Wiscasset (town), Maine

Wiscasset is a town in the Mid Coast and is the county seat of Lincoln County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 3,603. Home to the Chewonki Foundation, Wiscasset is a popular tourist resort noted for its early architecture.

1 History
2 Notable residents
3 Geography
4 Demographics
5 Sites of interest
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Main Street in 1900

In 1605, Samuel de Champlain is said to have landed here and exchanged gifts with the Indians. Situated on the tidal Sheepscot River, Wiscasset was first settled in 1663. The community was abandoned during the French and Indian Wars, and then resettled around 1730. In 1760, it was incorporated as Pownalborough after Colonial Governor Thomas Pownall. In 1802, it resumed its original Abenaki name, Wiscasset, which means "coming out from the harbor but you don't see where."

The seaport became a center for shipbuilding, fishing and lumber. In 1808, Fort Edgecomb was built on the opposite bank of the Sheepscot to protect the town harbor. Wiscasset's prosperity left behind fine early architecture, particularly in the Federal style when the seaport was important in privateering. Two dwellings of the period, Castle Tucker and the Nickels-Sortwell House, are now museums operated by Historic New England. Until recently, another tourist attraction was two ship hulks near the U.S. Route 1 bridge -- the four-masted cargo schooners Hesper and Luther Little. Bought at auction for $600 each by entrepreneur Frank W. Winter of Auburn, they were brought to Wiscasset in 1932, then abandoned after his premature demise. Over the next 66 years, the weathered vessels would become possibly the most photographed objects in Maine. In 1998, after a violent storm took out the final masts, the rotted remains were removed from the Sheepscot River by the town. From 1972 until 1996, Wiscasset was home to Maine Yankee, a pressurized water reactor on Bailey Point, and the only nuclear power plant in the state. The Maine Yankee nuclear power plant has been decommissioned and is inoperative.

Wiscasset was the seaport terminal and standard gauge interchange of the 2-foot gauge Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway. Construction began in Wiscasset in 1894. Train service began in 1895 as the Wiscasset and Quebec Railroad. By 1913, the railroad operated daily freight and passenger service 43.5 miles north to Albion with an 11-mile freight branch from Weeks Mills to North Vassalboro. Passengers and freight increasingly used highway transportation after World War I. Frank Winter bought the railroad about 1930 to move lumber from Branch Mills to his schooners mentioned in the preceding paragraph. During the early 1930's the early morning train from Albion to Wiscasset and the afternoon train back to Albion carried the last 2-foot gauge railway post office (RPO) in the United States. A derailment of the morning train in Whitefield on June 15, 1933, terminated railroad operations before the schooners could be loaded with lumber for shipment to larger coastal cities. Most of the railroad equipment was converted to scrap metal prior to World War II.

[edit] Notable residents

Image:Tucker Castle Wiscasset 2006.jpg

Castle Tucker, built in 1807, as it appeared in 2006

Hugh J. Anderson, congressman & governor
Jeremiah Bailey, congressman
Thomas Bowman, congressman
Franklin Clark, congressman
Orchard Cook, congressman & postmaster
Juliana Hatfield, singer/songwriter
John D. McCrate, congressman
Thomas Rice, congressman
Ted Sannella, dance caller & choreographer
Richard Hawley Tucker, astronomer
Abiel Wood, congressman

[edit] Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 27.7 square miles (71.8 km²), of which, 24.6 square miles (63.7 km²) of it is land and 3.1 square miles (8.1 km²) of it (11.26%) is water. Wiscasset is drained by the Sheepscot River.

[edit] Demographics

See also: Wiscasset (CDP), Maine

Main Street (U. S. Route 1) during tourist season in 2005

As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 3,603 people, 1,472 households, and 972 families residing in the town. The population density was 146.5 people per square mile (56.6/km²). There were 1,612 housing units at an average density of 65.6/sq mi (25.3/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.00% White, 0.31% Black or African American, 0.17% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 0.31% from other races, and 0.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.67% of the population.

There were 1,472 households out of which 31.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.9% were married couples living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.9% were non-families. 27.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.94.

Old Jail, now the Lincoln County Museum, as it appeared in c. 1912

In the town the population was spread out with 25.3% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 28.4% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 99.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $37,378, and the median income for a family was $46,799. Males had a median income of $31,365 versus $21,831 for females. The per capita income for the town was $18,233. About 6.9% of families and 12.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.2% of those under age 18 and 14.9% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Sites of interest

[edit] References

^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.

History of Wiscasset, Maine
Jones, Robert C. and Register, David L. (1987). Two Feet to Tidewater The Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway. Pruett Publishing Company.
Moody, Linwood W. (1959). The Maine Two-Footers. Howell-North.
Barney, Peter S. (1986). The Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway: A Technical and Pictorial Review. A&M Publishing.
Wiggin, Ruth Crosby (1971). Big Dreams and Little Wheels. Ruth Crosby Wiggin.
Wiggin, Ruth Crosby (1964). Albion on the Narrow Gauge. Ruth Crosby Wiggin.
Thurlow, Clinton F. (1964). The Weeks Mills "Y" of the Two-Footer. Clinton F. Thurlow.
Thurlow, Clinton F. (1964). The WW&F Two-Footer Hail and Farewell. Clinton F. Thurlow.
Thurlow, Clinton F. (1965). Over the Rails by Steam (A Railroad Scrapbook). Clinton F. Thurlow.
(1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913 and 1914) Railroad Commissioners' Report. State of Maine.