Before Cushing Island
A Wabanaki shoreline, read through terraces and shell.
The island had a long history before it had an English name. Casco Bay lies within the Wabanaki homeland and holds a dense archaeological record of coastal occupation, including shell middens documented by the Casco Bay Archaeological Project of the late 1970s and 1980 and indexed by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission. That evidence is regional. No site-specific claim is made for Cushing itself, and sensitive site locations are not published.
Was Cushing included in the Casco Bay Archaeological Project, and which of its records can ethically be shown?
- 10,000+ years agoWabanaki homeland
The Casco Bay islands are part of the Wabanaki homeland. Repeated seasonal use of sheltered coves leaves cultural landscapes still legible today.
- 01Stand at Spring Cove Shoreline TerracesPlace · Spring Cove Shoreline Terraces — Pre-contact · 10,000+ ya
- 02Look at the evidence: Plan of Cushing IslandSource · Plan of Cushing Island — ca. 1888 · Maine Memory Network / Maine Historical Society
- 03Open the case file: Reading the Wabanaki LandscapeCase file · Reading the Wabanaki Landscape — Case file II
- 04The story they still tell: Five names for one islandLegend · Five names for one island — Legend