Yarmouth, Maine

As of the census[14] of 2010, there were 8,349 people, 3,522 households, and 2,317 families residing in the town. The population density was 625.4 inhabitants per square mile (241.5/km²), which put Yarmouth fourth behind Portland, South Portland and Westbrook in population density.[15]

There were 3,819 housing units at an average density of 286.1 per square mile (110.5/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.9% White, 0.5% African American, 0.2% Native American, 1.2% Asian, 0.2% from other races, and 1.0% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.2% of the population.

There were 3,522 households, of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.6% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 2.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 34.2% were non-families. 27.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.87.

The median age in the town was 45.9 years. 22.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.6% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 20% were from 25 to 44; 34.9% were from 45 to 64; and 16.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 47.1% male and 52.9% female.

As of the census[16] of 2000, there were 8,360 people, 3,432 households, and 2,306 families residing in the town. The population density was 626.7 inhabitants per square mile (242.0/km²). There were 3,704 housing units at an average density of 277.7 per square mile (107.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.49% White, 0.37% Black or African American, 0.04% Native American, 0.36% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.22% from other races, and 0.50% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.59% of the population.

There were 3,432 households, out of which 33% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.2% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.8% were non-families. 27.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.6% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 29.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.6 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $58,030, and the median income for a family was $73,234. Males had a median income of $48,456 versus $34,075 for females. The per capita income for the town was $34,317. About 4.0% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.2% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of those age 65 or over.

Maritime activities were important from the beginning of the third settlement. Almost three hundred vessels were launched by Yarmouth's shipyards in the century between 1790 and 1890.[19]

Grand Trunk Railway Station (1906), now occupied by a savings bank[20]

Twelve properties in Yarmouth are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[21] The oldest (the Cushing and Hannah Prince House) dates from 1785; the "newest" (the Grand Trunk Railway Station) was built in 1906, replacing a structure built in 1848. They are ranked in chronological order below.

• Cushing and Hannah Prince House, 189 Greely Road
• North Yarmouth and Freeport Baptist Meeting House, 3 Hillside Street
• Ammi Mitchell House, 333 Main Street
• Russell Hall, North Yarmouth Academy, 141 Main Street
• Academy Hall, North Yarmouth Academy, 129 Main Street
• Capt. S. C. Blanchard House, 317 Main Street
• Captain Reuben Merrill House, 233 West Main Street
• First Universalist Church, 97 Main Street
• First Parish Congregational Church, 116 Main Street
• Camp Hammond, 275 Main Street
• Cousins Island Chapel, 414 Cousins Street
• Grand Trunk Railway Station, 288 Main Street

A milestone on the Boston-to-Machias "King's Highway" route. The milestone, now incorporated into a wall, is engraved with "B 138," to denote its distance of 138 miles from Boston. It is located on Pleasant Street

In 1727, five local men—Samuel Seabury, James Parker, Jacob Mitchell, Gershom Rice and Phineas Jones—were tasked with the management of the new town. Their affairs included laying out the highways.[9] Roads (or, at least, routes) that appeared on subsequent maps are mentioned below with today's names.

In 1732, "a good road (today's Pleasant Street) was built over the ledge from the meeting-house to the mills at the first falls which, although it was abandoned about 1800 for a less hilly course, may still be easily traced."[9] Other roads introduced included Atlantic Highway (now State Route 88), Gilman Road, Princes Point Road, Highlands Farm Road (leading to Parker's Point), Drinkwater Point Road (which led to two wharves), Morton Road and Old Town Landing Road (which led to another wharf). Large lot owners at the time included Walter Gendall, whose farm incorporated Duck Cove, beyond Town Landing Road in today's Cumberland Foreside (Cumberland was not incorporated as its own town until 1821). Its dry-stone boundary is still intact. Gendall lived there with his wife, Joane.[34] This large farm remained in his possession until his death on September 19, 1688.[34] Welshman John Powell[9] had a farm where today's Schooner Ridge Road is. John Dabney's 60-acre lot abutted this to the east. Dabney was a town selectman in 1737.[35] Felt had a lot at the foot of the northern end of Pleasant Street, adjacent to Stony Brook. Royall's farm, meanwhile, occupied the entire area bisected by Bayview Street.[36] Some of Royall's land at the point was later transferred to the Browns, in whose family it remained for over three hundred years. It is now known as Brown's Point.[19]

Smith Street became an uninterrupted offshoot from Pleasant Street, eventually leading to Riverside Cemetery when it was established in 1869, until the Lafayette Street hill was built in the early 19th century.

In 1756, "to accommodate the teams hauling lumber from the great pine forests inland to the seaboard, a new, more convenient way was laid out by the way of Walnut Hill and the road constructed."[9]

Looking west toward Main Street's Route 1 overpass and Brickyard Hollow in August 2019. This bridge was rebuilt between late 2017 and August 2019,[37] replacing a structure from the 1950s

General Lafayette once stayed in the three-storey building at 51 East Main Street, erected in 1810

In 1761, then-Postmaster General Benjamin Franklin ordered milestones placed along the 1673-established route from Boston, Massachusetts, to Machias, Maine, as a northern extension of King's Highway. It was established to address the need for a reliable route between New York and Boston initially, and later between Boston and northern locations. There are six of these stones within Cumberland County,[38] three of which (numbers 137, 138 and 139) are in Yarmouth: one on Route 88, just south of Ravine Drive on the western side of the road, and one "1.1 miles" away (due to today's curve in the road), outside 148 Pleasant Street and one in front of 51 East Main Street. The local section of King's Highway was (heading north) today's Middle Road (where markers 135 and 136 are located, the former in front of the property known as Top Knot Farm),[39] in Cumberland, then a right onto Tuttle Road, left onto Foreside Road (where a short section of road preserves the name of the original route), then a left onto Pleasant Street, before continuing its way north to Machias.

In 1813, down at the First Falls, "the old road which clambered laboriously over the crest of the hill was replaced by a new street along the head of the wharves below the hill". This is today's Lafayette Street hill, which drops about fifty feet from its crest to its base. (It was named Lafayette Street in honor of General Lafayette, who once stayed in the three-storey building at 51 East Main Street.)[9]

By 1847, Portland Street was in full swing, including the Elm Street offshoot that headed directly into the Upper Village. Main Street was, by now, well established.[40]

Roswell P. Greeley established an express service between Portland and Yarmouth, employing a span of horses and large wagons.[41] Azel H. Kingsley ran a supplemental service minus the horses.[41][42] It ran two services in each direction: southbound at 7:30 and 11:30 am and northbound at 3:00 and 5:00 pm.[41]

"Paved roads and automobiles came to Yarmouth in 1914," wrote Alan M. Hall. "The new federal highway from Portland to Bath included four miles from Pleasant Street to the Freeport line."[26]

State Route 115, Yarmouth's Main Street, was officially designated in 1925.[43]

U.S. Route 1 arrived in the late 1940s, at grade and also a bridge over Main Street, shortly after the conclusion of World War II.

Route 88, meanwhile, follows the course of Route 1's predecessor, the Atlantic Highway.[44] A 1944 map shows the Atlantic Highway coming through town, aligning with what became Route 88 up to the point they meet at the end of Spring Street.[45] Prior to the installation of U.S. Route 1, today's curve of Route 88 as it passes Cumberland Farms instead continued directly north-east towards the Cousins River. The section of Atlantic Highway that runs from Princes Point Road to the northern end of Pleasant Street was laid in the late 1920s.

In 1961, the Yarmouth section of Interstate 295 was built. It runs elevated through town (including, in controversial fashion, over the harborside at Lower Falls). It has two exits (15 and 17) in the town. Exit 15 became a four-ramp intersection in July 2013, when a northbound on-ramp was added.[46]

Yarmouth Crossing, where Main Street traverses the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad, looking north from Railroad Square

The town has two railroad junctions: Royal Junction (midway along Greely Road) and Yarmouth Junction (to the west of East Elm Street at Depot Road; its station is now gone). The two railroads passing through the town are Guilford Rail System's Kennebec & Portland (replaced Maine Central Railroad in 1849) and the largely unused St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad (replaced Grand Trunk Railway in 1848). A train wreck occurred on the morning of February 15, 1912, near Dunn's Corner (the North Road and Route 9 intersection). A westbound freight train was backing its 25 cars into a siding when a Portland-bound freight train ignored orders to slow down. The collision "drove both engines thirty feet into the air" and ignited tons of wheat and wooden boxcars. There were three fatalities and several injuries. Despite this, Yarmouth was the last stretch of the Grand Trunk to receive automatic block signals in 1924.

The Brunswick Branch of the Maine Central Railroad received a new lease of life in November 2012, when a northern extension of the Downeaster line was opened, carrying passengers five times a day (four on weekends) to and from Brunswick's Maine Street Station. (A sixth service runs on evenings of major concerts and sporting events at the TD Garden.)[47] The trains pass under two roads and over three crossings on their way through Yarmouth. They are (from south to north) West Main Street (overpass, just after Royal Junction), Sligo Road (road crossing), East Elm Street (road crossing, just after Yarmouth Junction), North Road (road crossing) and Granite Street (overpass).

Trolley cars of the Portland and Yarmouth Electric Railway Company used to run, every fifteen minutes, from Portland, through Falmouth Foreside, up and down Pleasant Street and onto Main Street between 1898 and 1933,[48] when the advent of the automobile made rail travel a less convenient option. In 1906, a bridge was built over the Royal River, connecting the Brunswick and Portland trolleys at the Grand Trunk depot in town. The tracks ran down what is today's walkers' path to the Rowe School. The pedestrian bridge in the Royal River Park is built on old abutments for a trolley line which ran between Yarmouth and Freeport between 1906 and 1933.

The only bus route that services the town is Greater Portland Metro's BREEZ. It has fourteen southbound services to Portland and thirteen northbound services to Brunswick on weekdays and an abbreviated Saturday schedule. There is no service on Sundays.

On weekdays, the first southbound service arrives in Yarmouth at around 6.15 AM and the last one at around 8.45 PM. The first northbound service arrives at around 6.45 AM and the last one at around 9.50 PM.

On weekends, the first of five southbound services arrives at around 9.45 AM and the last one at around 7.50 PM. The first of six northbound services arrives at around 8.30 AM and the last one at around 9.00 PM.

There are three bus stop locations: the park and ride lot at the southbound exit 15 ramp of I-295, on Main Street in front of Yarmouth Town Hall, and on either side of Route 1 at Hannaford.

Grist Mill Park from the bottom of the Main Street hill at the First Falls

• Grist Mill Park, East Main Street
• Village Green Park, Main Street
• Latchstring Park, Main Street and West Elm Street
• Royal River Park, between East Elm Street and Bridge Street
• Pratt's Brook Park, North Road

Sandy Point Beach at high tide, looking back to the mainland

• Grist Mill Lane Field[49] (formerly an intervale owned by Edward Russell before 1836)
• Spear Farm Estuary Preserve, Bayview Street[50]
• Fels-Groves Farm Preserve, Gilman Road[51]
• Larrabee's Landing, Burbank Lane
• Frank Knight Forest, East Main Street
• Cousins River Fields and Marsh Project, Granite Street[52]
• Barker Preserve, between East Elm Street and Royal River
• Riverfront Woods Preserve, River Front Drive
• Sligo Road Property
• Sweetsir Farm, Old Field Road
• Camp SOCI, Sandy Point Road, Cousins Island (established in 1957)
• Sandy Point Beach, Cousins Street, Cousins Island
• Katherine Tinker Preserve, Seal Lane, Cousins Island
• Littlejohn Island Preserve, Pemasong Lane, Littlejohn Island[53]

• West Side Trail
• Spears Hill Trail, Broad Cove

A recreation path that originates on the western side of the Portland Street and Route 1 intersection. It is named after 15-year-old Yarmouth High School sophomore Elizabeth Ann "Beth" Condon, who was killed by drunk driver Martha Burke on August 28, 1993, as she walked along Route 1 with her boyfriend.

Pioneers burial ground marker. It was removed to the town's historical society in February 2019, after being in place for 90 years, because some people found the word "savage" offensive

The only graveyard (that is, a burial ground associated with an extant church building) in Yarmouth is located beside the Meeting House on Hillside Street. It is known as the Old Baptist Cemetery.

Two cemeteries are located near the former site of the "Old Ledge" Meeting House on Lafayette Street: a small, half-acre 1731 Pioneer Cemetery (also known as the Indian Fighters cemetery), which was the first public burial place in Old North Yarmouth, and the 2.5-acre 1770 Ledge Cemetery (some headstones bear dates earlier than 1770, for many bodies were removed from the older cemetery).[9] The family of Captain Nicholas Drinkwater Jr. is buried in the latter location, in a communal plot also containing his wife, Margaret, his son, Joshua, and Joshua's wife and Boston native, Harriet. Their daughter, Elizabeth, is interred in Riverside Cemetery with her daughter, Alfreda, and husband, Alfred, who died just before their daughter was born.

Two other cemeteries in town—Riverside and Holy Cross—are located adjacent to each other, at the eastern end of Smith Street. It is in the 1869-founded Riverside Cemetery that several prominent early business owners and other townspeople are buried, including Leon Gorman. Holy Cross, a Catholic-denomination cemetery, is affiliated with Falmouth's Parish of the Holy Eucharist.[57][58] The Jacob Mitchell garrison was located at the rear of Holy Cross.[59] The dirt path that looks like it leads to the water is actually the original stage road. Mitchell's family lived in the house between around 1729 and 1799. It then became the home of the Whitcombs, whose name is preserved on a street name off Princes Point Road. It was demolished about 1900 and the farm land was purchased in 1916 to become Holy Cross cemetery.[9]

Davis Cemetery is located on the section of Granite Street to the south of East Main Street and Old County Road, an area known as Sodom historically. John Davis (died 1798) is the oldest known burial in the cemetery.[60]

Cousins Island Cemetery is located at the corner of Cousins Street and Hillcrest Avenue on the island. There are around eighteen unmarked graves of early settlers here. There is also a small cemetery, known as Hill Cemetery, within the confines of the adjacent Tinker Preserve.