Cushing Island
Casco Bay, Maine · 10,000 years
The palimpsest

Six historical layers

Cushing has been occupied, repurposed, abandoned and rediscovered. These layers are not a separate section of this history — they are the thread running through the map, the timeline, the case files and the archive.

  1. 01

    Before Cushing Island

    10,000+ years ago → contact

    A Wabanaki shoreline, read through terraces and shell.

    4 connected entries
  2. 02

    Levett's Island

    1529 → c. 1700

    Charted by a Portuguese pilot, claimed by an English captain, lost to war.

    8 connected entries
  3. 03

    The Summer Island

    1858 → 1917

    Steamers, cottages, a hotel on the bluff — and a fire.

    11 connected entries
  4. 04

    Fortress Cushing

    1898 → 1947

    Guns, eyes, wire: the island becomes an instrument.

    8 connected entries
  5. 05

    Legends & Lost Cushing

    All eras

    The stories the record cannot settle.

    7 connected entries
  6. 06

    The Island Today

    1947 → now

    What is still standing, and what is only a shape in the ground.

    9 connected entries