Royal River
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The Royal River is a small
river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed June 30, 2011
in southern
Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
. The river originates in Sabbathday Lake in New Gloucester and flows northeasterly into Auburn and then southerly through New Gloucester (via the Royal River Reservoir),
Gray Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...
and North Yarmouth into
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 ...
at Yarmouth. The river is bridged by
Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...
and
U.S. Route 202 U.S. Route 202 (US 202) is a spur route of U.S. Route 2, US 2. It follows a northeasterly and southwesterly direction stretching from Delaware in the south to Maine in the north and traveling through the states of Pennsylvania, N ...
before leaving New Gloucester, then by the
Maine Central Railroad The Maine Central Railroad was a United States, U. S. class 1 railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. By 1884, Maine Central was the longest railroad in New England. Maine Central had expand ...
"Back Road" and the
Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; ) was a Rail transport, railway system that operated in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the List of states and territories of the United States, American sta ...
in Auburn, and then again by the Grand Trunk Railway and by State Route 231 when it returns to New Gloucester. The river is bridged twice more by the Maine Central Back Road in Gray. In North Yarmouth, the river is bridged again by State Route 231 and by State Route 9, and in Yarmouth it is crossed by the Maine Central Railroad "Lower Road", again by the Grand Trunk Railway, by
U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ...
and, at its mouth at Yarmouth Marina, by State Route 88 (carried by the East Main Street Bridge) and, finally, Interstate 295. The Native Americans called the river Westcustogo River (meaning ''muddy'') or Pumgustuck River (''falls at mouth of river''). During the 1700s and 1800s, Yarmouth River, as it was then known, was a source of great economic growth for Yarmouth as it provided the power for the many mills. One such mill was erected in 1872 by the Forest Paper Company on the current site of the Royal River Park. The river is mentioned in several of Maine-native
Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
's novels, including '' The Body'', when the boys cross the Royal River, only to be attacked by
leech Leeches are segmented parasitism, parasitic or Predation, predatory worms that comprise the Class (biology), subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the Oligochaeta, oligochaetes, which include the earthwor ...
es, as well as ''
'Salem's Lot ''Salem's Lot'' is a 1975 American horror fiction, horror novel by author Stephen King. It was his second published novel. The story involves a writer named Ben Mears who returns to the town of Jerusalem's Lot (Stephen King), Jerusalem's Lot ( ...
'' and ''
Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption ''Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption'' is a Literary realism, realist novella by Stephen King. It was first published in 1982 by Viking Press in his collection ''Different Seasons''. It was later included in the 2009 collection ''Stephen King ...
''. The McKin Company
Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...
site was within the Royal River watershed. In 2005, the Royal River was named a restoration priority by the Gulf of Maine Council, part of the Marine Environment and the Maine State Planning Office. In 2009, the town brought in an engineering firm to recommend cost-effective avenues of restoring fish access and native species to the Royal River. The following year, Stantec recommended the removal of both dams, as the lowest-cost and longest-term solution. In 2025, Yarmouth's town council unanimously approved the removal of the dams at the
Second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...
and
Fourth Falls The Fourth Falls, also known as Upper Falls or Gooch's Falls'','' are the fourth of four waterfalls in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. They are located on the Royal River, approximately upstream of the Third Falls. The river appealed to settl ...
.


William Royall

The river is named for William Royall (–1676), one of the first European settlers in the area, though the official form of its name omits the second ''L''.


Gallery

File:Royal River source.jpg, The source of the Royal River at Sabbathday Lake in
New Gloucester, Maine New Gloucester is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. New Gloucester is included in the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area. It is home to the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village, the last active Shaker ...
, looking south towards the lake File:Royal River source 2.jpg, The river flowing north beneath Outlet Road, adjacent to its source at Sabbathday Lake


See also

*
List of rivers in Maine List of rivers in Maine these are the rivers in Maine Saint John River Note: Higher part of Saint John River is recuperating water from tributaries of Southeast Quebec Left bank of Saint John River (Maine) *Saint John River (Maine), Saint John ...
* Toddy Brook, a tributary of the Royal River * Brown's Point


References

{{authority control New Gloucester, Maine Rivers of Cumberland County, Maine Auburn, Maine Gray, Maine North Yarmouth, Maine Landforms of Yarmouth, Maine Rivers of Maine Transportation in Yarmouth, Maine