HISTORY

Lincoln County was incorporated June 19, 1760 and contains 457 square miles of coastline and six rivers. In 1760, Lincoln County’s western boundary began at the eastern edge of Casco Bay (Small Point), followed the Casco Bay shore to the New Meadows River across the carrying place to Merrymeeting Bay, and then 30 miles up the Androscoggin River where the boundary ran north 2W to the Canadian border. The easterly boundary was Nova Scotia, extending from the sea to the northerly reaches of the territory of Maine.

At that time Lincoln County covered three-fifths of the territory of Maine; the remaining portion of the state was in the counties of York and Cumberland. The additional 13 counties that comprise the State of Maine today were formed from the 1760 Lincoln County land; although their configuration has changed over the years preceding statehood in 1820.

Pownalborough was the original shire town named for Thomas Pownal who served as Colonial Governor of Massachusetts from 1757 to 1769. Lincoln County received its name in compliment to Governor Pownal who was born in Lincoln, England. In 1790 Wiscasset became and still is the county seat. The county was governed by the Court of General Sessions until 1831 when government was transferred to the Court of County Commissioners and remains so today.

Maine interests such as commercial fishing, lobstering, clamming, eeling, boat building along with forestry and agriculture constituted the majority of the early economic base.

The Registry is located in the Lincoln County Court House built in 1824. Of Georgian architecture, it is the oldest courthouse in Maine in which court is still held and is patterned after many old English buildings. The courtrooms remain practically as they were in the beginning. The actual cost of the building is said to have been $10,843.09

The building was enlarged in 1950 and 1972, but the additions were done in a manner that retains the architecture and character of the original building. Still remaining in the courtroom are the circular niches in which the stoves stood and a marvelous old curved bench. In the traverse jury room there are chairs and table. The stairway is granite with an iron stair rail and scales used in 1856 to test weights and measures are displayed in a hallway.

The addition to the Court House, the grounds also house the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department built in 1985 and the County Communications Center completed in 1998.