Levett's Island
Charted by a Portuguese pilot, claimed by an English captain, lost to war.
Diego Ribero's 1529 chart locates the island nearly a century before Christopher Levett wintered in Casco Bay in 1623, was granted land for a plantation, built a fortified house, and left a garrison behind. Where that fortified house stood is the open question: later Portland histories identify it with this island, while the Coast Defense Study Group's Portland history records it only as *believed* to have been on Fort Island, later Cushing. The island then passed through Cleeves, Mitton, and Andrews — and through the names Portland Island, Andrews Island, and Fort Island — before the wars following the fall of Fort Loyal in 1690 destroyed the first settlement.
Is the cellar depression above Spicer's Cove Levett's, or a later fishing-station successor?
- 1529First charted as Tierra de Estevan Gomez
Diego Ribero's 1529 chart is the earliest known map to locate what became Cushing Island, drawn from the voyages of the Portuguese pilot Estevan Gomez in Spanish service. Sargent reproduces the chart as the frontispiece of his 1886 sketch.
- 1607Popham colonists reach the coast
The failed Popham settlement at the mouth of the Kennebec reports back to England with 'exaggerated descriptions of the hardships of the winter life upon the coast' — souring further attempts at settlement for a decade.
- 1623Christopher Levett winters in Casco Bay
Levett is granted 6,000 acres and leaves a ten-man garrison — including Thomas Alger, Edmond Baker, and Nicholas Rouse — one of the earliest English settlement attempts in Maine, before sailing to England for support that never comes.
- 1628Levett named Governor of New England
Levett is appointed by royal commission and authorized to raise contributions in York, England, to found an episcopal capital on his Casco Bay grant. He dies before he can return.
- c. 1637Cleeves acquires the island
George Cleeves, ousted from Spurwink, takes title through Levett's successors. The 1636 Gorges grant of the Neck implicitly acknowledges Cleeves's prior possession of the island.
- c. 1650Mitton's 'Triton' in the Bay
Michael Mitton — Cleeves's son-in-law and the island's third English owner — tells John Josselyn about chopping off the hand of a merman while fowling around the island by canoe. Sargent identifies the 'small Island' of Josselyn's account as Cushing itself.
- 1667James Andrews inherits the island
The island passes with Sarah Mitton to her husband James Andrews. He garrisons Levett's old fortified house and the island is successively renamed Portland Island, Andrews Island, and Fort Island.
- 1676–1690Wars destroy the first settlement
King Philip's War (from Aug. 1676) and the fall of Fort Loyal (May 1690) devastate Falmouth. Levett's fortified house on the island is destroyed. Andrews abandons Falmouth and dies at Boston in 1704.
- 1698Rouse descendant acquires the island
The fifth owner of the island is 'doubtless' a son or grandson of Nicholas Rouse — one of Levett's original 1623 garrison — 'induced to the acquisition of it by his ancestor's description of its fertility and rare natural attractions.'
- 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
- 03Who was Captain Christopher Levett?Person · Captain Christopher Levett — First recorded English owner; would-be founder of 'York'
- 04Open the case file: Why did Levett choose Spicer's Cove?Case file · Why did Levett choose Spicer's Cove? — Case file I
- 05The story they still tell: Michael Mitton and the TritonLegend · Michael Mitton and the Triton — Legend
- 06Who was George Cleeves?Person · George Cleeves — Second English owner; founder of Portland