Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-03-01
NO. 81.
miscellaneous.
ANCIENT PEMAQrID.


Republican, writing from Boothbay under
date of Sept /. 1850. says of this interest
ing historic locality;
Pemaquid point, where the lighthouse
stands 100 feet high, Is precipitouS pro-
montory whose long-rhhed lodges extend
far out, At high tide these lodges are
covered with the surging sea close to the
PERCEPTIONS shore Many huge boulders
are poised on the lodges. tossed there hv
tremendous waves. One. weighing prob
ably 100 tons. during severe storm will
rock loudly TO and iro in its sclt-made
groove, and this the keeper calls his mu-
steal stone The lighthouse keeper was
alone and kindly garrulous. Four years
ago in March during terrific storm up
by the light great drifts We're piled, The
sea swept up over the sleeps and around
his house, breaking down the doors and
flooding his rooms, Stones were thrown
high enough To break the lights. IS feet
above high tide, He related an incident
ot the lighthouse at Matinicus. During
the terrible storm memorable rs that
which carried awav Minot Ledge light. the
MaiinicuS keeper and his wife We're una
BILE to return. And for Ii davs and nights
his daughter, girl of Ii. was alone in
the terrific storm. taking sole care of the
lights. Her allowance of food was re-
duce to cup OF meal per day and u few
hens which she had rescued from the hen
house, Just before n huge breaker had
swampcd il iuto the sea. She had been
so faithful and courageous that she was
appointed assistant and remained with her
father for years. till promoted To a light ot
higher class. She married the keeper of
White Head light and is appointed first
assistant, her son making the second as
ss,ant. The light is always saluted by the
Mt. Desert steamers. and we wished we
could manifest our admiration when we
saw her dcmurcly standing at the door
waving her domestic apron. The Ida
Lewis girls are in more than one light
house along the coast of Maiue.
The site of the ancient colony of Pema-
quid. which in 1874 was named jamestown
by Sir Edward Andros. and called the
metropolis of New England is an inter-
esting place, pathetic to the antiquarian,
and curious to the summer tourist and
relic hunter Here was the centre of all
the combats of l50 years. which uprooted
the dominion Of old England and gave to
the Pur:ans their vigorous religion and
the hard soil of New England. In 1905.
Capt Weymouth visited Monhegan and
Pemaquid in the l6-gun brig arch
Angel'-which was wrecked there in
1885, and captured three Indians whom
he. carried to England. Samosct, who
was Pemaqud Indian and the aboriginal
lord of Monhcgan and adjacent islands,
was one of the captured. He was after
ward returned and electrified the Ply
mouth pilgrims by walking into their
village with an English saluiation. In
1913. fierce war broke out at Pemaquid
between the Tarratine Indians and the
Bashaba, the chief of the Western Maine
tribes. The conquered Bashaba and fam
lily were put to death by the TarratIncs.
Their number had been greatly reduced
by this war and n pestilencc. and they,
with the Wavenock, became too feeble TO
resist colonization. So before the fort and
paved streets rose a little palisaded ham
let close upon the shores of the bay In
1851, Pemaquid patent was granted to
two merchants OF Bristol. England. The
colony lived by fishing and ti'lage and
were frugal and thrifty. One day, when
the men were away at the fields and fish
ing ground the pirate Capt. John Smith,
''Dixey Bull'' who had once been n
coast trader and law abiding citizen,
sailed into the little harbor and fell upon
the little hamlet. overcoming women and
children, pIunderino the village and car
rying away the vessels. The wretch
came to the end ola rope three years later
for this and other piratical offenses After
ward the region was formed into "ducal
state" and made an appanage Of the duke
of York (afterward James ~
The place grew rapidly, and in 1914
Fort Charles was built. many Dutch i'm
migrants came in and having three paved
streets. with cross streets they We'd with
Boston as the metropolis But the Indians
who had suffered many indignities from
the white man. swept down upon Pema-
quid utterly destroying it. MANY
of the people escaped in boats to
Monhegan island. 1t was again re-occu-
pied and again destroyed by the resentful
Tarritines. In 1G92. Sir William Phipps,
then governor of the British provinces,
erected a stone fort on the old site, gar
risoned it with $50 troops and mounting
Is guns. called it Fort William Henry. 1t
was then the most powerful fortress in
America and soon repulsed an attack of
French frigates. In 1896 Admiral Iber-
vile attacked the growing colony with q
fleet Of several hundred French regulars,
Mic-Mac Indians Of Nova Scotia. and 200
TarrrtiBes under Baron de St. Castin The
bombardmeDt was terrible from men-of-
war and opposite shore batteries. The
fort was taken, the settlement plundered.
and the garrison and colonists carried
into captivity. But the post possessed too
| many advantages TO be abandoned. II
was soon settled again, and when Maine
was ccded to Massachusetts, its people
prayed that Pemaquid might remain 1.-THE
metropolis of these parts because 1t had
ever been so before Boston was settled
| In 1870 the fort was rebuilt under the
name Of Fort Frederick. by Col. Dunbar.
the surveyor Of the kings woods. This
doughty old officer built fine mansion
| (Which is in excellent preservation and
occupied by Capt. j. w. Partridge) and
laid out new city, but his arbitrary laws
caused transfer to the government OF St.
Helena. In 1745 and l747. Fort Fred
erick was attacked by French force
which was repulsed with heavy loss The
fort was destroyed by the people during
the revolutionary war, least it should be-
come British post. Qoothbay harbor
had been chosen by the British for a naval
| station, but the revolutionary war pre.