Long Island’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold just one old photo of Long Island. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Long Island, like other Casco Bay islands, was originally inhabited in the warm months by members of the Abenaki people until European settlers first arrived in the 17th century, including John Sears cited in a town document as the first to do so in 1640. John Smith of Boston acquired Long Island sometime between 1703 and 1706 and named it Smith Island, but is not believed to have ended up settling there.
Ezekiel Cushing purchased the island in 1732. He died in 1765, and willed the island to his nine surviving children. Soon after, other settlers arrived to make a livelihood out of farming, fishing, and catching lobsters.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Long Island’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Long Island’s history is told.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewPumkin Knob and Long Island, From…, c. 1930: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Long Island, decade by decade
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Pumkin Knob and Long Island, From Peaks Island, Maine (63951) (c. 1930) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (3). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.