Eggemoggin Reach History

Eggemoggin Reach History. . , Photo captions starting center left at main illustration and going clockwise:, Penobscot Expedition , On July 28, 1779, in what is known as the Penobscot Expedition, American forces led by the Marines stormed the western bluffs of the peninsula. Two weeks of virtual stalemate ensued, brought on by the inability of the American land and naval forces to agree upon a plan of attack. , On August 13, the combined American forces under General Solomon Lovell and Commodore Dudley Saltonstall finally moved against the British. An American ship signaled the imminent arrival of seven British warships, seen here., The American attack was quickly cancelled and the forces retreated from their positions. The entire American combined fleet of 40 vessels was subsequently beached, blown up, or burned by the American crews to avoid capture and seizure by the British. It was the greatest naval disaster in American history., In an interesting footnote to history: Following this disaster, Lt. Col. Paul Revere (of Midnight Ride fame) was censured and Saltonstall was court-martialed and dismissed from the Continental Navy., Deer Isle/Stonington Historical Society Located at 416 Sunset Rd., Rt 15A., Penobscot Historical Society Located on Rt. 199., Sedgwick-Brooklin Historical Society Located on Rt. 172 in the Daniel Merrill House. Rev. Merrill was the founder of Colby College in Waterville, Me., Castine Historical Society Located on the Town Common, The sailing sloop Defender was the winner of the America's Cup in 1895, crewed by sailors from this region. Some 140 sailors from Stonington and Deer Isle were selected on town meeting day by local Captain Fred Weed to fill 40 crew positions, plus alternates, and sail in the America's Cup races of 1895 and 1899. It was testimony to the extraordinary skills of local mariners, many of whom honed their skills on Eggemoggin Reach, a route treasured by serious cruising sailors to this day., Maine Lake Ice Company From 1900 to 1916 the Maine Ice Company harvested ice from Walker Pond for distribution year-round, shipped on four-masted and five-masted schooners to markets in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., the Caribbean Islands, and even South America. The company's storage facilities on Eggemoggin Reach had a capacity of 120,000 tons of ice. Some historians consider the Maine Lake Ice Company to have been the largest natural ice-producing operation in the world.