West Gardiner

[GARD-ner] is a town in Kennebec County, incorporated on August 8, 1850 from a portion of Gardiner. It swapped land with Farmingdale (1852, 1853) and annexed some land from Litchfield (1856) to complete its boundaries.

 

 

 

 

Settled in 1759, the town has substantial frontage on Cobbosseecontee Lake and Stream just outside the Augusta-Gardiner area.

Near Interstate 95 for easy commuting to Augusta and south to Brunswick and Portland, the community has more than doubled in population in the past thirty years.

 

 

 

 

 

Its community center is on the Spears Corner Road where the town office, fire department, town garage, elementary school, and convenience store all lie in close proximity.

 

 

 

 

 

West Gardiner is the site of one of the Maine Turnpike Authority’s service plazas.  In addition to the usual fast food providers, the plaza is home to the Center for Maine Craft.

The Center features a retail gallery for handcrafted work by Maine artisans; cultural tourism information including craft artists’ studios, commercial galleries, and nonprofit arts organizations; and  exhibitions of fine craft sponsored by Maine’s premier craft organizations.

Farm Buildings on the Lewiston Road (Route 9/126) recall an earlier time when large farmhouses, barns, and silos dominated the landscape. In 2014 some of those features remain, but only as ghostly reminders of a bygone era and abandoned farms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Form of Government: Town Meeting-Select Board-Administrative Assistant.

Additional resources

Hanson, J. W. (John Wesley) History of Gardiner, Pittston and West Gardiner: with a sketch of the Kennebec Indians, & New Plymouth purchase, comprising historical matter from 1602 to 1852; with genealogical sketches of many families. Salem, Mass. Higginson Book Co. 1852. [reprinted 1995]

Martin, Bud. West Gardiner’s Hundred Years. West Gardiner, Me. The Town. 1950. (Augusta, Me. Kennebec Journal Co.) [University of Maine, Raymond H. Fogler Library, Special Collections; Maine State Library]

Smith, Danny D. Gardiner. Charleston, SC Arcadia Pub., c2008.

Towle, Lloyd K. Original Grants to Settlers by R. H. Gardiner: based on the Solomon Adams Survey of 1808 of West Gardiner. Gardiner, Me. L.K. Towle. 1950. [Maine State Library]

Towns of Gardiner and West Gardiner. New York: H.W. Blake & Co. 1892.