|
The Wawenocks, an Abenaki tribe, were the native American inhabitants of this area
before the white man settled here. This area was used by white fishermen and traders
during the first half of the seventeenth century and by the 1600's there were year-round
families settled in the region. Some of the sites of those settlements were: Cape
Newagen, East Boothbay (then called Winnegance) on Barlows Hill and Murray Hill, Oak
Point in Boothbay Harbor, and Fishermans and Damariscove Island. By 1689, the white
settlers were driven out.
In 1729 the region was named Townsend and finally permanently resettled by a group
of around 60 Scotch-Irish, including McCobbs (leaders of the group), Fullertons, Beaths,
McFarlands, and Montgomerys. Barters arrived around 1736, with Alleys, Reeds, Lewises,
Linekins, and Wylies settling within the next ten years. Settlers of English extraction,
such as the Pinkham, the Tibbetts, and the Giles family came from Dover, New Hampshire
in the mid-1750s. All these families endured privation, near starvation, and the French
and Indian wars; some were kidnapped and taken to Canada. Nearly the whole town left
the area during one war for a period of years. It was a very poor community on the
edge of the frontier and though the settlers were of a farming background, Boothbay
was a rocky place and agriculture was a struggle. The early settlers relied heavily
for hard cash on woodcutting for the Boston market. However, over the years a fine
fishing tradition emerged; it was inevitable for the Banks in the Gulf of Maine were
what brought white people here in the first place. Everything from clam digging to
whaling has been carried on in Boothbay, but historically the Banks fishermen prospered
the most.
In 1764 Boothbay became a legal town, dropping its prior name of Townsend since there
was already a town by that name in Massachusetts. Though there have been explanations
offered, nobody has satisfactorily explained the choice of the name "Boothbay" for
the town which included what is now Boothbay, Southport, and Boothbay Harbor.
By the 1760's Boothbay had already erected saw and grist mills, and vessels were being
built though that cannot be documented; however, shipbuilding is a reasonable and
necessary deduction. Brickmaking also was carried on at numerous sites. The first
century of the 1729 settlement saw the population centered in the pastoral farmland
of the Back River-Dover area. The early nineteenth century saw a shift with East Boothbay
Village emerging as a commercial center, the magnet being Caleb Hodgdon's tidemill
and shipbuilding. Simultaneously, Boothbay Harbor emerged as a commercial center with
the McCobb-Auld business a big attraction for Banks fishermen. The hard economic times,
war years and embargo years, were finally over by 1820 and the town did very well
in coasting and fishing. Nathaniel McFarland deposed in 1827 that 2125 vessels had
dropped anchor in Boothbay Harbor during the 1826 calendar year. Occasionally later
on there were 400 fishing vessels at a time anchored in Boothbay Harbor. In the last
quarter of the nineteenth century, pogie factories provided much income for local
workers as did the ice industry and sardine canneries.
In 1842 what is now Southport left Boothbay, and in 1889 what is now Boothbay Harbor
left Boothbay. The attraction of the region as a summer resort was recognized before
1850; by the 1880's the big hotels and summer developments were well under way. The
tourist and summer resident industry has continued to grow, as all others have shrunk.
The only traditional fishing business left of any size is lobster fishing.
Our venerable shipbuilding tradition, which continues to this day with boatbuilding
and vessel repair, has the highest profile in the public's mind. Most of the shipbuilding
took place in the village of East Boothbay, with some in Boothbay Harbor, and a very
little at scattered other locations. The period between the 1820's and the 1920's
were the heaviest shipbuilding years, with the peak in the 1850's. Two-masted fore-and-aft
rigged schooners, of between 50 and 100 feet, were most commonly built for coastal
fishing and cargo shipment. The shipyards also turned out some brigs, barks, and ships
reaching 180 feet. The 1890's saw yacht building supplant the construction of commercial
boats. By 1900 more than 500 vessels had been built in the Boothbay region.
I would be hard pressed to identify any one thing that sets Boothbay apart from other
coastal communities for there is no single defining event or thing. It has had a history
that could just as well describe many of the neighboring seaside towns; what makes
it unique is that it is our history.
The huge business of fishing explains why Southport's town seal shows a pinky (an
early fishing vessel) and why Asa Tupper chose the two-masted fishing schooner as
a symbol for Boothbay Harbor water company in the 1930's. The town of Boothbay Harbor
quickly adopted Asa's water company symbol for the town's seal. The Boothbay Region
Historical Society chose a pinky as its symbol.
|