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Maine’s county names come from a mix of British, American, and Native American sources, reflecting Maine’s pre-colonial, colonial, and national heritage. Counties by Year. York County (originally Yorkshire County, Massachusetts) was the first county created on November 20, 1652. Knox County was the last county created on March 9, 1960.
The English and Scots-Irish settled coastal Maine first. They named their early settlements after their birthplaces, with English and Scots-Irish place names like York and Belfast. Quite a few Maine place names come from the Native American people, including Machias (“bad little falls”) and Ogunquit (“beautiful place by the sea”).
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Maine was granted statehood on March 15, 1820 as part of the Missouri Compromise. Nine of the sixteen counties had their borders defined while Maine was still part of Massachusetts, and hence are older than the state itself. Even after 1820, the exact location of the northern border of Maine was disputed with Britain, until the question was ...
Feb 7, 2023 · As a state with some of the oldest examples of European colonization in U.S. history, most towns and cities in Maine have been around for around 200 years — even 300 or more years in some cases.
Sep 24, 2015 · Geography. A few towns and cities in Maine are, or may have been, named after foreign places because their geography seemed reminiscent of the geography of the original cities. Woolwich, for example, may have been called that because its location on the Kennebec River was similar to that of the English town of Woolwich on the Thames.
- Nora Flaherty
Mar 4, 2020 · In the same year, a second charter labeled it Laconia. Gorges volleyed with yet another name for his territory: New Somerset. This was strongly disliked by King Charles; he responded in a 1639 charter that it "shall forever hereafter be called and named the Province or County of Mayne and not by any other name or names whatsoever."
3,255 sq mi. ( 8,430 km 2) York County. 031. Alfred. 1652. As Yorkshire County, Massachusetts from the southern part of the District of Maine. Renamed York County by Massachusetts in 1668. York, England, the birthplace of Christopher Levett who first attempted to settle the area.
