Freeport Town

Cumberland County, Maine

Home | Whats New | Site Index | Contact | Search

Freeport Town Hall is located at 30 Main Street, Freeport, ME 04032.
Phone: 207‑865‑4743.

Neighborhoods

Freeport as described in 1938 [1]

Freeport, a pleasant, tree-shaded old village, is often referred to as the Birthplace of Maine, because the final papers for the separation of Maine from Massachusetts, which established it in 1820 as an independent State, were signed here by commissioners from Massachusetts and the Province of Maine, probably in Jameson's Tavern (1779), just north of the post office.

When Freeport was incorporated in 1789 it was named for Sir Andrew Freeport, the character in Addison's Spectator Papers who represented the London merchant class. There was a time when Freeport had a prosperous shipbuilding business, but it is now engaged in shoemaking, crabbing, and crab-meat packing. The crab meat, picked from the shells by groups of young women, is shipped in iced cartons.

Freeport, like almost every other old town along this coast, has its story of an Indian attack. In 1756 Thomas Means, living near Flying Point, was surprised in his bed and scalped; his wife and infant son were killed by a single bullet; two other children crept into hiding and escaped. The Indians took Mrs. Means' sister Mary with them to Canada, where she became a housemaid in the home of one of the French feudal lords. She was later rescued by William McLellan, whom she married.

  1. Works Progress Administration, Federal Writers' Program, U.S. One: Maine to Florida, Modern Age Books, 1938, U. S. No. 1 Highway Association, Inc.

Home | Whats New | Site Index | Contact
Privacy | Disclaimer

Copyright © 1997-2024, The Gombach Group