Page 18 - 2019 visitors guide

Towns of the Chamber Towns of the Chamber

WOOLWICH Nequasset was attacked during King Wil-
HISTORY liam's War, when inhabitants were
again massacred or forced to abandon
their homes. It was assailed again in
1723 during Dummer's War, when
Called Nequasset after Nequasset
the Norridgewocks and their 250 Indian
lake by Abenaki Indians, it was first
settled in 1638 by Edward Bateman and allies from Canada, incited by
John Brown. They would purchase the he French missionary Sebastien Rale,
land in 1639 from burned dwellings and killed cattle. Fol-
lowing Governor William Dum-
the sachem Mowhotiwormet, commonly
mer's peace treaty of 1725, resettlement
known as Chief Robinhood, who lived
near Nequasset Falls. would be slow.
During the French and Indian War, on
At Day's Ferry on the Kennebec River,
Richard Hammond operated a forti- June 9, 1758, Indians raided the village,
killing members of the Preble family and
fied trading post. His household of 16,
taking others prisoner to Quebec. This
including servants, workmen and step-
children, conducted a lucrative fur incident became known as the last con-
trade with the Indians. But in the first flict on the Kennebec River.
blow of King Philip's War in the area, on
the evening of August 13, 1676, warriors Nequasset had become a district
ingratiated themselves into of Georgetown, but on October 20,
the stockaded trading post, then killed 1759, the plantation was set off and in-
the elderly Hammond and his stepson as corporated by the Massachusetts Gen-
they returned for the night. Others were eral Court, named after Woolwich, Eng-
either slain and scalped or taken into land.
captivity. Buildings were looted and
burned, and the cattle slain. The peninsula was heavily wooded,
providing timber for shipbuilding. It also
had excellent soil for agriculture. By
1858, industries included two sawmills,
two gristmills and a shipyard. By 1886,
the community also produced bricks and
leather.

The Sasanoa River, after some work by
the Corp of Army Engineers, now per-
mits navigation between Bath
and Boothbay Harbor.

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