Callen Point is a promontory in

Yarmouth, Maine Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, twelve miles north of the state's largest city, Portland, Maine, Portland. When originally settled in 1636, as North Yarmouth, Maine, North Yarmouth, it was part of the Massachusetts ...

, United States. It is located east-southeast of Yarmouth Village, on the southern banks of the Royal River, east of Larrabee's Landing and near the river's confluence with

Casco Bay Casco Bay is an bay, open bay of the Gulf of Maine on the coast of Maine in the United States. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's chart for Casco Bay marks the dividing line between the bay and the Gulf of Maine as running from ...

. It was an important defensive point during

King Philip's War King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...

and

King William's War King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand Allian ...

of the 17th century. Its name is believed to derive from ''Calling'' Point, due to locals calling across to the garrison for assistance. It is named ''Cuttinge Pinte'' in the York County deeds.

Walter Gendall

It was shortly after the outbreak of King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War) that Captain Walter Gendall, "hero of ancient Westcustogo", was killed near Callen Point by Native Americans while taking supplies to his troops, who were building a fort beside the point.''Captain Walter Gendall: A Biographical Sketch'' - Doctor Charles E. Banks (1880) Gendall had mistaken the cessation of the Indians' gunfire to mean that they were out of ammunition, and he set out to cross the river from the northern side. He made the journey without incident, but was shot upon reaching the opposite shoreline. His last words were: "I have lost my life in your service."''Bibliotheca Cornubiensis: Comprising a supplementary catalogue of authors, lists of Acts of Parliament and Civil war tracts, &c., and an index to the contents of the 3 vols'', George Clement Boase, William Prideaux Courtney (1874), p. 1192''Captain Walter Gendall: A Biographical Sketch'' - Doctor Charles E. Banks (1880) File:Walter Gendall plaque.jpg, Walter Gendall memorial plaque, which contains a quote from

Cotton Mather Cotton Mather (; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a Puritan clergyman and author in colonial New England, who wrote extensively on theological, historical, and scientific subjects. After being educated at Harvard College, he join ...

A man named Harris was taken, by his hair, by two Indians to the "creek below Callen Point." When one of his captors let go of his hold to fire upon their enemies, Harris escaped after a gun aimed at him misfired. A stone marker honoring Gendall and mentioning Callen Point stands to the north of 28 Lafayette Street in the area of Yarmouth from which he departed on his fateful crossing.Architectural Survey Yarmouth, ME (Phase One, September, 2018
- Yarmouth's town website) It was installed by Yarmouth’s Village Improvement Society.

References

{{authority control Landforms of Yarmouth, Maine