In his on-site cache of artifacts, Brain found a wedge of Bellarmine that he had assembled from other fragments two years earlier. Bugbee's find slid easily into a gap in the piece to reveal a medallion motif. The jug's embossed seal reads: " In addition to Bellarmine, the site has yielded other ceramics, clay tobacco pipes, glass trading beads, bullets and tools, including a caulking iron, used in shipbuilding.
The Popham settlers did succeed in constructing the Virginia , a small but durable vessel that would take them back to England and later make other transatlantic voyages.
At the admiral's house, the archaeological team turned up shards of delftware, more Bellarmine, fancy buttons, bits of etched wine glasses and jet beads—all reflecting the occupants' upper-class rank.
A museum exhibition of Popham artifacts is planned for the colony's th anniversary in The main reason for abandoning the colony, Brain theorizes, was a loss of leadership. Only one member of the group, George Popham, is known to have died at Fort St. Jamestown lost more than half of its settlers the first year. But he was the colony's president, and on February 5, , Raleigh Gilbert took command. Just 25, Gilbert was, according to one investor, "desirous of supremasy," "a loose life," with "litle zeale in Religion.
When Gilbert decided to return to England to collect, the others headed back with him. Most of the returned settlers disappeared into history; a few crossed the Atlantic again to try their hand at Jamestown. After the death of Sir Ferdinando Gorges and with the political upheaval in England, the Massachusetts Bay Colony took advantage of the situation and laid claim to all of Maine.
Although Wells residents were reluctant to submit, the town was now incorporated and as free men each was now the owner of his own lands. The original land grants to the first settlers in Wells stretched two and a half miles inland from the upper edge of the marsh. The farmsteads and gardens were followed by orchards, pasture land, hay fields and inland wood lots. The inland boundaries were where the Ridge and Branch Roads are today.
When attempting to best describe Wells, one must consider its geographical content and size. Now approximately 60 square miles in size, its original boundaries included the towns of Kennebunk and Ogunquit. The number of rivers and brooks in the area was one of the enticements to early mill owners. Clusters of farms were concentrated near rivers and brooks, where the mills operated. Usually evident in these areas of concentrated population were a blacksmith shop, a store and eventually a post office.
A local one-room school and a church provided the educational, social and cultural opportunities for each area. Long before Wells incorporation in , as the third town in Maine, temporary residences were built on the beaches by traders and fishermen.
Edmund Littlefield, the father of Wells, established a permanent home, sawmill and gristmill as early as at the falls of the Webhannet River. Reverend John Wheelwright soon followed and by was attempting to provide religious freedom here for himself and his followers. He established the first church and claimed several tracts of land for himself. During his brief three or four year stay, he also served as one of the agents appointed to survey and allot lands of Gorges grant to Wellssettlers.
The Indian Wars, from until the mids, made existence in Wells almost beyond human endurance. The noble men and women who remained were forced to withstand many terrors and adversities.
They were murdered, their homes and mills burned, and their farms laid waste. The Indians devastated all the territory northeast of Wells, leaving Wells the frontier town. The inhabitants were compelled to breast the full fury of the French and Indian forces. One of the most significant battles took place in at the site of Storers Garrison on Post Road.
This three day battle fulfilled an earlier prophesy: Berwick, Kittery, York shall fall, Wells shall stand to see it all. Academic historians now agree, that because Wells did withstand that particular battle, the English foothold in the northeast was insured. The staunch settlers rebuilt again and again.
The population doubled from 12, to 24, between and By the end of the century, the number of Maine settlers had grown to more than , Resistance to the oppressive colonial tax policies of the British Parliament began early in Maine.
In a mob seized a quantity of tax stamps at Falmouth now Portland , and attacks on customs agents in the province became common. A year after the famous Boston Tea Party of , Maine staged its own version of that incident when a group of men burned a shipment of tea stored at York. When open warfare finally erupted at Lexington and Concord, hundreds of Maine men actively joined the struggle for independence. The province saw plenty of action during the Revolution. In , British warships under the command of the notorious Capt.
Henry Mowatt shelled and burned Falmouth, an act intended to punish residents for their opposition to the Crown, but which only served to stiffen Maine's ardor for independence. The first naval battle of the Revolution occurred in June when a group of Maine patriots captured the armed British cutter "Margaretta" off Machias. Later that year many Maine men accompanied Col. Benedict Arnold on his long march through the north woods in a valiant but fruitless effort to capture Quebec. An ill-planned expedition by the American naval fleet to regain the British-held fortification at Castine in led to the most disastrous naval encounter of the war.
The Revolution cost Maine dearly. About 1, men lost their lives in the war, the district's sea trade was all but destroyed, the principal city had been leveled by British bombardment, and Maine's overall share of the war debt amounted to more than would later be imposed upon it by the Civil War. Following the Revolution, frontier settlers who resented being ruled from Boston pressed for separation from Massachusetts.
Coastal merchants, who held the balance of political power at the time, resisted the separation movement until the War of showed that Massachusetts was unable or unwilling to provide adequate protection for the people of the district against British raids. With popular sentiment unified behind statehood, the separation movement went forward. Congress established Maine as the 23rd state under the Missouri Compromise of This arrangement allowed Maine to join the Union as a free state, with Missouri entering a year later as a slave state, thereby preserving the numerical balance between free and slave states in the nation.
By this time the population of Maine had reached nearly , The new state had nine counties and towns. Delegates met for three weeks in October of in Portland to hammer out a state constitution, a document strongly rooted in political independence, religious freedom and popular control of government.
The president of the convention was William King, a prominent Bath merchant and shipbuilder who subsequently became Maine's first governor.
Portland was selected as the state capital, but this was only temporary. In the capital was moved to Augusta, a more centrally located site. The precise boundary line between Maine and New Brunswick remained a matter of often-heated arguments for years after the close of the Revolutionary War. The dispute festered and smoldered until , when it threatened to erupt into open warfare.
The Maine Legislature that year raised funds to support a military force of 10, to protect the state's border claims at Madawaska. Several hundred British regulars were dispatched to the scene from Quebec.
Scott managed to work out a temporary agreement between the two parties before the so-called "War of the Aroostook" reached the point of bloodshed. The territory of Maine was confirmed as part of Massachusetts when the United States was formed, although the final border with British territory was not established until the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of Following the Revolution, frontier settlers who resented being ruled from Boston pressed for separation from Massachusetts.
Coastal merchants, who held the balance of political power at the time, resisted the separation movement until the War of showed that Massachusetts was unable or unwilling to provide adequate protection for the people of the district against British raids.
With popular sentiment unified behind statehood, the separation movement went forward. Congress established Maine as the 23rd state under the Missouri Compromise of This arrangement allowed Maine to join the Union as a free state, with Missouri entering a year later as a slave state, thereby preserving the numerical balance between free and slave states in the nation. As you will hopefully come to appreciate, Maine is a vibrant and varied place. If you are considering relocating to Maine and purchasing real estate, we hope that we can provide you with the information necessary to make an informed decision about our great state.
Our cities are sophisticated, yet safe and its easy to get around. There is a clear emphasis on education and quality of life. Our natural resources, from the spectacular Maine coast to the nearby mountains and lakes provide countless alternatives for recreation and potential places to live.
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