Chebeague Island is located in Casco Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Maine. It was originally used as a fishing ground by Abenaki Native Americans. Also known as Great Chebeague (pronounced "sha-big") Island, today it is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. It is located northeast of Portland, Maine. Chebeague Island is the largest island in Casco Bay that is not connected to the mainland by a bridge. The largest island is Sebascodegan, or "Great Island," which is part of the Town of Harpswell and connected to the mainland by a bridge.
Chebeague Island is one of the twelve major islands of the Calendar Islands, a term that originated in 1700 with the report by the English military engineer Wolfgang William Römer, who claimed there were "as many islands as there are days in the year." As a corrective, the Maine State Historian Robert M. York stated there are "little more than two hundred islands" in Casco Bay.
Chebeague Island was a part of the Town of Cumberland until July 1, 2007, when it seceded and became the Town of Chebeague Island. The Town of Chebeague Island includes seventeen islands and their adjacent waters. These include the islands of Bangs, Bates, Hope, Ministerial, Sand, Stave, Stockman, and the tiny Upper Green Islands.
At the 2020 census, the town's year-round population was 396. The population is said to more than triple in the summer months.
Chebeague Island is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
According to island lore, the name "Chebeague" evolved from Chebiscodego, the name used by members of the Wabanaki Confederacy, a First Nations and Native American confederation of five principal nations: the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, and Penobscot. The most accepted definition of the word Chebeague is "Island of Many Springs." Other sources state that Chebeague comes from the Abenaki words T’Cabie or Chebidisco, meaning cold spring, or Jabeque or Gaboag, meaning separated, which recognizes the connectedness of Great Chebeague Island and Little Chebeague Island. Great Chebeague Island was also known for a time as Recompense Island.
The early Native American presence on the island was not year-round. During the summer months, Native Americans arrived by canoe to fish and gather shellfish for the winter months.
Early settlers included Zachariah Chandler, who bought 650 acres in 1746. Other early settlers were Ambrose Hamilton and Deborah Soule Hamilton, who had fourteen children and seventy-two grandchildren, the majority of whom settled on Chebeague. The early white settlers cleared much of the island's land for farming. Lobsters were so plentiful that they were used as fertilizer for the fields.
Early commerce on the island developed around fishing, farming, and the construction of "stone sloops," ships that carried quarried granite down the eastern seaboard for the building of breakwaters, lighthouses, and set navigational markers.
By the late 19th century and throughout the early 20th century, tourists from Canada, Boston, and points south began to visit Maine in a phenomenon sometimes known as the "rusticators" movement, where residents of New England's industrial cities sought to get back to nature for a few days or weeks. The tourists filled the cottages, rooming houses, and inns, such as the Chebeague Island Inn, that dotted the islands of Casco Bay. In 1900, Chebeague Island had five hotels. Tourists arrived on steamboats from Portland.
The Chebeague High School closed in 1956; the schoolhouse, built in 1871, still stands and serves as a museum for Great Chebeague's history. The strong sense of community is highlighted in its summer months, where children often participate in the many camps offered on the island. Popular are the farm camp, clown camp, British Soccer Camp, theatre camp, and many others sponsored by the island's recreation center. Among the most popular is the Chebeague Island Sailing School, created by the island's yacht club. In the acclaimed camp, students learn about small boat sailing while enjoying the great waters that Casco Bay offers.
Nearby Cousins Island is connected to the mainland by a bridge, and Great Chebeague has historically debated and entertained the idea of linking-up to the mainland or Cousins Island with a bridge of its own. The idea of building a bridge was last considered seriously in 1970, but was soundly voted down by islanders.