Phippsburg, Maine

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Phippsburg, Maine
settlement_type = Town
nickname =
motto =

imagesize =
image_caption = Fort Popham


image_

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pushpin_label_position =left
pushpin_map_caption =Location within the state of Maine
pushpin_mapsize =

|mapsize =
map_caption =


mapsize1 =
map_caption1 =

subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = United States
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_name1 = Maine
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Sagadahoc
government_footnotes =
government_type =
leader_title =
leader_name =
leader_title1 =
leader_name1 =
established_title = Incorporated
established_date = 1814

unit_pref = Imperial
area_footnotes =
area_magnitude =
area_total_km2 = 113.7
area_land_km2 = 74.8
area_water_km2 = 39.0
area_total_sq_mi = 43.9
area_land_sq_mi = 28.9
area_water_sq_mi = 15.1

population_as_of = 2000
population_footnotes =
population_total = 2106
population_density_km2 = 28.2
population_density_sq_mi = 73.0

timezone = Eastern (EST)
utc_offset = -5
timezone_DST = EDT
utc_offset_DST = -4
elevation_footnotes =
elevation_m = 39
elevation_ft = 128
latd = 43 |latm = 47 |lats = 35 |latNS = N
longd = 69 |longm = 49 |longs = 4 |longEW = W

postal_code_type = ZIP codes
postal_code = 04562, 04567
area_code = 207
blank_name = FIPS code
blank_info = 23-58515
blank1_name = GNIS feature ID
blank1_info = 0582675
website =
footnotes =

Phippsburg is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, on the west side of the mouth of the Kennebec River. The population was 2,106 at the 2000 census. It is within the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area. A popular tourist area, Phippsburg is home to Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area, Fort Popham State Historic Site and Popham Beach State Park. The town includes part of Winnegance.

History

Site of the Popham Colony, Phippsburg was between 1607-1608 the first English settlement attempted in New England. During its brief existence, colonists built "Virginia of Sagadahoc", the first ship in Maine's long history of shipbuilding. The next British settlement at the mouth of the Kennebec River began in 1653; Thomas Atkins, a fisherman, purchased from the sachem Mowhotiwormet, commonly called Chief Robinhood, the southern end of Phippsburg (with the exception of Popham). Atkins Bay still bears his name. The population gradually increased until King Philip's War, when Indians in August 1676 attacked the eastern side of the Kennebec River, and scalping the colonists, or else carrying them into captivity. Dwellings were burned and stocks of cattle killed. The entire area was abandoned.

Resettlement commenced in 1679 at Newtown, located on the southern end of Arrowsic Island (across the river from present-day Phippsburg Center), but in 1689 the area was again destroyed and deserted during King William's War. With the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1713, conflict was formally ended between the Abenaki Indians and English settlements. In 1714, Newtown was reestablished, then incorporated in 1716 as Georgetown-on-Arrowsic by the Massachusetts General Court. Also in 1716, the Pejepscot Proprietors established a little fishing village called Augusta at the Small Point Harbor area of Phippsburg. Dr. Oliver Noyes, director of the colony, erected a stone fort 100 feet (30 meters) square to protect it. In 1717, Governor Samuel Shute held a conference at Georgetown-on-Arrowsic with tribal delegates, who arrived in a flotilla of canoes and encamped on Lee Island opposite the town.

But in summer of 1723 during Dummer's War, the Norridgewocks and 250 of their Indian allies from Canada, incited by the French missionary Sebastien Rale, attacked the area. Again it was deserted, with the stone fort destroyed. Governor William Dummer's Treaty of 1725 restored peace, and in 1737 an attempt was made to resettle Cape Small Point. The boundaries of Georgetown-on-Arrowsic were enlarged to encompass most of present-day Phippsburg, Bath (which then included West Bath), Woolwich and Georgetown.

Slow resettlement of the Phippsburg peninsula found ten farms along the Kennebec River by 1751, with five more on the Casco Bay side. But the districts gathered into Georgetown-on-Arrowsic began splitting away; in 1759, Woolwich withdrew, followed in 1781 by Bath. In 1814, Phippsburg was set off and incorporated. The original petition requested that it be named Dromore after one of the town's oldest sections, but Massachusetts chose instead to honor one of its royal governors, Sir William Phips -- actually a native of Woolwich. Between 1842-1890, wooden ships were built at Phippsburg. It also had numerous tidal mills. During the Gilded Age, Popham Beach developed into a resort area, with steamboats transporting excursionists from Bath. Today, the town's principal industries are fishing and tourism.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 43.9 square miles (113.8 km²), of which, 28.9 square miles (74.7 km²) of it is land and 15.1 square miles (39.0 km²) of it (34.29%) is water. Connected to Bath by a bridge and causeway over Winnegance Creek and sharing a border with West Bath to the east of Winnegance, Phippsburg is on a peninsula dividing the Kennebec River from Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine, part of the Atlantic Ocean.

Phippsburg is crossed by state routes 209, 216 and 217. Separated by water, the peninsula is near the towns of Harpswell to the west, West Bath to the northwest, Bath to the north, Arrowsic to the northeast, and Georgetown to the east.

Demographics

As of the censusGR|2 of 2000, there were 2,106 people, 859 households, and 622 families residing in the town. The population density was 73.0 people per square mile (28.2/km²). There were 1,554 housing units at an average density of 53.8/sq mi (20.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.53% White, 0.28% African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.24% Asian, and 0.71% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.57% of the population.

There were 859 households out of which 28.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.5% were married couples living together, 5.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.5% were non-families. 21.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 2.82.

In the town the population was spread out with 22.4% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 30.7% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 105.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $46,739, and the median income for a family was $53,631. Males had a median income of $33,214 versus $26,250 for females. The per capita income for the town was $22,205. About 5.8% of families and 9.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.8% of those under age 18 and 14.4% of those age 65 or over.

ites of interest

* [http://www.bates.edu/x117780.xml Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area]
* Fort Baldwin
* Fort Popham
* Fort St. George
* [http://www.phippsburghistorical.com/ Phippsburg Historical Society & Museum]
* [http://www.phippsburglandtrust.org/ Phippsburg Land Trust]
* [http://lighthouse.cc/pond/ Pond Island Light]
* [http://www.state.me.us/cgi-bin/doc/parks/find_one_name.pl?park_id=22 Popham Beach State Park]

References

Further reading

* [http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mesagada/phipps.htm Brief Description and History of Phippsburg, Maine]
* [ftp://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/me/kennebec/kennebecvalley/shwhitney/kv44-58.txt The Kennebec Valley -- Sagadahoc County (1887)]
* [http://www.camaronal-cr.com/phippsburg/history.htm Phippsburg History Timeline]
* A. J. Coolidge & J. B. Mansfield, "A History and Description of New England", 1859; H. O. Houghton & Company, printers; Cambridge, Massachusetts
* "Phippsburg-Fair To The Wind", Compiled by the Phippsburg Historical Society, 1964

External links

* [http://www.phippsburg.com Town of Phippsburg, Maine]
* [http://www.state.me.us/cgi-bin/doc/parks/find_one_name.pl?park_id=40 Fort Popham State Historic Site]
* [http://www.phippsburghistorical.com/ Phippsburg Historical Society]
* [http://www.bowdoin.edu/new_meadows/index.html New Meadows River Watershed Project]
* [http://www.mainesfirstship.org/ Maine's First Ship -- project to reconstruct the "Virginia of Sagadahoc"]
* [http://maine.gov/local/sagadahoc/phippsburg/ Maine.gov -- Phippsburg, Maine]