Machias

Machias lies on a river flowing into the coastal waters of eastern Maine. Its Passamaquoddy name has been translated as “bad little falls,” a reference to the rapids on the river. The falls later powered sawmills, and the surrounding forests supplied timber for the settlement and its maritime trade.

In 1633 Richard Vines established an English trading post near the river mouth, only for the French commander Charles de la Tour to attack it that same year. A more lasting settlement began in 1763, and sawmills were built at the falls in the following years. During the American Revolution, local settlers under Jeremiah O'Brien and Benjamin Foster captured the armed British schooner Margaretta in June 1775, in one of the war's earliest naval engagements.