Passagassawkeag

At the head of navigation on the Penobscot River, the site of Bangor joins tidal water to the forested interior of northern Maine. The Penobscot call the area Kenduskeag, a name referring to water parsnips. The river gave access to the woods upstream and a route down to the Atlantic, making the place a natural centre for the timber trade.

Jacob Buswell established a settlement here in 1769, and by 1772 it had a sawmill, a store and a school. It became the town of Bangor in 1791. During the American Revolution, vessels retreating after the failed Penobscot Expedition were scuttled nearby to prevent their capture by the British. British forces occupied Bangor briefly in 1814, during the War of 1812 with the United States.