The dramatic influx of southern New Englanders into the District of Maine in the 1770s is widely recognized but poorly understood. This article traces migration routes from Cape Cod to the Penobscot River valley. By 1770 farmlands on the Cape could no longer sustain an agrarian way of life that was important to many inhabitants. Choosing to change locations rather than occupations, families moved eastward and on the lower Penobscot River reproduced, as best they could, the world they left behind. This article explores the reasons for the uprooting, and the cultural, ideological, familial, and architectural links that bound the Cape Cod settlers to the “old country.” Maps were provided by the author
