Cow Island, Maine

Cow Island is a 26-acre (11 ha) island in Casco Bay, Maine, United States,[1] off Great Diamond Island, about 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of downtown Portland, and is part of the Town of Long Island in Cumberland County.

A non-profit organization called Rippleffect bought Cow Island in 2005 for $625,000,[2] where it runs leadership development programs for youth and adults.[3] Under a permanent conservation easement created by prior owner Maine Coast Heritage Trust as a condition of the sale,[4] public access is allowed on a stretch of the northern shore,[5] with that land included as a stop of the Maine Island Trail.[6]

History

The Cow Island name is thought to be derived from the colonial-era practice of keeping livestock on small islands during grazing season, an easy method to keep them corraled.[7]

With the 1873 establishment of Fort McKinley on Great Diamond, the U.S. government purchased Cow Island for greater coverage of the Hussey Sound approach to Portland Harbor.[8]

Fort Lyon was named for Nathaniel Lyon, the first Union general to be killed in the American Civil War. Work did not begin until 1900 with initial land clearing, and foundations were poured in 1903 for a trio of three-inch guns that would not be mounted until 1909 as Battery Abbot, named for Union officer Edward Stanley Abbot who died of wounds sustained in the Battle of Gettysburg.

In August 1903, the U.S. military staged a military exercise in Casco Bay as the Navy developed strategies for warships to assault fortified harbors like Portland, and with the U.S. Army testing its ability to defend shore installations including Cow Island.

The Army approved a second battery of three, six-inch guns for Fort Lyon, which were emplaced on the southeastern side of the island. The battery was named for George Dashiell Bayard, a Union general who died of wounds incurred in the Battle of Fredericksburg.[9]

During World War II, Fort Lyon was again garrisoned with a coastal artillery company tasked with defending Hussey Sound from minesweepers or other incursions, with antisubmarine netting stretching across the sound with a gate to let authorized vessels enter or depart the inner bay.

In 1948, the federal War Assets Administration put multiple island military reservations up for sale in Casco Bay, including Cow Island, Great Diamond Island and Little Chebeague Island,[10] with veterans given priority for any purchases.[11]

While entering the inner bay via Hussey Sound in July 1972, the Wilh. Wilhelmsen tanker Tamano struck Soldier Ledge. Tamano continued to an anchorage between Long Island and Clapboard Island before the crew discovered a tank had been pierced. About 100,000 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil spilled into Casco Bay, with Cow Island among the islands with shorelines contaminated by oil.[12]

Vestiges of Fort Lyon's concrete works remain on Cow Island today, including a large pill-box near the center and two underground tunnels below it that appear to have been used to store ammunition and supplies.[13]

Cow Island Ledge is located north of the island[14] with Cow Island Ledge Light serving as a navigational beacon there.[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (1879). Atlantic Local Coast Pilot. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 466.
  2. ↑ "History & Conservation Easement". Rippleffectmaine.org. Rippleffect. Retrieved May 25, 2026.
  3. ↑ Marnie MacLean (September 25, 2014). ""Ripple Effect" On Cow Island Teaches Kids Skills". WCSH6. WCSH6. Retrieved February 10, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  4. ↑ "History & Conservation Easement". Rippleffectmaine.org. Rippleffect. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Camping and Public Use". Rippleffectmaine.org. Rippleffect. Retrieved May 25, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Six World War II Era Forts in Portland To See From a Kayak". Portland Paddle. Portland Paddle. Retrieved May 28, 2026.
  7. ↑ Outwin, Charles P.M. (July 1, 2014). "Very Noble Suppers: Agricultur y Noble Suppers: Agriculture and F e and Foodways in Late Colonial ys in Late Colonial Falmouth". Maine History. 48 (2): 290. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Historic American Engineering Record - Fort McKinley" (PDF). Library of Congress. National Park Service. Retrieved May 25, 2026.
  9. ↑ Gaines, William C. (February 2011). "The Seacoast Defenses of Portland, Maine 1605-1946 Part I: Portland's Initial Defenses" (PDF). The Coast Defense Journal: 54–57, 61–62, 71. Retrieved May 25, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Want an Island or Fort? Or a Chapel? Uncle Sam Has 22 Properties for Sale". New York Times. September 13, 1948. Retrieved May 25, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Two Maine islands up for sale by WAA". New York Times. March 14, 1949. Retrieved May 25, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Tamano Oil Spill in Casco Bay: Envirionmental Effects and Cleanup Operations". Environmental Protection Agency. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  13. ↑ Rippleffect - Corporate Eco-Retreats Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ "Ocean's Balance" (PDF). Maine Department of Marine Resources. Maine Department of Marine Resources. Retrieved May 26, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Light List Volume I Atlantic Coast" (PDF). U.S. Coast Guard. U.S. Coast Guard. Retrieved May 26, 2026.

43°41′30″N 70°11′10″W / 43.69167°N 70.18611°W / 43.69167; -70.18611

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