Chebeague Island, Maine - Stores and Services

Stores and Services

There is cell phone service on the island, but it can be patchy if one is on the east side of the island, which faces the ocean. There is a post office and mail delivery, a boatyard, a church, a cemetery, a museum, a hotel (the Chebeague Island Inn) with restaurant, a "Clam Shack" take-out restaurant (with picnic tables on premises), a 9-hole golf course, the Library/Island Hall/Health Center (with wireless access), souvenir shops (The Niblic, Island Riches, and (previously) The Cobbler Shop), Doughty's Island Market, a taxi service, and a gas pump. There is a full-time volunteer fire station and EMTs/ambulance. Police matters are handled by Cumberland County Sheriff officers. If there is a medical emergency, one must be taken to the mainland via the ambulance and ferry, which are always on call. Children of year-round residents take a boat back and forth to the mainland every day from the Stone Pier to go to middle and high school. Elementary-school-age children usually stay on the island to attend the school house, which houses grades K-5. The Chebeague High School closed in 1956; the schoolhouse, built in 1871, still stands and serves as a museum for Great Chebeague's history.

Like nearby Cousins Island, connected to the mainland by a bridge, Great Chebeague has historically debated and entertained the idea of "hooking up" to the mainland or Cousins Island with a bridge of its own. A bridge would be beneficial to the islanders when they need to go shopping, and would eliminate the hassle and cost of taking a boat back and forth (and then needing transportation once you get there), but a bridge would also open up the possibility of the island's losing its charm and seclusion from the traffic of everyday mainland life. The idea of building a bridge was last considered seriously in 1970, but was soundly voted down by islanders.