(Jail) in 1901 First settled by Europeans in 1624, the plantation was originally called Agamenticus, the
Abenaki term for the
York River, which also was the name given to the
hill, visible from sea. In 1638, settlers changed the name to Bristol after
Bristol,
England, from which they had immigrated. Envisioning a great city arising from the
wilderness, Sir
Ferdinando Gorges, lord proprietor of Maine under the
Plymouth patent, named the capital of his province Gorgeana. On March 1, 1642, by charter of
King Charles I, Gorgeana became the first incorporated city in America. Following Gorges' death, the
Massachusetts Bay Colony claimed his dominion. In 1652, York, Massachusetts, was incorporated from a portion of Gorgeana, making it the second oldest town in Maine after
Kittery, incorporated two years earlier. It was named for
York, England; however, control of the region was contested between
New England and
New France, which incited
Native Americans to attack
English settlements throughout the
French and Indian Wars. the son of
Richard Dummer and uncle to
William Dummer, who became acting governor of the
Province of Massachusetts Bay. During
King William's War, York was destroyed in the
Candlemas Massacre of 1692. During the raid by the Abenakis, Dummer was shot at his own front door. About 50 others were slain and near 100 carried away captive, among them Dummer's wife, Lydia, and their son, where "through snows and hardships among those dragons of the desert she also quickly died"; nothing further was heard of the boy. The final local Indian attack occurred at the Cape Neddick area during
Dummer's War in 1723. Hostilities diminished with the
French defeat at the
Siege of Louisbourg (1745), and ceased altogether with the 1763
Treaty of Paris.
Trading center As provincial capital and site of the
Royal Gaol (Jail), York prospered. Numerous
wharves and
warehouses serviced trade with the
West Indies. Agricultural products and
lumber were shipped in exchange for
sugar,
molasses and other commodities. One notable
merchant was
John Hancock, whose establishment is now a museum. Following the
Revolution, however, President
Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807 crippled trade. York, bereft of status as capitol, would not again be prosperous until after the
Civil War, when its sea breezes and colonial charm, including old homes like the
John Sedgley Homestead, attracted tourists.
Present day Like
Bar Harbor and
Newport,
Rhode Island, York became a fashionable summer resort, and retains many distinctive examples of
Gilded Age architecture, particularly in the
Shingle style. A cluster of historic buildings in the center of York Village are maintained as museums by the Old York Historical Society. ==The Yorks==