ARS on Twitter
RSS
Pemaquid Light
Posted by Raven on November 30th, 2009
The name “Pemaquid” is said to have had its origins in an Abenaki Indian word for “situated far out.”
Immigrants from Bristol, England, established a settlement at Pemaquid in 1631. The village had as many as 200 people by the 1670s, but Abenaki Indians burned it during King Philip’s War. The settlement was rebuilt but suffered further attacks from the Indians and the French, and it was abandoned before 1700. It was resettled in 1729. Today, the area is part of the town of Bristol, incorporated in 1765.
The point, at the entrance to Muscongus Bay to the east and Johns Bay to the west, was the scene of many shipwrecks through the centuries, including the 1635 wreck of the British ship Angel Gabriel.
In May 1826, as maritime trade, fishing, and the shipping of lumber were increasing in midcoast Maine, Congress appropriated $4,000 for the building of a lighthouse at Pemaquid Point. The land was purchased from Samuel and Sarah Martin—descendents of survivors of the Angel Gabriel—for $90.
READ MORE here on the history of Pemaquid Light.
November 30th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Thanks much for the History lesson! Check out my NH Historical Marker blog if you have a few minutes.
Be well!
Mike
December 3rd, 2009 at 3:36 pm
That’s a beautiful pic.