Why This Place?

Why This Place?

  • <p>Fort Pentagoet, upper right, "Pintagovet" is the only place in Maine on this 18th century map. Detail<em>, Le Cours du Fleuve Missisipi </em>[sic], Bernard, 1737. Castine Historical Society</p>
  • <p>Aerial view of Castine Harbor and the village with the Penobscot River in the distance, 2007. Maine Maritime Academy</p>
  • <p>View of Castine Harbor from Fort George, c. 1890. Castine Historical Society</p>
  • <p>Penobscot Bay chart from 1776 at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Detail, <em>Coast of Maine showing Blue Hill Bay, Penobscot Bay</em>. Boston Public Library</p>

AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Fort George - Why This Place?

For a small town on the coast of Maine, the place we now call Castine has a long history. Nestled at the mouth of the Penobscot River and possessing a protected deep water harbor, geography has made Castine a place far more important than its size would suggest. Prior to European exploration, the region was home to Native Americans, the Wabanaki, for thousands of years and their descendents, the Penobscots, continue here as a sovereign tribal nation. French explorer Samuel de Champlain visited the bay, soon followed by English explorers. By 1630 a French military post, Fort Pentagoet, was established on the spot of the present-day Catholic Church. A series of colonial wars across the region created an informal borderland between French Acadia to the east and English New England to the west. The fall of New France in 1760 brought the colonial wars to an end and opened the way for English settlement. By 1775, the small but growing town of Bagaduce (the name Castine is not adopted until 1796) was shocked by the outbreak of war between Great Britain and her American colonies.

Map

Fort George