Cumberland Chebeague LAnd Trust

Indian Point



Public Access: Yes

Parking Location: Parking is limited to five vehicles in the designated area

Restrictions: No cutting or removal of vegetation, access to sandbar is limited to pedestrian traffic only, no access on the road to the boathouse beyond the section marked "private."

Description and History:

Indian Point, also known as "The Hook," is located on the west side of Chebeague Island adjacent to the tidal sandbar to Little Chebeague Island. In 1999 the owners and stockholders of the Indian Island Company granted a conservation easement to CCLT on twenty-five acres of land, with 3,700 feet of shoreline, "to provide significant public benefit, in particular for the residents and property owners of Chebeague Island and the Town of Cumberland, by preserving forever in substantially its current form and usage:"
  • the wildlife habitat and open space;
  • the scenic views to and from Casco Bay and the adjacent Little Chebeague Island, a state park;
  • the continued availability of pedestrian and vehicular access across, and parking on, a portion of the property to accommodate pedestrian access across the beach to the adjacent tidal sand bar to Little Chebeague;
  • the availability of a portion of the property for low-impact outdoor recreational use and nature observation by residents and property owners of Chebeague and Cumberland and their guests.
Visitors to The Hook will immediately understand why the Indian Island company wanted to include the property in its holdings in the 1930s. There is a windswept wildness to this place that is uncommon in the center of Casco Bay. Sea birds gather to feed at low tide, the mussel beds shift with the seasons, and the open view is exhilarating. Indian Point is a sand bar, an ecosystem extremely vulnerable to erosion, and therefore it is essential to respect the restrictions listed above (which are also included in the easement).

We are fortunate that the current owners - heirs and neighbors of the original TIC stockholders - wanted to share this exceptional place in perpituity.

Birds of Indian Point

CCLT is fortunate to have this extraordinary catalog of bird sitings as a contribution to the documentation for our conservation easement at Indian Point. Tineke Breed compiled all of these sitings over many years of walking the site. She and her husband Robert Breed are among the original donors of the conservation easement over Indian Point. Beverly Johnson, an avid bird watcher and long time supporter of CCLT, joined Tineke Breed to prepare this rich, shared photo documentation. We are grateful to both of them and hope that everyone will enjoy using their guide to walk Indian Point and add to their sitings. Please share your photos, sitings and observations by emailing Beverly Johnson at bjohnson@chebeague.net and Tineke Breed at mfbreed@comcast.net.

Birds of Indian Point

Susan Burgess