Great Works River

The Great Works River is about 27 miles (43 kilometres) long in southwestern Maine in the United States. It rises in central York County, flows generally south past North Berwick to meet the tidal part of the Salmon Falls River at South Berwick.

It was originally called the Asbenbedick River by the local Newichawannock Abenaki tribe. In July of 1634, William Chadbourne, James Wall and John Goddard arrived from England aboard the ship "Pied Cow" with a commission to build a sawmill and gristmill at Assabumbadoc Falls. Their sawmill was rebuilt in 1651 with up to 20 saws by Richard Leader, an engineer granted exclusive right to the water power. It was thereafter called the "Great mill workes," from which the Great Works River derives its present name.

References

* [http://www.obhs.net/GreatWorks.html History of the Great Works Mills -- Old Berwick Historical Society]
* [http://history.rays-place.com/me/north-berwick-me.htm History of North Berwick, Maine (1886)]
* [http://history.rays-place.com/me/s-berwick-me.htm History of South Berwick, Maine (1886)]

External links

* [http://www.gwrwc.org/ Great Works River Watershed Coalition]