Bristol, known from 1632 to 1765 as Pemaquid (; today a village within the town) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in Lincoln County,

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

, United States. The population was 2,834 at the 2020 census. A

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

and

resort area A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural ...

, Bristol includes the villages of New Harbor, Pemaquid, Round Pond, Bristol Mills and Chamberlain. It includes the Pemaquid Archeological Site, a U.S.

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

. During the 17th and early 18th century, New France defined the Kennebec River as the southern boundary of Acadia, which put Bristol within Acadia.

History

Once territory of the Wawenock (or Walinakiak, meaning "People of the Bay")

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pre ...

Indians, early Bristol was one of the most important and embattled frontier settlements in the province. Beginning with seasonal fishing, as early as 1625 the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

established at Pemaquid Point a year-round

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

for

fur trading The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most ...

. In 1631, the area was granted as the Pemaquid Patent by the Plymouth Council to Robert Aldsworth and Gyles Elbridge, merchants from

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Raid on Pemaquid (1632)

A village and palisade fort were constructed. In 1632, Pemaquid was raided and plundered by the

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

Dixie Bull. The Great Colonial Hurricane on August 15, 1635 sank the

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch W ...

''Angel Gabriel'' while anchored off the settlement, drowning some crew and passengers. In 1664, the Duke of York (the future

King James II James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

) claimed Pemaquid was within his patent, which also included Sagadahoc and recently acquired New Amsterdam. To help

anglicize Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...

the latter into

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, Governor

Sir Edmund Andros Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served ...

had some of its

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

inhabitants transported to Pemaquid, now called Jamestown for its royal owner. By 1665, the village had approximately 30 houses.

King Philip's War

Raid on Pemaquid (1676)

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 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England coloni ...

, in 1676 Indians attacked and burned

settlements up the coast, including Pemaquid. The following year, a new wooden defense called Fort Charles was built.

King William's War

Siege of Pemaquid (1689)

During

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 All ...

—the first of four

French and Indian Wars The French and Indian Wars were a series of conflicts that occurred in North America between 1688 and 1763, some of which indirectly were related to the European dynastic wars. The title ''French and Indian War'' in the singular is used in the U ...

—Fort Charles and the village were attacked and destroyed in 1689 by the French from

Castine, Maine Castine ( ) is a town in Hancock County in eastern Maine.; John Faragher. ''Great and Nobel Scheme''. 2005. p. 68. The population was 1,320 at the 2020 census. Castine is the home of Maine Maritime Academy, a four-year institution that graduate ...

. The inhabitants of Pemaquid were either killed or taken prisoner.

Siege of Pemaquid (1696)

By 1692, the English regained control of the region, and Sir William Phipps ordered construction of

Fort William Henry Fort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George, in the province of New York. The fort's construction was ordered by Sir William Johnson in September 1755, during the French and Indian War, as a staging ground for ...

, named after King

William III of England William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic f ...

. This time built of stone. On August 14–15, 1696, the famous

Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville (16 July 1661 – 9 July 1706) or Sieur d'Iberville was a French soldier, explorer, colonial administrator, and trader. He is noted for founding the colony of Louisiana in New France. He was born in Montreal to French ...

captured and destroyed the fort along with a combined force of French and Indians from present-day Castine. Commander of the fort, Captain Pascoe Chubb surrendered the fort. Iberville killed three of the soldiers and sent the other ninety-two back to Boston. In response to this raid Benjamin Church was sent from Boston to attack

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17t ...

Raid on Pemaquid (1717)

In early May 1717, a sloop under the command of a Captain Carr was captured by ten pirates on a 25-ton sloop (formerly owned by a Colonel Stephen Minot) in Pemaquid. The pirate sloop had come from Monhegan to the south, where on April 29, the Snow (a type of two masted vessel) ''Anne'' arrived. The ''Anne'' had originally been captured off the

Virginia Capes The Virginia Capes are the two capes, Cape Charles to the north and Cape Henry to the south, that define the entrance to Chesapeake Bay on the eastern coast of North America. In 1610, a supply ship learned of the famine at Jamestown when it ...

in April by the pirate Samuel Bellamy in the '' Whydah'', which wrecked in a storm on the night of April 26, 1717 off of Cape Cod. The ''Anne'' made it through the storm with another captured vessel, the ''Fisher'' (which was soon abandoned and the pirates aboard her transferred to the ''Anne''). The pirates arrived at Monhegan on April 29, and waited for the ''Whydah'', for the pirates had not seen nor heard about the ''Whydahs wrecking in the storm of the night of April 26. The pirates eventually realized the ''Whydah'' was lost, and proceeded to attack vessels in the area, including Matinicus Island (which is where the sloop the pirates used at Pemaquid was captured from). The attack at Pemaquid was described in a deposition as follows:

... he pirateswent after Capt. Carr's sloop, lying at Pemaquid, which they alsoe took a little distance from said Pemaquid, but finding the Mast and Bowspreat not serviceable o repair the snowthey left her there, and brought the Master thereof aboard the Snow then at Menhagen onhegan..

The pirates soon left the area, abandoning all the other vessels (including the ''Anne'') they had captured and most of their prisoners at Matinicus on or about May 9, 1717 on Minot's sloop."Deposition of Ralph Merry and Samuel Roberts" Boston. May 11, May 16, 1717. in Jameson, John Franklin. ''Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents''. New York: Macmillan Company, 1923, pp. 301–302

Father Rale's War

During

Father Rale's War Dummer's War (1722–1725) is also known as Father Rale's War, Lovewell's War, Greylock's War, the Three Years War, the Wabanaki-New England War, or the Fourth Anglo-Abenaki War. It was a series of battles between the New England Colonies and the ...

, the location was a rendezvous for Natives and French to return inhabitants of Pemaquid and vicinity that they had taken prisoner during the war. Colonel David Dunbar, Surveyor-General of the King's Woods, rebuilt the fort in 1729–1730, renaming it Fort

Frederick Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

. He renamed the town Harrington after the Earl of Harrington, who had helped arrange the 1729

Treaty of Seville The Treaty of Seville was signed on 9 November, 1729 between Britain, France, and Spain, formally ending the 1727–1729 Anglo-Spanish War; the Dutch Republic joined the Treaty on 29 November. However, the Treaty failed to resolve underlying te ...

King George's War

Raid on Pemaquid (1747)

During King George's War, Fort Frederick withstood two attacks in 1747, but in 1759 was decommissioned at the end of the

American Revolution

In 1775, the town dismantled the fort to prevent it from becoming a British stronghold during the Revolutionary War. The state acquired the site in 1902, and in 1908 rebuilt the tower of Fort William Henry under guidance of historian John Henry Cartland, using many original stones. In 1993, the site was designated a

Bristol established

On June 21, 1765, the town was incorporated as Bristol, named after the home port of the Pemaquid Patent proprietors. During the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

, the waters off Pemaquid Point saw the capture of HMS ''Boxer'' by the USS ''Enterprise'' on September 5, 1813. The town would set off land to create Nobleboro in 1788, Bremen in 1828, Damariscotta in 1848 and South Bristol in 1915. Today, Bristol is a popular tourist destination. File:Pemaquid Harbor, Pemaquid, ME.jpg, Pemaquid Harbor File:Fort Rock and Castle Wall Foundations, Pemaquid Beach, ME.jpg, Fort Rock File:Old Fort House, Pemaquid Beach, ME.jpg, Old Fort House in 1909 File:General View of New Harbor, ME.jpg, New Harbor

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...

, the town has a total area of , of which, of it is land and is water. Bristol is situated on the Pemaquid Peninsula, which extends into the

Gulf of Maine , image = , alt = , caption = , image_bathymetry = GulfofMaine2.jpg , alt_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = Major features of the Gulf of Maine , location = Northeast coast of the ...

and the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

Demographics

As of 2000 the median income for a household in the town was $38,400, and the median income for a family was $45,184. Males had a median income of $31,627 versus $19,800 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the town was $21,821. About 3.3% of families and 6.0% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 5.9% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2010, there were 2,755 people, 1,309 households, and 828 families residing in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was . There were 2,585 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 98.4%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 0.1%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.2% Native American, 0.4% Asian, and 0.9% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

or Latino of any race were 0.5% of the population. There were 1,309 households, of which 18.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.2% were married couples living together, 7.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.7% were non-families. 30.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.09 and the average family size was 2.55. The median age in the town was 54.1 years. 15.2% of residents were under the age of 18; 4.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 17.3% were from 25 to 44; 34.8% were from 45 to 64; and 28.5% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 49.4% male and 50.6% female.

Sites of interest

* Fishermen's Museum *

* Granite Hall Store * Harrington Meeting House * Loudville Church on Louds Island * Pemaquid Archeological Site * Pemaquid Point Lighthouse

Notable people

Thomas Drummond Captain Thomas Drummond (10 October 1797 – 15 April 1840), from Edinburgh was a Scottish army officer, civil engineer and senior public official. He used the Drummond light which was employed in the trigonometrical survey of Great Britain an ...

, judge * David Hanna, artist * Marcus Hanna, noted lighthouse keeper * Robert Livingston Ireland, Jr., businessman (summer resident) *

William North William North (1755January 3, 1836) was an American soldier and politician. Early life William North was born in Pemaquid, Maine, to John North and Elizabeth Pitson in 1755. John was an Irish immigrant and Elizabeth a native of Boston. He had ...

, senator from New York *

Samoset Samoset (also Somerset, – ) was an Abenaki sagamore and the first Native American to make contact with the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony. He startled the colonists on March 16, 1621, by walking into Plymouth Colony and greeting them in Engl ...

, Abenaki sagamore * Joshua Soule, Methodist bishop * Elizabeth Upham Yates, suffragist and missionary

References

External links

Town of Bristol, Maine

Bristol Area Library
{{authority control Towns in Lincoln County, Maine Populated coastal places in Maine 1765 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies

History

Raid on Pemaquid (1632)

King Philip's War

Raid on Pemaquid (1676)

King William's War

Siege of Pemaquid (1689)

Siege of Pemaquid (1696)

Raid on Pemaquid (1717)

Father Rale's War

King George's War

Raid on Pemaquid (1747)

American Revolution

Bristol established

Geography

Demographics

2010 census

Sites of interest

Notable people

References

Further reading

External links