Why did Levett choose Spicer's Cove?
You are Christopher Levett, arriving by shallop in 1623. Before you build anything, what does this landscape offer that no other cove in Casco Bay does?
Sir Christopher Levett was granted 6,000 acres in Casco Bay by the Council for New England. He wintered near Portland Harbor and left a garrison behind when he sailed for England to raise support that never materialized.
Spicer's Cove is south-facing, sheltered from the prevailing weather, and rises quickly to a defensible terrace with sight lines to the shipping channel.
- Levett was granted 6,000 acres in Casco Bay and wintered there in 1623.
- He left a garrison of ten men, three of whom are named in the record: Thomas Alger, Edmond Baker, Nicholas Rouse.
- He sailed for England for support that never materialised, and died in 1630.
- A stone cellar depression exists in the woods above Spicer's Cove.
- [DOC]DocumentedA Voyage into New England →
Levett's own published account establishes the voyage, the winter and the garrison.
Sargent's 1886 sketch traces the chain of title from Levett forward and treats the island as the site.
- [HC]High ConfidenceOn the ground →
The cove's landscape satisfies every practical requirement of a 1623 landing: shelter, a defensible terrace, freshwater within a short carry, and a beach for a shallop.
- [DOC]Documented
No excavated, dated artifact assemblage from the cellar is known to this history.
The depression above Spicer's Cove is the surviving footprint of the 1623 fortified house.
- + The site meets all four practical requirements a 1623 party would weigh.
- + The island's later owners garrisoned 'Levett's old fortified house', implying a structure that persisted into the 17th century.
- − No dated material culture ties the depression to the 1620s.
- − Levett's own account does not fix a location.
An 18th-century fishing or farming structure occupying the same advantageous ground.
- + Later occupants had identical reasons to build here.
- + Stone cellars are not self-dating and survive far better than the timber above them.
- − Does not explain the continuity implied by references to a fortified house on the island.
The cove is a strong candidate and the cellar is not dated. Those two statements are compatible, and this history holds both. Treat the site as 'the most defensible guess', not as Levett's house.
- ·A dated artifact assemblage from the cellar fill — pipe stem bores, redware, hand-forged nails in context.
- ·A midden downslope with a 17th-century date.
- ·A documentary reference locating Levett's house relative to a named feature.
- ·Establish whether any professional survey of the cellar has ever been reported.
- ·Read the Trelawny Papers and Sainsbury's Calendar of State Papers for locational detail.
- ·Photograph and map the stone alignments in situ before anything else.
- ·Locate probable landing / shallop haul-out.
- ·Trace the path uphill to the cellar depression.
- ·Identify freshwater source consistent with year-round habitation.
- ·Photograph structural stone alignments in situ.
- ·Hand-forged nails, redware sherds, clay pipe fragments.
- ·Stone cellar with alignment consistent with early 17th-century construction.
- ·Refuse deposit downslope from the cellar.
- ·The cellar may post-date Levett; later fishing camps used similar sites.
- ·Documentation of Levett's exact site is contested.
- ·Is the cellar Levett's, or an 18th-century successor?
- ·Where is the midden that should accompany a year-round garrison?
- [1] Levett, C. (1628). A Voyage into New England.
- [2] NPS Cultural Landscape — Cushing's Island.
- 01Stand at Levett's Cellar & Spicer's CovePlace · Levett's Cellar & Spicer's Cove — Colonial · 1623
- 02Look at the evidence: Plan of Cushing IslandSource · Plan of Cushing Island — ca. 1888 · Maine Memory Network / Maine Historical Society
- 03Read the whole layer: Levett's IslandLayer · Levett's Island — Layer 02 · 1529 → c. 1700
- 04Stand at Spring Cove Shoreline TerracesPlace · Spring Cove Shoreline Terraces — Pre-contact · 10,000+ ya
- 05Look at the evidence: Map of Cushing IslandSource · Map of Cushing Island — ca. 1888 · Maine Memory Network / Maine Historical Society