Casco

Casco Bay opens onto the Gulf of Maine, its indented shores sheltered by a multitude of islands. The Aucocisco lived near the Presumpscot River on the western side of the bay, while the Pejepscot occupied its eastern shores and the Androscoggin valley. Shell middens and other remains on the islands bear witness to much older visits by Indigenous people.

In 1623 the English explorer Christopher Levett visited the bay and met Abenaki leaders before choosing an island for a settlement. He had a stone house built and left a small party there when he returned to England; their subsequent fate is unknown. Other English settlers established themselves on the mainland in the following years, including George Cleeve and Richard Tucker, who began a fur trade at Casco Neck.