Discovering Wiscasset’s Maritime Past

American History and AP United States History students studied early American foreign policy and Wiscasset harbor’s rich maritime legacy while touring Fort Edgecomb.

Fort Edgecomb is best known for the Blockhouse constructed in 1809 by President Thomas Jefferson to protect Wiscasset Harbor, a major international trading port in the late 18th Century. Castle Tucker and Nickels-Sortwell House were both constructed in 1807, highlighting Wiscasset as one of the wealthiest harbors in early America.

The students learned about the coastal battery system consisted of six large canons overseeing Sheepscot River to block British warships entering the prominent harbor, intending to destroy U.S. shipping and commerce in early America. As part of the Second System of American Seacoast Defenses, Fort Edgecomb successfully negated British naval operations during the War of 1812. However, British forces occupied Castine, Belfast and eastern Maine during the terrible three-year conflict.

Wiscasset economically prospered as a deep-harbor shipping port during the late 18th and early19th century, but the Embargo Act of 1807 permanently harmed the once prosperous international seaport.