 Cumberland is a town in Cumberland County, incorporated on April 2, 1822 from a portion of North Yarmouth. The town stretches inland from West Cumberland bordering Windham, to Cumberland Foreside on Casco Bay, to Great Chebeague and other islands in Casco Bay.
Five miles from the mainland, Chebeague Island was settled in the 1760's, became a center for granite transportation with its stone sloops in the late 1800's, and now is a haven for summer residents and a growing permanent population. Regular ferry service links islanders, summer and winter, to work, schools and shopping on the mainland.
The Jordan family deeded half the island in 1680 to Walter Gendall calling it Jabeque or Gaboag. Since at low tide Little and Great Chebeague islands are joined, the name may come from the Indian word for separated or almost through.
Basket Island, managed by The Nature Conservancy, is a nature preserve of .9 acres of mixed forest and shell and gravel beaches, with ospreys nesting on nearby ledges.
The town itself, a suburb of Portland, grew by almost 23 percent between 1990 and 2000.
From Maine: An Encyclopedia (www.themaineencyclopedia.com)
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