Year Population 1970 110 1980 163 1990 222 2000 324 2010 391 Geographic Data N. Latitude 44:07:24 W. Longitude 70:48:59 Maine House District 71 Maine Senate District 18 Congress District 2 Area sq. mi. (total) 29.7 Area sq. mi. (land) 28.8 Population/sq.mi. (land) 13.6 County: Oxford Total=land+water; Land=land only [SWEE-dehn] is a town in Oxford…
John P, Swasey John Philip Swasey(1839-1928) a U.S. Representative, was born in Canton on September 4, 1839. He attended the Canton public schools, Dearborn Academy, Hebron Academy, Maine State Seminary, and Tufts College, Medford, Massachusetts. During the Civil War, Swasey enlisted in the Union Army and was appointed first lieutenant of Company K, Seventeenth…
Surry is just southwest of Ellsworth on Maine Route 172 where it crosses Route 176. Once an active fishing, farming and lumbering community, it is now primarily residential with modest tourism and fishing supplementing the local economy. The town’s Newbury Neck extends over six miles from the mainland, a virtual island surrounded by Morgan Bay and Union River Bay.
East-west Maine Route 219 serves Pleasant Pond and the villages of West Sumner and East Sumner on its way from West Paris to North Turner. See photos. After booming for decades, the town was crippled by the Great Depression and eventually by the loss of the railroad in 1952. From Buckfield to Turner, the river is a corridor for canoe trips.
Selected works The Mayflower, or, Sketches of scenes and characters among the descendants of the Pilgrims (1843) The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution (1855) An inside View of Slavery; or, A tour among the planters (1855) Dred; a Tale of the great Dismal Swamp (1856) Agnes of Sorrento (1862) Oldtown Folks (1869) The American…
Named in honor of Captain Miles Standish, the military leader of the Plymouth Colony, the town has a very long shoreline on Sebago Lake in its southwest corner, including its Lower Bay. See photos. In the 19th century, the Oxford-Cumberland Canal allowed passage of boats from Harrison to Portland. Steep Falls was a thriving village historically, with its excellent water power on the Saco River and the railroad station in its midst. Both a recreational area and suburb of Portland, the town is served by six Maine highway routes.
A residential community serving the greater Portland area for over a hundred years, the City has developed independent economic resources. See photos. It is part of the Port of Portland and home to a major railroad yard and fuel tank storage facility. The Southern Maine Community College campus includes Fort Preble, named for Commodore Edward Preble.
It lies on the southwest entrance to Somes Sound, diagonally across from Northeast Harbor, a village in the town of Mount Desert. Southwest Harbor has been both a fishing and summer resort community from its earliest days as a town. See photos. Maine Route 102 begins at entrance to Mount Desert Island and leads directly south to the main village of Southwest Harbor. Here the Wendell Gilley Museum celebrates the life and work of Gilley, a pioneer of decorative bird carving. South of the harbor, the small villages of Manset and Seawall face the entrance to Somes Sound and the Cranberry Isles.
The town lies on the Weskeag River, which broadens into several large coves before emptying into the Muscle Ridge Channel. In addition to the main village, Pleasant Beach, Waterman Beach, and Spruce Head villages hug the shore on Penobscot Bay. Spruce Head Island, connected to the mainland by a bridge, juts into Muscle Ridge Channel, a favorite passage for boaters seeking the protection of the outlying islands.
Maine’s oldest educational institution, Berwick Academy, was established here in 1791 when the town was part of Berwick. See photos. South Berwick is the birthplace of Sarah Orne Jewett, who attended Berwick Academy for four years — her only formal education. The town is accessible to the coastal communities of York and Kittery via Maine Routes 91 and 236.
The Sheepscot River runs through the western portion of the town, and through Somerville Village itself. It widens into Long Pond (once known as Patricktown Pond), on which the town has substantial frontage. See photos. Somerville is east of Windsor on Maine Route 105, and north of Jefferson following Maine Route 206 to 105. This rural town has had a small, but growing population. Since the 1970’s it has grown to two and a half times its size then.
While an accepted custom in the colonies, it was practiced in Maine as early as 1660 (see comment below) and in 1733 when the parish at York (then Agamenticus) “VOTED that there be a Slave Bought for the Parish to be Employed for the use of said Parish in Labouring for the Rev. Samuel Moody.”…
Potatoes and strawberries are components of its agricultural economy, and Mount Katahdin is an every day presence. See photos. The town, formed during the Civil War, was named for John Sherman, a prominent abolitionist U.S. Senator.
Maine Route 11 moves up from Sanford through the villages of Emery Mills, Shapleigh, and North Shapleigh near the lake shores. See photos. Shapleigh Woods, managed by The Nature Conservancy, is a 265-acre nature preserve.
Several small ponds dot the landscape, including the 28-acre Garland Pond. Located between Dover-Foxcroft to the west and Milo to the east, the town is connected to both by Maine combined Route 6 and 16, and by the Piscataquis River.
The town has two areas with industrial potential on Penobscot Bay. See photos. In addition to substantial resources of the Penobscot Marine Museum, Searsport has recreational opportunities at Moose Point State Park on Penobscot Bay, and frontage on Swan Lake inland at the northwest corner of the town.
Maine Route 23 passes through on its way from Guilford to Dexter. Bronze plaques mark the birthplaces of inventor Sir Hiram S. Maxim and mining tycoon Sir Harry Oakes. Sangerville has three ponds Manhanock, Center and Marr ponds.
Sanford, with Springvale Village, is the seventh largest town or city in Maine by population according to the 2010 Census, up from a ranking of ninth in 1990. Traditionally an industrial town, primarily with textile mills and shoe making, Sanford has diversified and continues to be a growing community.
Sarah H. Sampson (1832-1907) was an energetic woman who used her social and political connections to support her special public projects. This redoubtable lady came to Washington, D.C. to be near her husband, Lieutenant Colonel Charles A. W. Sampson of the 3rd Maine Volunteer Infantry at the time of the Civil War. She occupied her…
a city in, and the county seat of, Knox County, it is the home to the Farnsworth Art Museum, the Maine Seafood Festival, a historic working waterfront, historic structures, and birthplace of notable cultural and political figures. Located on U.S. Route 1, the city is a regional service and retail center.