Portland Headlight Maine William Aiken Walker

Casco Bay is an

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ma ...

of the

Gulf of Maine , image = , alt = , caption = , image_bathymetry = GulfofMaine2.jpg , alt_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = Major features of the Gulf of Maine , location = Northeast coast of the ...

on the southern coast of

Maine Maine () is a U.S. state, state in the New England and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and territories of Canad ...

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian province ...

, United States. Its easternmost approach is

Cape Small Cape Small is a cape in the eastern part of Casco Bay on the Maine coast. It is located in Sagadahoc County near Phippsburg. It is generally agreed that it was named for Francis Small Francis Small (October 6, 1625 – ca. 1714) was a Briti ...

and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in

Cape Elizabeth Cape Elizabeth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The town is part of the Portland–South Portland– Biddeford, Maine, metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, Cape Elizabeth had a population of 9,5 ...

. The city of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

sits along its southern edge and the Port of Portland lies within.

European discovery

There are two theories on the origin of the name "Casco Bay". ''Aucocisco'' is the

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pre ...

name for the bay, which means 'place of herons' (sometimes translated as 'muddy'). The Portuguese explorer

Estêvão Gomes Estêvão Gomes, also known by the Spanish version of his name, Esteban Gómez (c. 1483 – 1538), was a Portuguese cartographer and explorer. He sailed at the service of Castile (Spain) in the fleet of Ferdinand Magellan, but deserted the exp ...

, mapped the Maine coast in 1525 and named the bay "Bahía de Cascos" (Bay of Helmets, based on the shape of the bay). The first colonial settlement in Casco Bay was that of Capt.

Christopher Levett Capt. Christopher Levett (15 April 1586 – 1630) was an English writer, explorer and naval captain, born at York, England. He explored the coast of New England and secured a grant from the King to settle present-day Portland, Maine, the first ...

, an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

explorer, who built a house on House Island in 1623–24. The settlement failed. The first permanent settlement of the bay was named Casco; despite changing names throughout history, that settlement remains the largest city in the Casco Bay region, now called the city of

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metro ...

. It was first reported in 1700 by Colonel

Wolfgang William Römer Wolfgang William Romer (23 April 1640 – 15 March 1713) was a Dutch military engineer, born at The Hague. Early life He was the third son, in a family of six sons and five daughters, of Mathias Romer of Düsseldorf and Anna Duppengiezeer. Mathi ...

, an English

military engineer Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics ...

, that the bay had "as many islands as there are days in the year",''The Islands of Casco Bay'', p. 3 leading to the bay's islands being called the Calendar Islands based on the popular myth there are 365 of them. The ''

United States Coastal Pilot United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

'' lists 136 islands; meanwhile,

Robert M. York The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

, the former Maine state

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

, said there are "little more than two hundred islands".

History

Native American occupation and relations

At the time of European contact in the sixteenth century, people speaking an Eastern dialect of the Wabanaki language inhabited present-day Casco Bay. A number of Treaties were negotiated and signed between the British colonies and members of the

Wabanaki Confederacy The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner") is a North American First Nations in Canada, First Nations and Native Americans in the United States, Native American confederation of four prin ...

in Casco Bay, including the

Treaty of Casco (1678) The Treaty of Casco (1678) was a treaty that brought to a close the war between the Indigenous Dawnland nations and the English settlers. There are no surviving copies of the treaty or its proceedings, so historians use a summary by Jeremy Belkn ...

, the

Treaty of Casco (1703) Treaty of Casco (1703) was an unsuccessful attempt made by Governor Joseph Dudley of Massachusetts Bay Colony to prevent further Indian hostilities from breaking out along the northern frontier. War was already going on in Europe between England ...

, and Treaty of Casco Bay (1727). The latter Treaty was the result of a Conference between the British and the Abenaki in August, 1727, at which the parties agreed to uphold the terms of the 1725 Treaty of Peace and Friendship which ended

Dummer's War Dummer's War (1722–1725) is also known as Father Rale's War, Lovewell's War, Greylock's War, the Three Years War, the Wabanaki-New England War, or the Fourth Anglo-Abenaki War. It was a series of battles between the New England Colonies and the ...

, and to cooperate with each other in keeping the peace. Chief Loron Sagouarram, who had signed the Treaty of 1725, addressed the gathering in 1727, providing his understanding of the Treaty relationship. During

King William's War King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand Alli ...

Louis de Buade de Frontenac Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (; 22 May 162228 November 1698) was a French soldier, courtier, and Governor General of New France in North America from 1672 to 1682, and again from 1689 to his death in 1698. He established a n ...

, the

Governor General of New France Governor General of New France was the vice-regal post in New France from 1663 until 1760, and it was the last French vice-regal post. It was replaced by the British post of Governor of the Province of Quebec following the fall of New France. W ...

, launched a campaign to drive the English from the settlements east of

Falmouth, Maine Falmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 12,444 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area. This northern suburb of Portland ...

. On 16 May, 1690, the fortified settlement on Casco Bay was attacked by a war party of 50 French-Canadian soldiers led by

Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin (1652–1707) was a French military officer serving in Acadia and an Abenaki chief. He is the father of two prominent sons who were also military leaders in Acadia: Bernard-Anselme and Joseph. He is the nam ...

, about 50

warriors from Canada, a contingent of French militia led by

Joseph-François Hertel de la Fresnière Joseph-François Hertel de la Fresnière ( fr, baptised 3 July 1642 - buried 22 May 1722) was a military officer of New France. Born in Trois-Rivières when it was a small frontier town to Jacques Hertel, Lord Hertel and Marie Marguerie, he grew ...

, and 300-400 additional natives from Maine, including some

Penobscots The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic pro ...

under the leadership of

Madockawando Madockawando (born in Maine c. 1630; died 1698) was a sachem of the Penobscot, an adopted son of ''Assaminasqua,'' whom he succeeded. He led the Penobscot on the side of the French against the English during King William's War. Biography The Pen ...

Fort Loyal Fort Loyal was a British settler refuge and colonial outpost built in 1678 at Falmouth (present-day Portland, Maine) in Casco Bay. It was destroyed in 1690 by Abenaki and French forces at the Battle of Fort Loyal. The fort was rebuilt in 1742 and ...

was attacked at the same time. About 75 men in the Casco settlement fought for four days before surrendering on 20 May, on condition of safe passage. Instead, most of the men, including John Swarton, were killed, and the surviving settlers were taken captive, including

Hannah Swarton Hannah Swarton (1651 - 12 October 1708), née Joana Hibbert, was a New England colonial pioneer who was captured by Abenaki Indians and held prisoner for years, first in an Abenaki community and later in the home of a French family in Quebec. Sh ...

and her children. Swarton was ransomed in 1695 and her story published by

Cotton Mather Cotton Mather (; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a New England Puritan clergyman and a prolific writer. Educated at Harvard College, in 1685 he joined his father Increase as minister of the Congregationalist Old North Meetin ...

.Coleman, Emma Lewis. ''New England captives carried to Canada between 1677 and 1760, during the French and Indian wars.'' Portland, Maine: The Southworth Press, 1925.
/ref>

War of 1812

Casco Bay is also home to abandoned military fortifications dating from the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It ...

through

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

; during

, Casco Bay served as an

anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...

for

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguishe ...

Civil War

Fort Gorges on Hog Island Ledge in the middle of Portland Harbor, dates to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

World War II

Since Casco Bay was the nearest American

to the Atlantic

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

convoy routes to Britain prior to US entry into World War II,

Admiral King Ernest Joseph King (23 November 1878 – 25 June 1956) was an American naval officer who served as Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (COMINCH) and Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during World War II. As COMINCH-CNO, he directed the U ...

ordered a large pool of destroyers to be stationed there for convoy escort duty in August 1941. The State Historic Site of Eagle Island was the summer home of

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada ( Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm ( Greenland), Finland, Iceland ...

explorer

Robert Peary Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...

In popular culture

*''

The Whales of August ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'', one of

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her p ...

's last films, was shot here in 1987. *In 2008, composers Peter J. McLaughlin and Akiva G. Zamcheck wrote a piece in four movements paying homage to the wreck of the Don, lost near Ragged Island on June 29, 1941. The piece received critical acclaim from the ''Portland Press Herald'' and from fellow Maine composers.

Marine economy

Portland has a substantial fleet of deep-sea

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques ...

vessels that offload their catch primarily at the Portland Fish Exchange. Numerous towns and islands serve as ports for

lobster Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, ...

boats. Recreational fishing boats can also be chartered.

Marinas A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ship ...

include: * Chebeague Island Boat Yard on

Great Chebeague Island Chebeague Island is located in Casco Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Maine. It was originally used as a fishing ground by Abenaki Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native Americans. Also known as Great Chebeague (pronounced "sha-big") Island, toda ...

; * Diamond Marine Service Inc. on

Great Diamond Island Great Diamond Island is an island in Casco Bay, Maine, United States. It is part of the city of Portland, Maine. At the 2000 census, the island had a year-round population of 77. The island is not accessible from the mainland by motor vehicle and ...

; * Dolphin Marina and Great Island Boat Yard in

Harpswell Harpswell is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. The population was 5,031 at the 2020 census. Harpswell is composed of land contiguous with the rest of Cumberland County, called Harpswel ...

; * Handy Boat Service Inc. in Falmouth; * DiMillo's Old Port Marina, Maine Yacht Center and Portland Yacht Services in Portland; * Paul's Marina on Mere Point in Brunswick; * Peaks Island Marina on

Peaks Island Peaks Island is the most populous island in Casco Bay, Maine. It is part of the city of Portland and is approximately from downtown. The island is served by Casco Bay Lines and is home to its own elementary school, library, and police station. ...

; * Port Harbor Marina, South Port Marine, Spring Point Marina and Sunset Marina in South Portland; * Brewer's and Strouts Point Wharf Co. in South Freeport; * Royal River Boat Yard, Yankee Marina and Boatyard, and Yarmouth Boat Yard in

Yarmouth Harbor Yarmouth Marina is a natural harbor and estuary of Casco Bay, and is located adjacent to the town of Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It is situated on the Royal River, around southeast of the town center, in an area known as Main_Street_(Yar ...

. During the 1980s and 1990s,

Bath Iron Works Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, founded in 1884 as Bath Iron Works, Limited. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics. It is the fifth-largest de ...

operated a

dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

in Portland Harbor to repair U.S. Navy vessels.

Ecology

Predominant

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

in the bay include

mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

striped bass The striped bass (''Morone saxatilis''), also called the Atlantic striped bass, striper, linesider, rock, or rockfish, is an anadromous perciform fish of the family Moronidae found primarily along the Atlantic coast of North America. It has ...

, and

bluefish The bluefish (''Pomatomus saltatrix'') is the only extant species of the family Pomatomidae. It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and subtropical waters, except for the northern Pacific Ocean. Bluefish are known as t ...

Shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater env ...

include

lobsters Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, ...

, crabs,

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, whic ...

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two sh ...

s and

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class G ...

Harbor seal The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared s ...

s congregate on certain exposed ledges, and

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

s on occasion swim into the bay, and in a few instances into

Portland Harbor Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, ...

cormorant Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...

s and varying species of

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a fo ...

s are the most common birds; more rarely

osprey The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...

eagle Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...

s and

heron The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychu ...

s have been sighted. Casco Bay contains

bay mud Bay mud consists of thick deposits of soft, unconsolidated silty clay, which is saturated with water; these soil layers are situated at the bottom of certain estuaries, which are normally in temperate regions that have experienced cyclical glaci ...

bottoms and banks in some locations, providing important substrates for

biota Biota may refer to: * Biota (ecology), the plant and animal life of a region * Biota (plant), common name for a coniferous tree, ''Platycladus orientalis'' * Biota, Cinco Villas, a municipality in Aragon, Spain * Biota (band), a band from Color ...

Transportation

The major islands in the bay are served by the

Casco Bay Lines Casco Bay Lines (also known as the Casco Bay Island Transit District, CBITD) is a publicly run transportation company that services the residents of the islands of Casco Bay. These islands include Peaks Island, Little Diamond Island, Great Diamond ...

ferry service at the

Maine State Pier The Maine State Pier is a municipal-owned deepwater marine facility and music venue located at the intersection of Commercial Street and Franklin Street on the eastern waterfront in Portland, Maine. It was completed in 1924. In the mid-2000s, co ...

in Portland. Peaks Island is served by a car ferry and, during the summer, sees 16 ferries a day. The other islands see fewer ferries and no car transport. Great and Little Diamond islands and Long Island are served primarily by the Diamond Pass run, which is popular with tourists in the summer months. Other services offered by Casco Bay Lines include a daily mailboat run, a cruise to Bailey Island, and a sunset run. Other services such as water taxis are also popular alternatives to the ferry, but are limited to six passengers per boat.

Notable cities and towns

From south to north: *

South Portland South Portland is a city in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, and is the fourth-largest city in the state, incorporated in 1898. At the 2020 census, the city population was 26,498. Known for its working waterfront, South Portland is si ...

* Falmouth * Cumberland * Yarmouth *

Freeport Freeport, a variant of free port, may refer to: Places United States *Freeport, California * Freeport, Florida *Freeport, Illinois *Freeport, Indiana *Freeport, Iowa * Freeport, Kansas *Freeport, Maine, a New England town **Freeport (CDP), Maine, t ...

* Brunswick *

West Bath West Bath is a New England town, town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,910 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. A sub-locality of West Bath is Winnegance, Maine, Winnegance. West B ...

Phippsburg Phippsburg is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States, on the west side of the mouth of the Kennebec River. The population was 2,155 at the 2020 census. It is within the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford, Maine, Biddefo ...

Islands

Major islands * Bailey Island *

Bustins Island Bustins Island is an island in inner Casco Bay, Maine, United States. It is part of the town of Freeport, in Cumberland County. Although physically located within Freeport, the Bustins Island Village Corporation is a self-governing entity. The is ...

Cliff Island Cliff Island is an island in Casco Bay, Maine, United States. It is part of the city of Portland. As of the 2000 census, the island had a year-round population of approximately 60 people. In the summer, the island's population grows to about ...

Cousins Island Cousins Island is an island in Casco Bay within the town of Yarmouth in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. It is listed as a census-designated place, with a population of 490 as of the 2010 census. The CDP is part of the Portland–So ...

Cushing Island Cushing Island, or Cushing's Island, is a privately owned island in Casco Bay in the U.S. state of Maine. Part of the city of Portland, Maine, roughly 45 families live there seasonally. History In 1623-24 English explorer Christopher Levett ...

* Long Island *

Mackworth Island Mackworth Island State Park is an approximately island in Falmouth, Maine, United States, adjacent to its border with Portland, Maine. In 1631, Sir Ferdinando Gorges gave the island to Arthur Mackworth, his deputy in Casco Bay, and the island ...

Orr's Island Orr's Island is an island in Casco Bay and the Gulf of Maine, part of the Atlantic Ocean. The island is within the town of Harpswell, Maine, U.S., and forms an archipelago with Sebascodegan Island (also known as Great Island) to its north and B ...

Sebascodegan Island Sebascodegan Island or Great Island is an island at the eastern edge of Casco Bay on the Gulf of Maine. It is a part of the town of Harpswell with the mainland portion of Harpswell to its west and Orr's Island and Bailey Island to its south. The ...

(Great Island) Minor islands * Bangs Island * Basket Island * Barnes Island * Bartol Island * Basin Island * Bates Island * Bear Island * Ben Island * Big Hen Island * Birch Island * Bombazine Island * Bowman Island * Bragdon Island * Burnt Coat Island * Bush Island * Center Island * Clapboard Island * Coombs Islands * Cow Island * Crab Island * Crow Island * Dingley Island * Eagle Island * East Brown Cow Island * Elm Islands * French Island * George Island * Gooseberry Island * Goose Nest Island * Great Mark Island * Halfway Rock * Harbor Island * Haskell Island * Hope Island * Horse Island * Home Island * House Island * Inner Green Island * Irony Island * Jacquish Island * Jenny Island * Jewel Island * Junk of Pork * Lanes Island * Little Bustins Island * Little Chebeague Island * Little Birch Island * Little Diamond Island * Little French Island *

Littlejohn Island Littlejohn Island is an island and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Yarmouth in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population of the CDP was 118 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Bid ...

* Little Mark Island * Little Moshier Island * Little Snow Island * Little Whaleboat Island * Little Wood Island * Lower Goose Island *

Malaga Island Malaga Island is a island at the mouth of the New Meadows River in Casco Bay, Maine, United States. It was the site of an interracial community from the American Civil War until 1911, when the residents were forcibly evicted from the island. It ...

* Mark Island * Ministerial Island * Moshier Island * Mouse Island * Outer Green Island * Overset Island * Pettingill Island * Pinkham Island * Pole Island * Pound of Tea * Pumpkin Nob * Ragged Island * Ram Island * Raspberry Island * Rogue Island * Sand Island * Scrag Island * Sheep Island * Shelter Island * Snow Island * Stave Island (home to Survivor: Gabon winner Bob Crowley) * Stockman Island * Sister Island * Sow and Pigs * Sturdivant Island * Turnip Island * Two Bush Island * Upper Flag Island * Upper Goose Island * Upper Green Island * The Brothers *

The Goslings The Goslings were an American drone rock and noise rock band from Florida, United States, with releases on labels such as Not Not Fun Records, Crucial Blast Records, and Archive Recordings. The core members of the band are Leslie Soren (vocals) a ...

* The Nubbin * Vail Island *

Whaleboat Island A whaleboat is a type of open boat that was used for catching whales, or a boat of similar design that retained the name when used for a different purpose. Some whaleboats were used from whaling ships. Other whaleboats would operate from the sh ...

* White Island * White Bull Island * Williams Island * Wood Island * Yarmouth Island

Lighthouses

Casco Bay is home to 6 lighthouses: *

Cape Elizabeth Lights Cape Elizabeth Light (also known as Two Lights) is a lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, at the southwestern entrance to Casco Bay in Maine. Only the eastern tower of the two that made up the light station until 1924 is active. Until recently, the eas ...

Portland Head Light Portland Head Light is a historic lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The light station sits on a head of land at the entrance of the primary shipping channel into Portland Harbor, which is within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. Completed in 1 ...

Ram Island Ledge Light Ram Island Ledge Light is a lighthouse in Casco Bay, Maine, United States, marking the northern end of the main channel leading the harbor of Portland, Maine. History The Ram Island Ledges are a series of stone ledges, some of which break the ...

Spring Point Ledge Light Spring Point Ledge Light is a sparkplug lighthouse in South Portland, Maine, that marks a dangerous obstruction on the west side of the main shipping channel into Portland Harbor. It is now adjacent to the campus of Southern Maine Community Colleg ...

Portland Breakwater (Bug) Light The Portland Breakwater Light (also called Bug Light) is a small lighthouse in South Portland, Maine. History The lighthouse was first built in 1855, as a wooden structure, but the breakwater was extended and a new lighthouse was constructed at ...

Halfway Rock Light Halfway Rock Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on a barren ledge in Casco Bay, Maine. The lighthouse tower, which has a height of , and the attached ex-boathouse are all that remains, as the other buildings have been taken away in storms. The nam ...

Forts

Forts in Casco Bay:

Newspapers

The newspaper for Portland, the largest city in Casco Bay, is th
''Portland Press Herald''
(''Maine Sunday Telegram'' on Sundays). The Island Institute publishe
''The Working Waterfront''
a free monthly newspaper reporting "the news of Maine's coast and islands." For Southern Maine news, obituaries and sports
''The Forecaster''
is published weekly. In the early twentieth-century, the Casco Bay Breeze published news of the islands from 1901 to 1917. Digitized copies of The Casco Bay Breeze from 1903 to 1917 appear for free on the Library of Congress' website Chronicling America.

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{{Coord, 43, 38, N, 70, 03, W, source:GNIS_scale:500000, display=title Bays of Maine Bodies of water of Cumberland County, Maine