Harpswell Business Association
" the
bay was anchor, sky
and island: a land's end
sail, and the world tidal,
that day of blue and boat..."
from "Offshore", by Philip Booth
An Invitation to Harpswell
The Town of Harpswell, located on Casco Bay, is a unique coastal community. For well over a hundred years it has been a mecca for vacationers seeking a saltwater environment, a serene way of life, and an abundance of natural beauty.
Harpswell is composed of a ten mile peninsula reaching out
into the Bay from Brunswick, three large islands — Sebascodegan (Great
Island), Orr’s, and Bailey — which are connected by bridges, and over
200 smaller islands ranging from Eagle Island to Thrumcap, a speck of
an island in Pott's Harbor. That there is more than 150 miles of shoreline in
Harpswell attests to its economic base in the fishing industry and its
attraction to visitors who love boating, swimming, and fishing. It is
a sailor's paradise. Robert Carter, cruising in Casco Bay way back in
1858, described the Bay as having "many bold and picturesque headlands
and peninsulas so that scarcely anywhere else in the world can you find
a more varied or more lovely commingling of land and water." Today's
visitor has a wealth of choices. There are B&Bs and inns, some in
wonderful historic homes. There are numerous restaurants for dining,
often on lobsters and clams fresh from the waters of the Bay. There
are historic and scenic sites, boats for rent and fishing and sailing
charters. There is a wealth of natural beauty from the dramatic Giant
Steps on Bailey, to the sweeping views of Harpswell Sound from Harpswell
Neck along with intriguing working harbors. And don't forget to consider
a fall visit; our changing foliage colors are a very special treat.
Harpswell’s location close to neighboring Brunswick, a charming town which is home to Bowdoin College, to Freeport and its shopping mecca anchored by L.L. Bean, to Bath, a shipbuilding town with a splendid Maritime Museum and access to broad sandy beaches, and to Portland, Maine’s largest city, provides another layer of activities. There are museums and music, historic sites, as well as outdoor activities ranging from golf and tennis to hiking in nature preserves. There is so much to see and do in Harpswell. Come visit us soon!
A Brief History of Harpswell
Harpswell was originally called "Merriconeag" which is the Indian name for "Quick Carrying Place". Near the town line between Brunswick and Harpswell the peninsula is so narrow the spot was used by the Indians as a carrying place from one bay to the other in their canoe expeditions.
Harpswell Neck, along with Sebascodegan Island, was purchased from the Indians in 1659 by Colonel Shapleigh of Kittery. By 1714 there were only two settlers on the neck the rest having been driven off by the Indians. By 1731 many settlers had returned and Harpswell was incorporated as a town in 1758 — a distinction it has enjoyed to the present under the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the State of Massachusetts and the State of Maine.
The 150 plus mile diversified coastline of jagged rocky bluffs, deep coves, tiny inlets, sandy beaches and majestic evergreens which offer unparalleled panoramas of seascapes has made this a coastal jewel of uncommon beauty.
Harpswell is a community full of history, legend, fishing tradition, wonderful old farmhouses and sea captains’ homes. The tall ships, sloops and schooners built here during the 1800’s were famous world wide and just the mention of names like Stover, Skolfield, Curtis and Estes bring to mind those bustling shipyards of yesteryear. It has long been a mecca for summer vacationers in tune with nature; its rockledged, wooded and marshy terrain make it an ideal nesting place and summer resort for many species of birds.
Many well known American writers have called Harpswell home at some point in their lives. Harriet Beecher Stowe of "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" fame also wrote "The Pearl of Orr’s Island" when she spent the summer on that island. Ragged Island was the summer home of Maine poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay. Elijah Kellogg, the eloquent pastor of the present day Congregational church which bears his name, wrote 30 books for boys among them his Elm Island and Pleasant Cove series back in the 1840’s. Robert P. Tristram Coffin who spent his childhood on Pond Island based his book "Lost Paradise" on his recollections of island life there. Harpswell continues to be home to many present day authors and artists.
Admiral Peary, the Arctic explorer, owned a home on Eagle Island. It is now run by the State of Maine and is accessible by boat to summer visitors who tour the house and picnic on the grounds. Admirals Peary and Macmillan both attended nearby Bowdoin College along with Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Franklin Pierce among other notables.
Historical sites and places of interest abound in Harpswell but two of these deserve special mention here because of their unusual qualities. The Cribstone (or honeycomb) bridge, "the bridge that divided a town", is unique in all the world as it caused one of the longest and bitterest fights in New England’s history. Built in 1928 of huge granite blocks using no mortar or cement, it connects Bailey and Orr’s islands. The blocks are laid crib fashion - first lengthwise, then crosswise, to accommodate swift tides and battering winter ice.
The old
Meeting House in Harpswell Center is the oldest building still standing
in the Brunswick area and perhaps the oldest meeting house in Maine. It stands
exactly as it did in 1759 - older than the United States of America
and built when Maine was just one part of the far flung Massachusetts
Bay Colony. The structure is so valued by the National Association of
Architects that 12 blueprints are filed in the National Archives in
Washington, DC so that the building may be recreated if the original
were ever destroyed. It is a National Historic Landmark and several
unusual architectural features, such as the "shipknees", the
10 foot high pulpit and sounding board and the pumpkin pine pews , make
it invaluable.
The cemetery behind the meeting hall brings to mind the many legends passed down by tradition such as the "witch of Harpswell" who was buried there, the reputation Pond Island has for being haunted and the spooky ghost ship last "seen" in the 1880’s. the ship was always sighted just before the death of a Harpswell resident and John Greenleaf Whittier tells the tale in his poem, "The Ghost Ship of Harpswell".
You can read about Harpswell and her history in the many books and poems written by her resident authors and you can appreciate her beauty through the paintings and photographs of artists who have fallen under the spell of her unsurpassed beauty. There is no substitute, however, for a visit to this unique, midcoast town.
Read about Harpswell’s Tall Ships at the Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick, or at the Cundy's Harbor Library in Harpswell.
For more information on visiting Harpswell contact:
Harpswell Business Association
P.O. Box 125
Harpswell, ME 04079
Email: info@harpswellmaine.org
The Harpswell Business Association wishes to thank Penelope Strand and Hannah Dring for their generous permission to include their photographs of Harpswell in this site.
The HBA provides and maintains this site. If you have comments or corrections, please
email: Harpswell Business Association.
