Searsport is a town in Waldo County, settled in the 1670's and incorporated on February 13, 1845 from portions of Prospect and Belfast. David Sears of Boston, after whom the town is named, was one of ten who bought land in the area held by the heirs of General Samuel Waldo. In 1847, when fire destroyed the Province House in Boston, General Waldo advocated, unsuccessfully, that the capital of Massachusetts be moved to Searsport. During the nineteenth century the port had 17 shipyards and built 200 ships, while supplying fully one-tenth of the nation's Merchant Marine deep water captains. The Penobscot Marine Museum in town faithfully recalls that heritage. Sears Island, known as Wassumkeag or shining beach by the Indians, has been a point of controversy for many years. The state's second largest deep water port is ideally located from the point of view of railroad, wood products and other development interests. Others have expressed environmental and esthetic concerns about further industrializing this portion of the coast. From Maine: An Encyclopedia (www.themaineencyclopedia.com)

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