Historical Timeline
Ten thousand years, read as a single strand. Each entry is tagged with its evidence category.
- 10,000+ years ago[HC]
Wabanaki homeland
The Casco Bay islands are part of the Wabanaki homeland. Repeated seasonal use of sheltered coves leaves cultural landscapes still legible today.
- 1529[C]
First 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.
- 1607[C]
Popham 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.
- 1623[C]
Christopher 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.
- 1628[C]
Levett 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. 1632[L]
Dixie Bull haunts Casco Bay
New England's first documented pirate operates in Casco Bay. Local tradition — not primary sources — places him along Cushing's western shore.
- c. 1637[C]
Cleeves 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. 1650[L]
Mitton'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.
- 1667[C]
James 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.
- 1676–1690[C]
Wars 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.
- 1698[HC]
Rouse 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.'
- 1858[C]
Ottawa House opens
A grand Victorian resort begins drawing hundreds of summer guests to Cushing Island each season.
- 1885[C]
Longfellow's manuscript plan
A. W. Longfellow's plan of the island (MMN #23340) maps Bayberry Ridge, Rock Terrace, the Meadows, Lobster Cove, Spring Cove, and White Head — the earliest detailed island plan preserved in the archive.
- 1886[C]
Sargent publishes the Historical Sketch
Portland lawyer Wm. M. Sargent issues 'An Historical Sketch, Guide Book, and Prospectus of Cushing's Island,' with paintings by Harrison Bird Brown and John Calvin Stevens's cottage plates. It remains the primary source underlying this manual.
- 1888[C]
Ilsley & Cummings lot map
The printed 'Map of Cushings Island' (MMN #23341) marks lots already sold with dotted outlines and reserves the southern shore for the coming U.S. Government installation.
- 1898[C]
Fort Levett construction begins
Endicott-era coastal defenses rise on the island's southern end to protect Portland Harbor.
- 1917[C]
Ottawa House burns
The resort is destroyed by fire, ending the Gilded-Age summer era. Foundations and paths remain.
- 1917–1918[C]
WWI defense & District Wireless Station
Fort Levett is garrisoned as part of Portland's harbor defenses. A small Navy District Wireless Station is photographed on the north bluff (MMN #102431), looking across to Munjoy Hill.
- 1941–1945[C]
WWII service
Batteries are modernized and anti-aircraft positions added. Fort Levett is decommissioned soon after the war (a period 6-inch rifle survives in MMN #105419).
- Today[C]
Ongoing stewardship
Cushing Island is a private community that continues to steward the landscape across all of its layered histories.