'''CHEBEAGUE ISLAND'''

is an island town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, located in Casco Bay, 10 miles from Portland. These islands are sometimes referred to as an older, now archaic term "The Calendar Islands" because there was once a belief that the approx. number of islands was about 365. See Casco Bay. The actual number is less than two hundred. Great Chebeague was a part of the town of Cumberland until July 1, 2007, when it became the town of Chebeague Island.
Two ferry services provide transportation to the island. The Chebeague Transportation Company (CTC) makes the 15 minute run from Cousins Island, which in turn is connected by bridge to Yarmouth. Casco Bay Lines also provides service on all mail-boat and other "down-bay" trips that travel beyond Long Island.
Chebeague Island is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area.

HISTORY

According to island lore, the name "Chebeague" comes from a Native American word meaning "Island of Many Springs" (pronounced "sha-Beeg"), as there are, indeed, many deep-running, underground fresh-water streams all over the island, in some places literally bubbling from the ground. Some Native Americans were still present after the European colonization of the area, as late as the 1870s.
The Native Americans did not dwell year-round on the island but paddled over by canoe during the summer months to fish. One can still notice areas of the island where clam shells are abundantly packed into the soil. This is mostly due to "shell piles" the Indians regularly made after their meals.
Original settlers in 1730 cleared much of the land for farming. Lobsters were so plentiful that they were not eaten, but rather used as fertilizer for fields. Great Chebeague was once home to the famous 'stone sloops' that carried quarried granite down the eastern seaboard, and marine contractors who built 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. Cottages, Rooming houses, and Inns, such as the historical (but rebuilt) Chebeague Island Inn, were scattered around Casco Bay serviced by steamboats from Portland where crowds of tourists from the industrial cities of New England could get back to nature for a few days or weeks. This tradition faded some, but continues to this day. Many of those who visit Chebeague in summer are middle class workers from towns and cities as far south as Baltimore, who have a family "cottage" on the island that has been passed down through generations.
In 2002 Chebeague Island explored secession from Cumberland, with whom they have been tied for 184 years. The initiative gained traction after school district 51 considered downsizing the island elementary school. The island won independence from Cumberland after votes in the Maine Senate (31-3) and House of Representatives (131-1) on April 5, 2006. [http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/statehouse/060406chebeague.shtml] The separation took effect on 1 July 2007.

TRANSPORTATION

One main macadam paved road (with various different names, including North Road and South Road) loops around the island, with a few connecting paved roads in between, such as Schoolhouse Road and Littlefield Avenue.⁴ There are many unpaved roads coming off the paved road that go to residential homes and various points and beaches. The beaches are considered state land and anyone can walk on them, like state park property, thus the reason many of the smaller roads simply end at coastal points. Some of smaller "roads" are merely single lane, rutted sand trails with heavy overgrowth to either side, and on the off-chance 2 cars meet coming at one another, one car must pull to the side or back up to a suitable area to allow the other to pass. Most residents have "island cars" that they leave there year-round; they take the abuse of rutted back roads with overgrowth that scratches the sides of vehicles, as well as the corrosive, briney Casco Bay air. Island cars are not required to have license plates, although they must be registered.
At approximately 5 miles long and 3 miles wide, Chebeague is the largest unconnected island in Casco Bay.
Despite being 10 miles from the city of Portland, it is still relatively unspoiled by development. However, this status has changed drastically since the early 1990s, breaking a many decades-long streak of little change in layout.


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