South Bristol, Maine
Encyclopedia
South Bristol is a town
in Lincoln County
, Maine
, United States. The population was 897 at the 2000 census. A fishing
and resort area, South Bristol includes the villages of Walpole and Christmas Cove, the latter at Rutherford Island. The town has three nature preserves.
, who traveled in canoe
s to hunt for fish
, shellfish
, seal
s and seafowl. In 1614, Captain John Smith
explored the coast, and is said to have named Christmas Cove when he visited it on Christmas Day. The land was subsequently part of the Pemaquid Patent, granted by the Plymouth Council for New England
in 1631 to Robert Aldsworth and Gyles Elbridge, merchants from Bristol, England, from which the town derives its name.
A palisade
fort and settlement were built on the adjacent Pemaquid Peninsula. Between 1630 and 1650, the area was the center for fur trading in Maine. It was attacked and rebuilt repeatedly during the French and Indian Wars
, with the final two attacks occurring in 1747 at Fort Frederick. In 1765, Bristol
was incorporated as a town, with South Bristol its western portion. On March 26, 1915, South Bristol was set off and incorporated as a separate town.
In the 1800s, the village of Walpole was noted for brickmaking and ice
harvesting. Brickyards along the Damariscotta River supplied many of the bricks used to build Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. The ice business faded with the advent of refrigeration
, but the Thompson Ice House, established in 1826, is now preserved as the Thompson Ice Harvesting Museum. Shipbuilding
has remained important, with schooner
s, fishing trawlers, lobster boats and yacht
s constructed at the town. The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater
was built here in 1968. Other industries in South Bristol are fishing, lobstering
, clamming, aquaculture
and tourism
.
The peninsula
and Rutherford Island are connected by a swing bridge
, one of only three in Maine, which spans "The Gut." For well over a century, Rutherford Island in particular has been a vacation destination for families from Massachusetts
, Connecticut
, New York
and New Jersey
. Many homes on the island are owned by these families.
, the town has a total area of 23.6 square miles (61.2 km²), of which 13.2 square miles (34.2 km²) is land and 10.4 square miles (27.1 km²) (44.20%) is water. Half of South Bristol is located on a peninsula, the other half on Rutherford Island.
The town is crossed by Maine State Route 129. It is bordered on the west by the Damariscotta River
, on the north by Bristol
, on the east by John's Bay, and on the south by the Gulf of Maine
and Atlantic Ocean
.
As of the census
of 2000, there were 897 people, 410 households, and 277 families residing in the town. The population density
was 68.0 people per square mile (26.3/km²). There were 932 housing units at an average density of 70.7 per square mile (27.3/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 99.00% White, 0.11% Native American, 0.22% Asian, and 0.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.45% of the population.
There were 410 households out of which 20.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.0% were married couples
living together, 4.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.2% were non-families. 25.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.58.
In the town the population was spread out with 16.7% under the age of 18, 4.6% from 18 to 24, 18.8% from 25 to 44, 34.9% from 45 to 64, and 25.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 52 years. For every 100 females there were 98.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.6 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $38,636, and the median income for a family was $46,765. Males had a median income of $31,696 versus $21,563 for females. The per capita income
for the town was $28,233. About 3.5% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.0% of those under age 18 and 15.0% of those age 65 or over.
New England town
The New England town is the basic unit of local government in each of the six New England states. Without a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states, New England towns are conceptually similar to civil townships in other states, but are incorporated, possessing powers like cities in other...
in Lincoln County
Lincoln County, Maine
Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of 2010, the population was 34,457. Its county seat is Wiscasset. It was founded in 1760 and named after the English city Lincoln. At its founding, it accounted for three-fifths of the State's land, and stretched east to Nova...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, United States. The population was 897 at the 2000 census. A fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
and resort area, South Bristol includes the villages of Walpole and Christmas Cove, the latter at Rutherford Island. The town has three nature preserves.
History
This was once territory of the Wawenock (or more precisely Walinakiak, meaning "People of the Bays") Abenaki IndiansIndigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, who traveled in canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
s to hunt for fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
, shellfish
Shellfish
Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...
, seal
Earless seal
The true seals or earless seals are one of the three main groups of mammals within the seal superfamily, Pinnipedia. All true seals are members of the family Phocidae . They are sometimes called crawling seals to distinguish them from the fur seals and sea lions of the family Otariidae...
s and seafowl. In 1614, Captain John Smith
John Smith of Jamestown
Captain John Smith Admiral of New England was an English soldier, explorer, and author. He was knighted for his services to Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania and friend Mózes Székely...
explored the coast, and is said to have named Christmas Cove when he visited it on Christmas Day. The land was subsequently part of the Pemaquid Patent, granted by the Plymouth Council for New England
Plymouth Council for New England
The Plymouth Council for New England was the name of a 17th century English joint stock company that was granted a royal charter to found colonial settlements along the coast of North America....
in 1631 to Robert Aldsworth and Gyles Elbridge, merchants from Bristol, England, from which the town derives its name.
A palisade
Palisade
A palisade is a steel or wooden fence or wall of variable height, usually used as a defensive structure.- Typical construction :Typical construction consisted of small or mid sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with no spacing in between. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were...
fort and settlement were built on the adjacent Pemaquid Peninsula. Between 1630 and 1650, the area was the center for fur trading in Maine. It was attacked and rebuilt repeatedly during the French and Indian Wars
French and Indian Wars
The French and Indian Wars is a name used in the United States for a series of conflicts lasting 74 years in North America that represented colonial events related to the European dynastic wars...
, with the final two attacks occurring in 1747 at Fort Frederick. In 1765, Bristol
Bristol, Maine
Bristol is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,644 at the 2000 census. A fishing and resort area, Bristol includes the villages of New Harbor, Pemaquid, Round Pond, Bristol Mills and Chamberlain. It includes the Pemaquid Archeological Site, a U.S. National...
was incorporated as a town, with South Bristol its western portion. On March 26, 1915, South Bristol was set off and incorporated as a separate town.
In the 1800s, the village of Walpole was noted for brickmaking and ice
Ice
Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...
harvesting. Brickyards along the Damariscotta River supplied many of the bricks used to build Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. The ice business faded with the advent of refrigeration
Refrigeration
Refrigeration is a process in which work is done to move heat from one location to another. This work is traditionally done by mechanical work, but can also be done by magnetism, laser or other means...
, but the Thompson Ice House, established in 1826, is now preserved as the Thompson Ice Harvesting Museum. Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
has remained important, with schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
s, fishing trawlers, lobster boats and yacht
Yacht
A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...
s constructed at the town. The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater
The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. is an organization based in Beacon, New York that seeks to protect the Hudson River and surrounding wetlands and waterways through advocacy and public education...
was built here in 1968. Other industries in South Bristol are fishing, lobstering
Lobster fishing
Lobster fishing, sometimes called lobstering, is the commercial or recreational harvesting of marine lobsters, spiny lobsters or crayfish.-Lobster tools and technology:...
, clamming, aquaculture
Aquaculture
Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the...
and tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
.
The peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
and Rutherford Island are connected by a swing bridge
Swing bridge
A swing bridge is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its centre of gravity, about which the turning span can then pivot horizontally as shown in the animated illustration to the right...
, one of only three in Maine, which spans "The Gut." For well over a century, Rutherford Island in particular has been a vacation destination for families from Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. Many homes on the island are owned by these families.
Geography
According to the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the town has a total area of 23.6 square miles (61.2 km²), of which 13.2 square miles (34.2 km²) is land and 10.4 square miles (27.1 km²) (44.20%) is water. Half of South Bristol is located on a peninsula, the other half on Rutherford Island.
The town is crossed by Maine State Route 129. It is bordered on the west by the Damariscotta River
Damariscotta River
The Damariscotta River is a tidal river in Lincoln County, Maine, that empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Damariscotta is an old Abenaki word for "river of many fishes"...
, on the north by Bristol
Bristol, Maine
Bristol is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,644 at the 2000 census. A fishing and resort area, Bristol includes the villages of New Harbor, Pemaquid, Round Pond, Bristol Mills and Chamberlain. It includes the Pemaquid Archeological Site, a U.S. National...
, on the east by John's Bay, and on the south by the Gulf of Maine
Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America.It is delineated by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and Cape Sable at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast. It includes the entire coastlines of the U.S...
and Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
.
Demographics
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 897 people, 410 households, and 277 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 68.0 people per square mile (26.3/km²). There were 932 housing units at an average density of 70.7 per square mile (27.3/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 99.00% White, 0.11% Native American, 0.22% Asian, and 0.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.45% of the population.
There were 410 households out of which 20.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.0% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 4.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.2% were non-families. 25.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.19 and the average family size was 2.58.
In the town the population was spread out with 16.7% under the age of 18, 4.6% from 18 to 24, 18.8% from 25 to 44, 34.9% from 45 to 64, and 25.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 52 years. For every 100 females there were 98.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.6 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $38,636, and the median income for a family was $46,765. Males had a median income of $31,696 versus $21,563 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the town was $28,233. About 3.5% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.0% of those under age 18 and 15.0% of those age 65 or over.
Sites of interest
- South Bristol Historical Society
- Thompson Ice Harvesting Museum
- Walpole Meeting House (1772)
- Witch Island Audubon Sanctuary