Appendix H - Historical Archaeological and ... - CBP.gov

1.2 HISTORIC CONTEXT
1.2.1 NEW ENGLAND REGION
1.2.1.1 State of Maine
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) northern border project area – 100-mile
jurisdiction – encompasses nearly the entire State of Maine except York County and the southern
portion of Cumberland County in southern Maine. This area is referred to as the study area in
this subsection.
Contact Period/Exploration/Colonial Period
The history of European contact, exploration, and settlement in northern New England and the
greater maritime peninsula (Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia) of which Maine is a
part, commences in the mid-sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The early colonial period
in Maine is divided into three periods (Early Settlement, 1604-1675; Indian Wars, 1675-early
eighteenth century; and the Resettlement Period, early-mid-eighteenth century) and is best
represented in southern-most coastal Maine. The 1604 French colony at St. Croix in the
northeast corner of the state signaled the arrival of a European power which was to compete with
the English colonies to the south. Intermittent warfare characterized much of the period, 1604-
1759. Territorial conflict arose initially with the displacement and widespread disruption of
Native American culture and competition among European interests to control the fur trade.
Specifically, the boundary of New France extended well into Maine and was marked by a series
of seventeenth-century and early eighteenth-century French missions (Castine, Norridgewock,
Canton, Fryeburg), which in effect curtailed English settlement throughout the northern border
area of Maine until the end of the French and Indian Wars, ca. 1759.
With the British conquest of French Canada, ca. 1760, there emerged a period of rapid
development in southern sections of the state accompanied by an increase in diversity of
industry, transportation, commerce and trade, and agriculture. Variability among site types
likewise increases throughout the later historic period with the introduction of technological
innovations, division of labor, ethnic diversity, availability of a greater range of natural
resources, and other factors.
Frontier
Primarily, the early settlement period in Maine’s interior occurred after the American
Revolution, and constitutes a period of approximately 50 years from the first settlement of a
given township/plantation. Priority resources, or those which were built within 50 years of the
township/plantation’s first settlement include, dwelling sites, farmsteads, and village
centers/rural neighborhoods (containing, for example, water-powered saw and gristmills,
tanneries, carding factories, blacksmith and carriage shops, stores, hotels, churches, schools,
cemeteries) are site types that supply data regarding the adaptation of new populations to
wilderness landscapes. There are numerous examples of these and related resources in all settled
townships.
Northern Border Activities H-68 July 2012