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

WALDOBOROUGH.    559

hardy yeomanry, designing here to make a home for themselves and
their descendants. All the towns within the shore limits of the county,
except Searsport, Stockton and Winterport, received acts of incor-
poration between 1773 and 1812. Little did the men who erected
Fort Pownall, or the men, who, under its protection, first settled the
shores of the Penobscot, apprehend what marvellous changes the suc-
ceeding century would witness.

Waldoboroiigli occupies the middle portion of the east-
ern side of Lincoln County. The town is longest from north to south.

Its area is about 25,376 acres. Nobleboro’ and Jefferson bound it on
the west, Washington, Union and Warren, in Knox County, bound it on
the north and east, Friendship lies on the south-east, and Bremen on
the south-west. The southern portion of the town is penetrated by
Broad Bay, an extension of Muscongus Bay ; and Medomac River
passes through the town from north to south, emptying into Broad
Bay. Goose River separates it from Friendship, on the south-west.
The principal ponds within its limits are Medomac, and Little Medo-
mac. Pemaquid and Duck Puddle ponds lie on the western, and
Southern and Western ponds on the eastern border. The surface of
the town is agreeably diversified. Willett’s ind Benner’s hills are the
highest eminences. Granite is the principal outcropping rock. There
are many good farms in town, and the soil generally yields well when
thoroughly cultivated. Hay and potatoes are the principal crops raised
fo^v outside markets.

The islands belonging to Waldoborough are Upper Narrows, Hog,
Poland’s, Hadlock, Hungry, Otter, Jones’, Garden, and several smaller.
The principal village is at the mouth of the Medomac River, a little
south of the centre of the town. The productive establishments here
consist of an iron foundry, an oakum mill, a carding and cloth-dressing
mill, a grain-mill, saw and planing-mills, marble and granite yards, a
pottery, ship-yards, furniture and moulding-mills, a door, sash and blind
factory, a carriage factory, etc. Waldoborough is on the Knox and
Lincoln Railroad, 28 miles from Bath and 16 from Wiscasset. There
are some fine buildings in the village, and several handsome residences.
Many of the streets are set with shade trees, consisting of maple, elm
and horse-chestnut, some of them a hundred years old. There were
built in Waldoborough collection district in the year ending June,
1880, eight vessels, having an aggregate tonnage of 5,064.02.

Waldoborough was included within Muscongus, or Waldo Patent.

It was first settled between 1733 and 1740, by Scotch-Irish and German
immigrants, brought in chiefly by the influence of General Waldo.
Shortly after the latter date the town was attacked by the Indians, the
buildings burned, and the inhabitants tomahawked or carried away
captives. In 1748, immediately after the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the
settlement was revived. In 1752-53, Samuel Waldo, a son of the
general, visited Germany, and succeeded in obtaining about 1,500 set-
tlers from that country. A large part of these settled on the western •
side of Broad Bay; but in 1763-4 the lands on this side were
claimed by Drowne under the Pemaquid Patent, and Massachusetts
finally made Medomac River the western boundary of the Muscongus
Patent. The settlers were therefore obliged to buy of Drowne the
lands that had been assigned them by Waldo. Very soon after this