Boothbay Region Maine

The Boothbay Region of Lincoln County is a peninsula between the Sheepscot and Damariscotta Rivers, containing the towns of Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Southport and Edgecomb.

In 1622, English fishermen established a fishing station at Damariscove Island, now part of the Town of Boothbay Harbor. In the following decades more Europeans settled throughout the peninsula, but these settlements were abandoned at the time of the Indian Wars of 1675-1697.

Beginning around 1650 the “District of Maine” became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and following the American Revolution remained part of the State of Massachusetts.

In 1729-1730, the Boothbay Region was resettled by immigrants from Northern Ireland - an occurrence engineered by England to create a buffer between its Massachusetts Bay Colony and the French and Indian forces that were beginning to encroach upon Maine from Canada.

In 1730, the settlement of Townsend was established and in 1764 incorporated as the Town of Boothbay.

The Town of Edgecomb was incorporated in 1774, and in 1808-1809 Fort Edgecomb was built to protect shipping at Wiscasset from the English.

In 1842, the southernmost part of Boothbay broke away and became the Town of Southport.

In 1889, Boothbay Harbor broke away from Boothbay and became a separate town. Periodically, initiatives to reunite the two towns are proposed, but have never gone far.