This is Stage Neck in York, Maine, and right here, at the place of this rotting old wooden bridge, is where my 8x great-grandfather William Moore worked as a fisherman and ferryman in the 1600s. I believe William came here in 1851 as an immigrant from southeastern England. In 1653, he married locally-born Dorothy Dixon, and together they raised a large family.
William wasn’t pleased when the Massachusetts Colony swallowed up the Province of Maine, so he signed a petition against it in 1679. He then signed a letter to the King of England to further object in 1680. Maine was part of Massachusetts until it became its own state in 1820. While I sat and drew at low tide on a clear, warm spring day, I enjoyed having the place to myself. Apparently, William did too, as he fought to win a monopoly on Maine ferrying in 1683. The very next year, he sued to keep it that way.
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