| Weather: Wiscasset |
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| 5min Related Video: Wiscasset |
| Wikipedia: Wiscasset, Maine |
| Wiscasset, Maine | |||
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| Motto: Maine's Prettiest Village | |||
| Country | United States | ||
| State | Maine | ||
| County | Lincoln County | ||
| Settled | 1663 | ||
| Incorporated | 1760 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Type | Town Meeting | ||
| - Town Manager |
Arthur Faucher | ||
| Area | |||
| - Total | 27.7 sq mi (71.8 km2) | ||
| - Land | 24.6 sq mi (63.7 km2) | ||
| - Water | 3.1 sq mi (8.1 km2) | ||
| Population (2000) | |||
| - Total | 3,603 | ||
| - Density | 146.5/sq mi (56.6/km2) | ||
| Time zone | Eastern (UTC-5) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | Eastern (UTC-4) | ||
| ZIP code | 04578 | ||
| Area code(s) | 207 | ||
| Website | http://www.wiscasset-me.gov/ | ||
| Home of Red's Eats! | |||
Wiscasset is a town in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Maine, United States,[1] in the Mid Coast region of the state. The population was 3,603 at the 2000 census. Home to the Chewonki Foundation, Wiscasset is a popular tourist destination noted for its early architecture.
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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 the King Philip's War in 1675 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."
During the Revolutionary War, the British warship Rainbow harbored itself in Wiscasset Harbor and held the town at bay until the town gave the warship essential supplies.
In 1775, Captain Jack Bunker supposedly robbed the payroll of British supply ship Falmouth Packet that was stowed in Wiscasset harbor. He was chased for days and caught on Little Seal Island. His treasure reportedly has never been found.
Because of the seige during the Revolutionary War, Fort Edgecomb was built, in 1808, 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.
The seaport became a center for shipbuilding, fishing and lumber. Wiscasset quickly become the busiest seaport north of Boston until the embargo of 1807 halted much trade with England. Most of Wiscasset's business and trade was destroyed.
Maine was officially accepted to become a state in 1820 with the Maine-Missouri Compromise. The town of Wiscasset was considered to be the state capital, but lost the position because of its proximity to the ocean.
During the Civil War, Wiscasset had many of it's residents that joined the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Its regiment was commended for fighting bravely at the Battle of Gettysburgh.
Until recently, a major tourist attraction was the two ship hulks near the U.S. 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 1930s 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.
Wiscasset was placed in the Guiness Book of World Records for having the smallest church in the world.[2] The church now is occasionally displayed at the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In 1995, a small fire erupted at Maine Yankee Nuclear Power plant. The fire emitted a tremendous amount of smoke which made it seem worse than it was. A video, by photographer Keith Brooks, was obtained by local media and was presented on NBC Nightly News. While the fire wasn't a tremendous threat, many locals believed it was a major concern for the environment, which caused several referendums to have the nuclear plant to close.
In 2009, the town lost a legal battle to reclaim an original copy of the Declaration of Independence [3] that was accidentally sold by the estate of the daughter of a former town official, Sol Holbrook.
A Virginia court ruled the true owner was Richard L. Adams, Jr., who paid $475,000 for the document in 2002. The State of Maine paid nearly $40,000 in legal fees. [4]. 250 copies were made and distributed throughout the colonies and delivered to towns. Only 11 of the original documents have ever been found.
Red's eats, a small take out restaurant, located by the bridge on Route 1 has been featured in more than 20 magazines and newspapers, including USA Today and National Geographic and several major television network newscasts, including Sunday morning on CBS and a report by Bill Geist. The restaurant has been deemed to have "The best lobster roll in Maine." [5]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 27.7 square miles (72 km2), of which, 24.6 square miles (64 km2) of it is land and 3.1 square miles (8.0 km2) of it (11.26%) is water. Wiscasset is drained by the Sheepscot River.
As of the census[6] of 2000, there were 3,603 people, 1,472 households, and 972 families residing in the town. The population density was 146.5 inhabitants per square mile (56.6 /km2). There were 1,612 housing units at an average density of 65.6 per square mile (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.
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.
Coordinates: 44°00′10″N 69°39′57″W / 44.002808°N 69.665864°W
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