Page 86 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

86
Maine
Augusta, the capital city of Maine
Settled 1754
Incorporated February 20, 1797 Elevation 68 ft (20 m)
Population 19,000
Augusta is the capital of the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Kennebec County. It is the third smallest state capital in the U.S. Yet because Maine is a state
of small settlements, it is still the eighth- largest city in Maine.
The city is beside the Kennebec River at the head of tidal reach.
The area around Augusta was first explored by the Popham Colony in September 1607, although no trace of what became of them survives. Its first permanent English settlers were from the Plymouth Colony. In 1629 they set up a trading post on the Kennebec River. The first settlement was known as Cushnoc, Algonquin for “head of tide.”
In this forested region, the main reason for the early settlement was to trade in furs. But as the furs were over caught, the number of pelts available declined and the settlement was abandoned for 75 years. Hostilities with Native Americans also made this quite an unsafe place for a remote settlement. In 1722, Native Americans attacked Fort Richmond and destroyed Brunswick. In 1754, a blockhouse named Fort Western (now the oldest wooden fort
in America), was built on the river’s eastern bank at Cushnoc.