New Gloucester, Maine
Cumberland county. This is a pleasant and flourishing farming town, 23 miles N. from Portland and 38 S.W. from Augusta. Incorporated, 1774. Population, 1837, 1,861. It is well watered by Royal's river, on which are mills of various kinds. The soil of the town is very fertile, containing large tracts of intervale. The first settlers were compelled to build a block house for their protection against the Indians. In this building the people attended public worship for a number of years. This town has an abundant water power, a school fund of $4,000, and a society of about 300 of those neat and industrious people, "whose faith is one and whose practice is one." See Canterbury, N.H.
