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The Dennys River has served for over 9000 years as a seventeen-mile corridor linking the inland community of the ancestral Passamaquoddy tribe at Meddybemps to Cobscook Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.  This native American homeland hosted European exploration by French Acadians in the early seventeenth century and permanent settlement following the American Revolution.

If it were possible to view the story of your community in a moment of time, what would you see?  Through this interactive map, we are telling the history of the Dennys River over 9000 years, from its origins in the Native American Dawnland, to the awakening of the spirit of conservation in the twenty-first century. 

In the seven chronological layers of this digital map, you can follow the story of the Dennys River, of the communities it has served, and still does.  By selecting any one of these layers, the viewer will be able to explore the places of historical significance within each era.

Where & When

FEATURED:

Around 1900, Machias businessman Everett I. White purchased thousands of acres in and around Edmunds and built a steam mill on the shore by the South Edmunds Road across from Hallowell’s Island.  In 1908, a disastrous forest fire consumed most of the forest land and burned the mill to the ground.

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DID YOU KNOW?

Audubon’s Rock, Dennys River, Maine

View from the Edmunds side of the river. The Mattheson house and the Dennysville Post Office are in the background.

Audubon’s Rock, Dennys River, Maine. Stories have been passed down that this was where John J. Audubon sat while making some of his sketches.

Maps

From 1795 - present

A big six foot by eight foot hand-drawn map of Townships No. 1 and 2. prepared by Solomon Cushing around 1797 recording the property lines and roads in the early settlement of what became Perry, Pembroke and Dennysville. Part of Township No. 10, which later became Edmunds, is included, along with details of the surrounding area.
Solomon Cushing's Big Map-1795

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