Gazetteer of the State of Maine With Numerous Illustrations, by Geo. J. Varney

BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 57 CORNHILL. 1882. Public domain image from

power, a steam saw-mill and a shingle-mill. Brighton is on the stage-
line from Skowhegan to Moosehead Lake.

This town was originally a part of Bingham’s purchase. It was in-
corporated in 1816. The town has Congregationalist, Free Baptist,
Methodist and Christian churches. Brighton has eight public school-
houses, valued with other property at $2,200. The valuation of
estates in 1870 was $91,727. In 1880 it was $71,930. The population
in 1870 -was 627. In 1880 it was 585.

Bristol, in Lincoln County, occupies the peninsula between
the Damariscotta River and Muscongus Bay. The towns of Damaris-
cotta and Bremen bound it on tbe north, and Newcastle, Edgecomb,
and Boothbay lie on the west, separated from it by Damariscotta
River. John’s Bay, and the irregular sheet of water extending inland
from it, called John’s River, make a peninsula of the western part of
the town. East of this, Pemaquid River, connecting with Biscay and
Pemaquid Ponds at the north, divides the town into nearly equal sec-
tions. Other harbors are Seal Cove on the south-west side of the
peninsula, Muscongus Harbor, forming a part of the north-eastern
boundary, and New Harbor on the eastern side, opposite the mouth of
Pemaquid River. The long projection seaward of of the south-eastern
part of the town is known as Pemaquid Point. Rutherford’s Island,
south of the western peninsula, contains a small harbor called “ Christ-
mas Cove.” On the eastern side of the town, and separated from it by
Muscongus Sound, is the long Muscongus Island. The territory of
the town is very large and the territory very uneven. There is much
granite, but of a coarse quality. The soil is largely a clay loam.
Potatoes form the largest crop. The principal pond is Biscay, form-
ing part of the boundary at the north, and Burns’ Pond, near the
centre of the town,—both connected with Pemaquid River. The river
itself expands into a harbor and empties into John’s Bay. Bristol
embraces the ancient Pemaquid, a place justly celebrated in the early
history of New England as one of the earliest and most important
settlements on the coast. The town forms about one-third of the
Pemaquid patent, which was granted by the Council of Plymouth
(England) in 1631, to Robert Aldsworth and Gyles Elbridge, two
merchants belonging in Bristol, England. The patent covered the
entier peninsula between the Damariscotta and Medomac Rivers to
the sea, including the Damariscove Islands, and all others within
twenty-seven miles of the mainland. The proprietors commenced the
settlement on the peninsula on the east side of the Pemaquid River,
between its basin and John’s Bay. This peninsula contains 27
acres; which, at that time, was covered with heavy forest trees.
By 1632, there was quite a village at this point, and a fort of palisades
had been erected. It was at this date that Dixy Bull, the renegade
English coast trader, attacked and plundered the village.

In 1664, Bristol was claimed hy the Duke of York to be within the
patent he held from the crown, including also Sagadahoc and New
York. Sir Edmund Andros, governor of New York, and later of New
England, ruled in this part of Maine fiom 1674 to 1682. In order to
secure English control in New York (New Amsterdam), he transported
many of the Dutch settlers of that place to Pemaquid. Here some of
them were sent to garrison Fort Charles. This structure stood at the