Abstract Sea-level changes have had an important influence on the distribution of late Quaternary inner continental-shelf sediment in the western Gulf of Maine. Previous stratigraphic models of sea-level change in the region were based on terrestrial observations and a large quantity of offshore high-resolution seismic-reflection data. These models, however, were not constrained by core data. Integration of new vibracore data with earlier observations indicates that nearshore regions were (1) probably deglaciated and subjected to glacio-marine conditions around 13.5 ka, (2) subaerially exposed by a fall in sea level sometime after 11 ka, and (3) flooded by a transgressing sea following an inferred lowstand of sea level between 11 and 9 ka. The greatest amount of sediment accumulated on the shelf during the initial transgression, under glacio-marine conditions. Sandy fluvial sediment accumulated in large quantities during the following regression and early Holocene transgression. Sediment influx from eroding bluffs of glacial origin was significant throughout the Holocene transgression, especially in regions lacking a fluvial source.