Casco Bay

Casco Bay opens onto the Gulf of Maine, its shore broken by many islands, ledges and river mouths. Abenaki communities lived around the bay, including the Aucocisco near the Presumpscot and the Pejepscot farther east. Shell middens on the islands bear witness to generations of visits and encampments. French explorers Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Dugua de Mons explored the bay in 1605, and English merchant Christopher Levett attempted a settlement on one of its islands in the 1620s.