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Cushing Island, or Cushing's Island, is a privately owned island in Casco Bay in the U.S. state of Maine. Part of the city of Portland, roughly 45 families live there seasonally.
In 1623-24 English explorer Christopher Levett built a blockhouse on the island, part of 6,000 acres (24 km2) granted him by the English King. Levett left behind a group of settlers to carry on after he returned to England. But the naval captain and adventurer never returned, and the fate of the men is unknown. After Levett's occupation the island was known as Andrews Island. Levett's early settlement earned him the sobriquet "the pioneer colonist in Casco Bay" from eminent Maine historian James Phinney Baxter. [1]
After a host of owners, in September 1734, Nathaniel Jones conveyed the island to Joshua Bangs. The island was then known as 'Bangs Island'. The name 'Bangs Island' will be found on maps from the period. In the late 1750s Ezekiel Cushing obtained the island from Bangs. In 1760, Bangs regained the island. The island was later conveyed to Jedediah Preble, Joshua Bangs' son-in-law after Bangs' death. Simeon Skillings, a relation of Preble's later lived on the island and purchased small parts of the land. Lemuel Cushing, a fourth cousin of Ezekiel Cushing purchased most of the island in 1859. Cushing then consolidated the holdings of the Preble's and the Skilling's, becoming the sole owner of the island. [2] Born in Quebec, Canada, to Massachusetts emigrants, Lemuel Cushing planned to turn the island into a summer resort and built the Ottawa House hotel. [3] Lemuel's son Francis Cushing formed the Cushing's Island Company in 1883 and hired Frederick Law Olmsted the same year to develop the island as a planned 'summer colony'. Olmsted designed the landscape of the island, along with architect John Calvin Stevens. [4]
The first Ottawa House was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1888. The second Ottawa House burned down in 1917 and was not rebuilt.
The United States Army began acquiring land on the island in the 1890s to build Fort Levett, named for explorer Christopher Levett, the English explorer and first settler of what is now Portland, which eventually grew to 200 acres (0.8 km²). (The island was initially known as Levett's Island, after the first English settler of Maine. Levett has been described by the eminent Maine historian James Phinney Baxter as "the first owner of the soil of Portland.") It was last used during World War II for coastal defense. That land was purchased by island residents in 1970. The island is now privately owned.
The island has a US Coast Guard Cutter that bears its name, USCGC Cushing (WPB-1321), previously stationed in Mobile, AL and currently homeported in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.
The island is inhabited seasonally. A caretaker lives on the island year round. [5] Some of the private homes can be rented. Little Beach faces Portland Harbor. Big Beach is located on the southern end of the island. [6] Whitehead is a sheer rock cliff on the northern end of the island across from Peaks Island. [7]
Ferry service is provided by the St Croix, which departs from Long Wharf in Portland and lands at the summer dock, also known as Civilian Dock. Access to the island is for private/owners use only. Water taxi service is available from Portland. Many of the islanders also own boats, with berthing spaces at Civilian and Government docks.
Much of the island is a nature preserve owned by the Cushings Island Conservation and protected from development. This area is largely forested with well-maintained walking trails and abandoned military fortifications from when it was the US Army’s Fort Levitt. [8]
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. Portland's economy relies mostly on the service sector and tourism. The Old Port is known for its nightlife and 19th-century architecture. The marine industry plays an important role in the city's economy, with an active waterfront that supports fishing and commercial shipping. The Port of Portland is the second-largest tonnage seaport in New England.
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.
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.
The Fore River is a short horn-shaped estuary, approximately 5.7 miles (9.2 km) long, separating Portland and South Portland in Maine in the United States. Many of the port facilities of the Portland harbor are along the estuary, which is formed just southwest of Portland by the confluence of several creeks. The estuary was initially known as Levett's River, so named by the first English settler of the Casco Bay region, Capt. Christopher Levett. But shortly afterwards, the estuary came to have the name by which it is known today.
House Island is a private island in Portland Harbor in Casco Bay, Maine, United States. It is part of the City of Portland. The island is accessible only by boat. Public access is prohibited, except for an on-request tour sanctioned by the island's owners. House Island includes three buildings on the east side and Fort Scammell on the west side. The buildings are used as vacation rentals and other summer residences. The island's name derives from the site of an early European house, believed that built by Capt. Christopher Levett, an English explorer of the region.
Fort Gorges is a former United States military fort built on Hog Island Ledge in Casco Bay, Maine, United States. Built from 1858 to 1864, no battles were fought there and no troops were stationed there. Advancing military technology, including iron clad ships and long range guns, rendered the fort obsolete before it could be used. The fort is now a park, accessible only by boat. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Fort Preble was a military fort in South Portland, Maine, United States, built in 1808 and progressively added to through 1906. The fort was active during all major wars from the War of 1812 through World War II. The fort was deactivated in 1950. It is now on the campus of Southern Maine Community College.
James Phinney Baxter was an American politician, businessperson, historian, civic leader, and benefactor of Portland, Maine. He was elected as mayor of Portland for six single-year terms between 1893 and 1905.
Southern Maine Community College is a public community college in South Portland, Maine. It is part of the Maine Community College System.
Capt. Christopher Levett was an English writer, explorer and naval captain, born at York, England. He explored the coast of New England and secured a grant from the king to settle present-day Portland, Maine, the first European to do so. Levett left behind a group of settlers at his Maine plantation in Casco Bay, but they were never heard from again. Their fate is unknown. As a member of the Plymouth Council for New England, Levett was named the Governor of Plymouth in 1623 and a close adviser to Capt. Robert Gorges in his attempt to found an early English colony at Weymouth, Massachusetts, which also failed. Levett was also named an early governor of Virginia in 1628, according to Parliamentary records at Whitehall.
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.
John Levett was of the author of a ground-breaking early study of the habits of bees, with close observation of their behaviour and suggestions on how to manage their hives, published in London in 1634. The tome was one of the first agricultural textbooks, with a preface in rhyme by the author Samuel Purchas. It is among the earliest examples of what later became a flood of literature treating the English love of gardening and horticulture.
Fort Levett was a former U.S. Army fort built on Cushing Island, Maine, beginning in 1898. Located in Cumberland County, Maine, in Casco Bay near Portland, Maine, the fort was heavily fortified with guns for coastal defense. Conceived under the Endicott Program in 1885 and begun in the wake of the Spanish–American War, Fort Levett was manned during both world wars. It was part of the Coast Defenses of Portland, later renamed the Harbor Defenses of Portland, a command which protected Portland's port and naval anchorage 1904-1950. The fort's name is sometimes misspelled as "Fort Leavitt".
The Eastern Promenade is a historic promenade, 68.2-acre (27.6 ha) public park and recreation area in Portland, Maine. Construction of the Promenade began in 1836 and continued periodically until 1934. The 1.5-mile (2.4 km) park was designed by the Olmsted Brothers design firm and experienced its greatest expansion from the 1880s to the 1910s. The Promenade rings around the Munjoy Hill neighborhood and occupies the farthest eastern portion of Portland's peninsula. The Promenade is home to many historical sites, including a mass grave and the mast of USS Portland.
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.
The Harbor Defenses of Portland was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of Portland, Maine, the mouth of the Kennebec River, and surrounding areas from 1895 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program. These included both coast artillery forts and underwater minefields. The command originated circa 1895 as the Portland Artillery District, was renamed Coast Defenses of Portland in 1913, and again renamed Harbor Defenses of Portland in 1925.
Clara L. Brown Dyer was an American artist who specialized in landscape painting. Also a reader and speaker, she was prominent in clubs and the social scenes of Maine, including being the organizer and president of the Maine branch of United States Daughters of 1812.
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