Raymond

Jordan Bay across Wetlands in Raymond (2003)

The main village is located at the head of the large, well protected, Jordan Bay on the shore of Sebago Lake. Adjacent Raymond Neck extends over four miles into the Lake to form the Bay. Raymond’s “welcome” sign entices fishing enthusiasts to the “Home of the Landlocked Salmon,” which inhabit the lake. Nathaniel Hawthorne spent summers at his mother’s home.

Phippsburg

Dunes at Popham Beach in Phippsburg (2006)

Even before it was incorporated, the community had its church (see photos), which was organized in 1765 and built in 1802. The tip of Phippsburg at the mouth of the Kennebec River is the site of the first English attempt at settling New England: the Popham Colony of 1607-1608. Fort Popham and Fort Baldwin, rise as a guardians of land upriver. Coxes Head, which juts out into the Kennebec River.

Otisfield

Bridge Over the Crooked River from Otisfield to Harrison (2012)

Just north of the town of Casco on Maine Route 121, it offers substantial frontage on Pleasant and Thompson Lakes. The Crooked River serves as its boundary with Harrison. The Bell Hill Meetinghouse and Bell Hill Schoolhouse are well-preserved National Register historic structures in a rural setting.

Lincolnville

Located on U.S. Route 1 and Penobscot Bay, the village of Lincolnville Beach is the Maine State Ferry Service mainland terminal for the ferry to Islesboro. See photos. Lincolnville Center is about seven miles inland from the beach. That village hosts another post office, a general store, a former fire house and adjoining schoolhouse, an old meetinghouse, and the Lincolnville Telephone Company.

Hartford

Lake Anasagunticook on Main Street (Route 140) in northern Hartford is surrounded by seasonal and year-round houses. See photos. Church Street, an extension of Staples Hill Road in Canton, is a rural road with farms, the old school and community church, with access to the southern shore of the Lake. The area was first settled by Edmund Irish in 1788. The J&) Irish Museum is on Route 140.

Casco

Songo Lock in Casco (2003)

settled by Europeans in 1771, in Cumberland County, incorporated in 1841, is on the north shore of Sebago Lake. The Songo Lock, built about 1830, linked Long Pond and Brandy Pond with Sebago Lake, allowing boat passage from Harrison to Portland. Nathaniel Hawthorne, author and Bowdoin College graduate was its most prominent resident.