Sebascodegan Island

About

Sebascodegan Island, alternatively known as Great Island, is the largest island in Casco Bay and part of the town of Harpswell, Maine.

With the island's name derived from an Abenaki word for "carry", in the 17th century Sebascodegan Island was crossed with trails used by the Androscoggin people for overland portage of canoes. In about 1659, Nicholas Shapleigh of Kittery established a settlement on Harpswell Neck and Sebascodegan Island, about 20 years after Kittery's' Francis Small had established a trading camp on the island.

Harpswell and Sebascodegan Island became part of North Yarmouth when the town was incorporated in 1680. In 1749, the Massachusetts General Court created a North Yarmouth precinct covering Harpswell, Sebascodegan and other islands, then in 1758 approved the incorporation of that precinct as the Town of Harpswell.

William Condy, among Sebascodegan's early settlers, arrived in 1733 at the site that would become known as Cundy's Harbor on the southeastern side of Sebascodegan Island. Cundy's Harbor is one of five villages in Harpswell today and is thought to be the oldest lobstering community in Maine.

At some point in the 18th century, a sailor's inn was created at Cundy's Harbor and run by Susan Eastman after the 1756 death of her husband David. Susan Eastman was accused of spying for the British during the American Revolution, but was acquitted.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.