Cushing Island Portland Harbor Alfred Thompson Bricher

Cushing Island, or Cushing's Island, is a privately owned island in

Casco Bay 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 south ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. Part of the city of

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest 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 metropol ...

, roughly 45 families live there seasonally.

History

In 1623-24 English explorer

Christopher Levett Capt. Christopher Levett (15 April 1586 – 1630) 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 ...

built a blockhouse on the island, part of 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. 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. Born in Quebec, Canada, to Massachusetts emigrants, Lemuel Cushing planned to turn the island into a summer resort and built the Ottawa House hotel. Lemuel's son Francis Cushing formed the Cushing's Island Company in 1883 and hired

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...

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 John Calvin Stevens (October 8, 1855 – January 25, 1940) was an American architect who worked in the Shingle Style, in which he was a major innovator, and the Colonial Revival style. He designed more than 1,000 buildings in the state of Maine ...

. The first Ottawa House was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1888. The second Ottawa House burned down in 1917 and was not rebuilt. Fort Levett

The

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

began acquiring land on the island in the 1890s to build

Fort Levett 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 t ...

, 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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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.

Notable places

The island is inhabited seasonally. A caretaker lives on the island year round. Some of the private homes can be rented. Little Beach faces Portland Harbor. Big Beach is located on the southern end of the island. Whitehead is a sheer rock cliff on the northern end of the island across from Peaks Island. 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. Much of the island is forested and there are walking trails. In 2021, the Cushing Island Conservation Corp. applied to the city of Portland for a waiver to allow it to spray herbicide Roundup Concentrate Plus on invasive plants on the island. The city of Portland prohibits the use of synthetic pesticides without a waiver. The Pesticide Management Advisory Committee requested more information and the application was put on hold. When the island applied Roundup to try to kill the plants in 2019 it did not work. The city had denied the 2019 waiver application, but City Manager

Jon Jennings Jon Paul Jennings (born October 2, 1962) is an American politician and basketball coach currently serving as city manager of Clearwater, Florida. He was formerly the city manager of Portland, Maine, as well as the founder, president, and general m ...

overruled the Pesticide Management Advisory Committee allowing the island to use the banned pesticide.

References

{{Coord, 43, 38, 28, N, 70, 12, 28, W, type:city_region:US-ME, display=title Islands of Portland, Maine Frederick Law Olmsted works Islands of Casco Bay 1623 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies Private islands of Maine

History

Notable places

See also

References