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Camden, Maine
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Camden is a town in Knox County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,254 at the 2000 census. Home to Camden Hills State Park, the town is a popular tourist destination.
lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m613101",this)' onMouseout='hide("m613101")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Penobscot">Penobscot Abenaki Indians called the area Megunticook, meaning "great swells of the sea," a reference to the Camden Hills. Part of the Waldo Patent, it remained wilderness until after the French and Indian War. It was first settled about 1771-1772 by James Richards, who built a home at the mouth of the Megunticook River.
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Encyclopedia
Camden is a town in Knox County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,254 at the 2000 census. Home to Camden Hills State Park, the town is a popular tourist destination.
History
Penobscot Abenaki Indians called the area Megunticook, meaning "great swells of the sea," a reference to the Camden Hills. Part of the Waldo Patent, it remained wilderness until after the French and Indian War. It was first settled about 1771-1772 by James Richards, who built a home at the mouth of the Megunticook River. Others soon followed, some making modest attempts to farm the broken and often mountainous terrain.
When Castine was held by the British in 1779, Camden became a rendezvous point and encampment for the Americans, who were commanded by Major George Ulmer. During a raid, the British burned a sawmill. On February 17, 1791, the Massachusetts General Court incorporated Megunticook Plantation as Camden, named for Earl Camden, a member of the British Parliament and proponent of civil liberties. During the War of 1812, a battery was built atop Mount Battie near the village. It had both a 12 and 18-pounder gun, but no gunner qualified to operate them. Nevertheless, the fort's appearance of readiness kept the British at bay.
When peace returned, Camden grew rapidly. The Megunticook River provided excellent water power sites for mills. In addition to sawmills and gristmills, by 1858 the town had carriage factories, sash and blind factories and blacksmith shops. There were 6 shipyards, launching 10 to 12 vessels annually. By 1886, the town also made foundry products, railroad cars, woolens and paper mill feltings, anchors, wedges, plugs and treenails, planking, powder kegs, excelsior, mattresses, powder, tinware, oakum, wool rools, boots and shoes, leather, flour and meal, corn brooms and barrels. Camden was second only to nearby Rockland in the lucrative manufacture of lime, excavated at quarries and processed in kilns before being shipped to various ports around the United States. In 1891, Rockport was set off as a town.
Camden's 19th century prosperity endowed it with considerable fine architecture, which combined with its romantic mountain backdrop and schooner cruises, makes the seaport an enduring tourist favorite. The town's charm has not gone unnoticed by Hollywood. Among the movies set here have been Carousel (1956), Peyton Place (1957) and In the Bedroom (2001). In Carousel, the harbor can be seen in the distance during the sequence in which Mrs. Mullin, the carousel owner, confronts Julie (Shirley Jones) and Carrie (Barbara Ruick) after Julie has taken a ride on the merry-go-round. The soap opera Passions uses Camden for shots depicting the fictional town Harmony. Camden was the childhood home of Pulitzer Prize winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, who wrote her first major work, "Renascence," there in 1912.
Camden Public Library was built in 1928, and an "underground" addition was built in 1996. The library maintains and oversees two historically-recognized adjacent parks, which are part of the library's overall campus: the Camden Amphitheatre, which was designed by Fletcher Steele, and the Camden Harbor Park (across from the Amphitheatre), which was designed by the Olmstead Brothers.
The town is home to The Camden Conference, an annual public affairs conference held in February. Also, the Pop!Tech conference takes place each fall. During the second weekend of February, the annual U.S. National Toboggan Championships are held at the town-owned Camden Snow Bowl. This nationally-known race started as a lark for something to do during the long Maine winters, and 18 years later is one of New England's premier cold-weather events. The iced chute is long, and the four-man teams attain speeds of up to an hour. Most racers arrive in costume, and 100% percent of race revenue is used to offset operating expenses for this recreation area.
Notable residents
- Kay Aldridge, model and actress
- Tim Boetsch, martial artist
- Gordon Bok, singer-songwriter
- David G. Conover, documentary film and television director
- William Conway, quartermaster
- Jeremiah W. Farnham, sea captain
- Tess Gerritsen, novelist
- Joseph Hall, congressman
- Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet
- Richard Russo, novelist
- Ephraim K. Smart, congressman
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 25.8 square miles (66.8 kmē), of which, 18.3 square miles (47.4 kmē) of it is land and 7.5 square miles (19.5 kmē) of it (29.14%) is water. Drained by the Megunticook River, Camden is located beside Penobscot Bay and the Gulf of Maine, part of the Atlantic Ocean. Mount Megunticook has an elevation of 1385 feet (419 m).
The town is crossed by U. S. Route 1 and state routes 52 and 105. It borders the towns of Rockport to the south, Hope to the southwest, and Lincolnville to the north.
Demographics
See also: Camden (CDP), Maine
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,254 people, 2,390 households, and 1,414 families residing in the town. The population density was 287.3 people per square mile (110.9/kmē). There were 2,883 housing units at an average density of 157.6/sq mi (60.9/kmē). The racial makeup of the town was 98.33% White, 0.25% Black or African American, 0.13% Native American, 0.40% Asian, 0.15% from other races, and 0.74% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.86% of the population.
There were 2,390 households out of which 24.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.1% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.8% were non-families. 34.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.11 and the average family size was 2.71.
In the town the population was spread out with 19.7% under the age of 18, 4.4% from 18 to 24, 22.2% from 25 to 44, 30.3% from 45 to 64, and 23.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females there were 83.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.1 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $39,877, and the median income for a family was $56,439. Males had a median income of $33,500 versus $26,645 for females. The per capita income for the town was $26,126. About 5.5% of families and 8.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.5% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.
Gallery
Education
Sites of interest
Further reading
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- A. J. Coolidge & J. B. Mansfield, A History and Description of New England, 1859; H. O. Houghton & Company, printers; Cambridge, Massachusetts
- By John Lymburner Locke. Published 1859.
External links
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