Brief Lincolnville History

Lincolnville’s earliest inhabitants were probably "summer folks", Native Americans who traveled down to the coast to camp along the shore, fish and dig clams. Their middens, or garbage dumps, provide tantalizing clues to their way of life, not only what they ate, but the kind of pottery they made and the stone and bone tools they used. If something got broken it ended up in the midden along with thousands of clam shells and animal bones. In the fall it’s believed these people returned to the inland forests for the winter.

Early European explorers sailed right by Lincolnville’s four miles of shoreline, and although undoubtedly some landed and looked around, they left no trace or record. The late 18th century saw some settlement along the coast, but none are recorded until 1770 when Nathan and Lucinda Knight tramped inland to the head of the marsh meadow that occupies the middle of the town. The couple built a log cabin near a stream east of today’s Center and stayed, earning the title of First Settlers. With the end of the Revolutionary War families from southern New England streamed into Maine in search of free land. Some of them settled in Lincolnville, which by then was divided into two “plantations”, Canaan and Ducktrap. The free land turned out to come with a price, for it was actually part of the Waldo Patent, and claimed by Gen. Henry Knox of Thomaston as part of his wife’s inheritance. For the next several years, Knox’s agents were besieged by irate settlers when it came time to pay up. His man at Ducktrap was George Ulmer, who had been granted by Knox the mill rights to the Ducktrap stream. On two occasions Ulmer awoke to find his logs adrift in the Bay; angry residents had, in the night, cut the cable holding them in the Trap.

By about 1800 the two plantations were "settled", meaning the people had paid Knox, and in 1802 they were joined into one town, incorporating as Lincolnville, named for General Benjamin Lincoln. For the next half century, the town grew vigorously to a population of 2,154 in 1850. Lumbering, lime burning, ship building, and farming occupied the people. In the 1840s Lincolnville shipped 400,000 casks of lime a year, rivaling Rockland and Rockport. Brigs full of wheat sailed from the Beach, and large ships were built at shipyards at both Ducktrap and the Beach. If a man wasn’t a farmer, he was probably a sailor, and many were both.

The Civil War reversed the growth trend, however, and after that war Lincolnville began to lose population steadily. In spite of that Ducktrap thrived as a little industrial community with a large patent lime kiln fed with a horse-drawn railroad that carried the lime rock from an inland quarry. A busy sawmill and grist mill, cooper shops, stores and a school completed the scene there. By 1905, though, all these enterprises had closed; more and more young people left town and the state to find work. Tending to summer people became a seasonal job for many. They worked as caretakers, laundrywomen, drivers, and cooks. Farmers took to peddling their products to Lincolnville’s summer population as well as in Camden and Belfast.

By 1920 only 811 people were counted in the census. Most of these were farmers, at least part of the time. Jobs in Camden’s mills occupied many. Others signed up for the First World War. During the Depression families used to living off the land were able to survive quite well. But following the Second World War farming as a way to make a living was pretty much over for all but a few hardy farm families. The Beach saw motor courts and cabins spring up for the automobile tourist; restaurants made up the core of the Beach’s economy (and still do). Today’s population has finally surpassed the high of 1850 as Lincolnville has become a popular retirement town, as well as the good place to raise a family it has always been.