The Machias Bay Region has a rich multicultural heritage. For eons, Native Americans of various tribes journeyed to the shores of the Machias River
each September for an annual gathering. The earliest European visitors to the region may have been Norsemen in the eleventh century. The French set up a trading post in 1605-1606 and the Pilgrims established an ill-fated trading post in 1733. Another early Machias settler was the infamous pirate Captain Samuel Bellamey. In 1763, Machias was successfully settled by a group of pioneers from Scarborough, who found in Machias an abundance of marsh...