access both a boat dock and a helicopter pad. In a dispute over property taxes, the two part-time residents attempted but failed in a legislative effort to secede from the town of Cumberland.
Cousins Island is an island in Casco Bay within the town of Yarmouth in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. It is listed as a census-designated place, with a population of 490 as of the 2010 census. The CDP is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Battery Steele is a United States military fortification on Peaks Island, Portland, Maine in Casco Bay. Completed in 1942 as part of World War II, it is located on 14 acres (5.7 ha) on the oceanside area of the island, formerly part of the Peaks Island Military Reservation. It is named for Harry L. Steele, who was a Coast Artillery officer during World War I. It was armed with two 16-inch MkIIMI guns and, with a 12-inch gun battery at Fort Levett on Cushing Island, replaced all previous heavy guns in the Harbor Defenses of Portland. It was built to protect Casco Bay, particularly Portland harbor, from Kennebunk to Popham Beach in Phippsburg. According to Kim MacIsaac and historian Joel Eastman in An Island at War, “Battery Steele is not only the largest gun battery built on Peaks Island, but also an example of the largest battery ever built anywhere in the United States.” In 1995, after decades of non-use, the Peaks Island Land Preserve, a community land preservation group, formed to purchase the area and forever preserve it as a public space. On October 20, 2005, the property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Other coast defense structures on the island include fire control towers and the counterweight for a disappearing searchlight tower.
Broad Sound is a passage north from Casco Bay through the islands northwest of Portland, Maine. It lies between Chebeague Island and Harpswell Neck.
Simons Architects (SA) is a fifteen-person architecture, design, and planning firm located in Portland, Maine.
Casco Castle was a resort in South Freeport, Maine, United States. Built in 1903, it was intended to resemble a castle. Designed by William R. Miller and overlooking Casco Bay immediately to its east, it burned down in 1914. All that now remains is its 185 foot (56 m) tall tower, which is now on private property, inaccessible to the public. The tower can be viewed from Harraseeket Road, a few yards closer to the shoreline, or from Winslow Memorial Park, directly to the south across the Harraseeket River. The main part of the building was to the south, with the tower on its northern side, connected by a bridge.
Maquoit Bay is a bay in Cumberland County, Maine, in the northern part of Casco Bay. It is located between South Freeport and Mere Point, Brunswick, and is a Focus Area of Statewide Ecological Significance and one of the state's Important Bird Areas.
The Chebeague Island Inn is located on Chebeague Island, Maine, United States. Situated in 2.5 acres (0.0039 sq mi), on South Road, near the northern tip of the island, the inn overlooks part of Casco Bay. Just beyond the western edge of the inn's property, Stone Wharf Landing is where the Chebeague Island Ferry, which runs to and from Cousins Island, berths on the island. The inn also overlooks a few holes of the island's nine-hole golf course.
The Casco Bay Mailboat is a sailing vessel, run by Casco Bay Lines, which delivers mail and other items to the residents of the islands of Casco Bay in Maine, United States. It is the longest-running mailboat service in the country, having been in existence since the 1870s. Up until the 1950s, the boat was coal-powered; now it runs on a diesel engine.
Archie Elbert Ross was an American sea captain and shipwright. He was captain of the ferry which runs between Bustins Island and South Freeport, Maine, for over fifty years. Bustins Island's public landing is now named for him.
Public transportation in Maine is available for all four main modes of transport—air, bus, ferry and rail—assisting residents and visitors without their own vehicle to travel around much of Maine's 31,000 square miles (80,000 km2).
