Eliot, ME
| Eliot, Maine | |
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| Town | |
William Fogg Library, c. 1919
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 Eliot
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| Coordinates: 43°8′8″N 70°47′37″W / 43.13556°N 70.79361°WCoordinates: 43°8′8″N 70°47′37″W / 43.13556°N 70.79361°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Maine |
| County | York |
| Incorporated | 1810 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Town Meeting |
| • Board of Selectmen | Robert Pomerleau(2018) Rebecca Davis(2017) Stephen Beckert (2018) John Murphy(2016) Roland Fernald(2017) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 21.32 sq mi (55.22 km2) |
| • Land | 19.78 sq mi (51.23 km2) |
| • Water | 1.54 sq mi (3.99 km2) |
| Elevation | 20 ft (6 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 6,204 |
| • Estimate (2012) | 6,243 |
| • Density | 313.7/sq mi (121.1/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 03903 |
| Area code(s) | 207 |
| FIPS code | 23-22955 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0582464 |
| Website | www |
Eliot is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was 6,204 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area.
Eliot is home to Littlebrook Airpark and the Raitt Homestead Farm Museum.
The honor of naming the town is sometimes given to Alexander Shapleigh who was reportedly born around 1574 at the Manor of Kittery Court in Devon, England. Kittery Court is located in the village of Kingsweare, across the river Dart from the city of Dartmouth. Dartmouth, New Hampshire, of course, and Exeter and Appledore are also local place names borrowed from this region in the county of Devon. In England the Shapleights were merchants and a major importer of salt from France. It was a natural step to become involved in the fishing industry in which salted fish were imported from the Atlantic coast of America. Alexander arrived in the New World in 1635 aboard his ship BENEDICTION that he co-owned with business partner Captain Francis Champernowne, a relative of Sir Walter Scott. Like the Pepperrells of Kittery, they also set up a salt fish operation at the Isles of Shoals and exported the popular product to Europe.
ALEXANDER SHAPLEIGH(1), the pioneer of the American Branch of the Family, was born apparently at Kingsweare, Devon, England, about 1574, and was probably the son of Nicholas Shapleigh, of that place, but of this we are not quite sure. His beautiful residence at Kingsweare was called Kittery House. A name that had come down in the Shapleigh family for several generations, and the name, followed the family to America and finally gave name to the Town of Kittery, Maine. From the testimony of Katherine Treworgy, we learn that Alexander Shapleigh was alive May 26, 1642. We hear nothing more about him, and we learn from the court records that he was dead previous to July 5, 1650.
The town Kittery, Maine, was incorporated in 1647, and today bills itself as "the oldest incorporated town in Maine." It was named after the birthplace of a founder, Alexander Shapleigh, from the manor of Kittery Court at Kingswear in Devon, England. Shapleigh arrived in 1635 aboard the ship Benediction, which he co-owned with another prominent settler, Captain Francis Champernowne. Together with the Pepperrell family, they established fisheries offshore at the Isles of Shoals, where fish were caught, salted and exported back to Europe. Other pioneers were hunters, trappers and workers of the region's abundant timber. Kittery's original land area extended from the Atlantic Ocean inland up the Salmon Falls River, including the present-day towns of Eliot, Berwick, South Berwick and North Berwick.
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