Boats at a quite anchorage at low tide surrounded by the town of Lubec Maine. Background entrance to the harbor and Atlantic
Located on a peninsula overlooking an excellent ice-free harbor, the town was first settled about 1775. Originally part of Eastport, it was set off and incorporated on June 21, 1811, and named for Lübeck, Germany. Following the War of 1812, Lubec was the site of considerable smuggling trade in gypsum, although principal industries remained agriculture and fisheries. By 1859, there was a tannery, three gristmills and nine sawmills; by 1886, there were also two shipyards, three boatbuilders and three sailmakers. From 1897 to 1898, the town was the site of a swindle in the sale of stock in the Electrolytic Marine Salts Company, the brainchild of Reverend Prescott Jernegan and Charles Fisher of Martha's Vineyard. Jernegan claimed to have developed a method of using "accumulators" to get gold from sea water, and bought an old grist mill to turn it into a factory. The scheme attracted an abundance of investors, who were all too eager to funnel money into the company after being promised astronomical returns. In the summer of 1898, work was suspended without explanation at the factory. Jernegan and Smith vanished, and the fraud was gleefully exposed by newspapers across New England. Lubec reached its population peak in the 1910s and 20s, hovering a little above 3,300 during this era. Since then, the population has generally been in a gradual but steady decline, and currently sits at a little over 1,300.
Size: 3504px × 2336px
Location: Luibec, Washington County, Maine, USA
Photo credit: © Vincent Palermo / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 189, anchor, bay, boatbuilders, boats, bridge, campobello, county, eastport, eastport., fishing, franklin, harbor, head, island, lubec, luibec, maine, passamaquoddy, quoddy, roosevelt, route, state, tide, washington, west
