Chebeague Island

Chebeague’s island school has three classes from Pre-K to fifth grade pre-k, k-2 and 3-5), after which students commute to the mainland.  Currently there are 22 students in the school, and 27 attending middle and high school off-island.

The island has one main store (Doughty’s Island Market) that also serves coffee and sandwiches.  There is also a gift shop that runs seasonally, and a boatyard that also sells gasoline.  The library, health clinic, and community hall share one building, and the town office, fire department, and rescue services all share the public-safety building.  The island post office, now in a trailer, will soon be moving from a trailer to a permanent building.  The island has a recreation center with an outdoor swimming pool, exercise equipment and a gym (shared with the school).  Additionally, the recreation center also runs activities such as a teen-center, exercise classes, and Sanford’s skating pond.. The island also has a small farm, Secondwind Farm.  There is an assisted-living center, the Island Commons, that helps Chebeaguers stay on the island as long as possible. One outdoor restaurant, Calder’s clam shack, opens from spring to fall as long as the weather permits. In the past there has been a hotel as well as various B&Bs, but the hotel is for sale and the B&Bs are not open.

Two ferry lines serve Chebeague Island, but no car ferry.  Chebeague Transportation Company runs 9-10 boats per day on a 15 minute trip between the east end of Chebeague and Cousin’s island, which is part of the town of Yarmouth and bridged to the mainland.  Casco Bay Lines runs 4-5 trips a day from the west end of the island into Portland, which takes over an hour.  Many people on Chebeague work in lobstering or other marine industries, and many people commute off the island; dozens of others work in the building trades as well as in a myriad other jobs that make the island tick.  Chebeague also has a large population of retirees. 

The best online source of information on Chebeague is www.chebeague.org, which has links to every organization’s website, island news, and many pictures, found both on the photos link, and by scrolling back through the news updates on the main page.