We Mainers like to think of ourselves as having quite a history, being one of the oldest parts of the U.S. first settled in modern times. We have our historic forts and homes, creepy old graveyards with crumbling headstones, iconic old lighthouses, etc. We have history here, a long history that many states cannot boast, but our history pales in comparison with the history of the actual land.
Here is a photo of the beautiful Damariscotta River,
which has a real history. Damariscotta
is an Abenaki word that means “river of many fishes,” and rightly so. The 19-mile Damariscotta
River starts at the Damariscotta Lake
(fed by many tributaries) and makes a quick drop through Damariscotta Mills
until it reaches the Salt
Bay. There it becomes a tidal river and flows
southward to the Atlantic Ocean. It is quick-running and breathtaking, even in
the winter, and runs through the Town of Damariscotta,
settled in about 1640, one of my favorite places in Maine.
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| The Damariscotta River. |
Nowadays, the Damariscotta
River is still very
important for tourism, cruises, oyster and mussel farming, fishing, clamming,
etc. But this is nothing new for the Damariscotta River.
There are oyster shell middens (dumps) on the banks of the river that
are 2,500 years old, a tad older than the oldest Popham Colony settlers from
1607. The Whaleback midden was the
largest of these middens, being about 30 feet deep and one-third a mile
long. It was formed from 200 BC to 1,000
AD with three main layers to it. Many
tribes of prehistoric people used this area as a dump for oyster shells, with
the topmost layer being deposited by the Abenaki tribe, which used the Damariscotta River area to fish in the summertime.
Unfortunately, most of the Whaleback midden is gone now,
having been processed into chicken feed in the late 1800s by the Damariscotta
Shell and Fertilizer Company. We have
learned a lot about the people who used the midden by the remains that are
still left, but I can only imagine what artifacts, treasures, and information
must have been lost in the harvesting of this midden. Today it is protected and is now a Maine state historic
site with displays and hiking trails.
The next largest midden, the Glidden, is across the Damariscotta River
in Newcastle. It’s now the largest midden in the eastern U.S. north of Georgia.
By 1875, the once abundant oyster population of the Damariscotta River had disappeared. Wild populations have been reestablished with
the spawn of aquaculture oysters and are doing quite well. Now we are managing the area in a sustainable
manner. What amazes me is how this area
was used for oyster harvesting--and consequently shell dumping, which formed
the middens--since prehistoric times, 200 BC., yet there were plenty of oysters
and other fish to go around for at least a couple of thousand years. That plenitude was seriously threatened by
the late 1800s, but with a watchful eye, perhaps we can maintain the beauty and
abundance of the Damariscotta
River.
