COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION
PART I INTRODUCTION
Lamoine is a small coastal community, a bedroom town with a conspicuous retirement component, at the head of Frenchman Bay in Hancock County. It is almost exclusively residential. Industrial activity is minor and consists primarily of gravel extraction and some small, marine-related activities. Agriculture consists of a few large hay fields and a couple of small blueberry fields.
There is no business district. There are no formal stores of any type. There are a few at-home businesses and some local contractors who operate from small yards. Shopping is done in Ellsworth, the nearest town, and Bangor, the regional hub, thirty miles away.
A. LAMOINE LAND USE BASICS
|
TOTAL AREA |
12,853 ACRES |
20.08 SQ. MILES |
|
TOTAL LAND MASS |
12,783 ACRES |
19.97 SQ. MILES |
|
BOG/SWAMP |
250 ACRES |
.39 SQ. MILES |
|
FLOODPLAIN |
236 ACRES |
.38 SQ. MILES |
|
INLAND WATERS – BLUNT’S POND |
70 ACRES |
.11 SQ. MILES |
|
LENGTH OF SHORELINE |
|
28.25 MILES |
The current population (1990 Preliminary Census Report) is 1,311, the highest in the community’s history. Historically the local population has varied substantially.
The community has a significant summer population surge with a probable summer peak of around 2000 people. The difference between the January and the July figure is even sharper as many householders, usually retirees, spend three weeks to three months in sunnier climes.
B. A SHORT HISTORY OF LAMOINE
Josephine Cooper, President
Lamoine Historical Society
Lamoine’s first permanent Caucasian settlers arrived in the 1760s. In pre-historic times, Native Americans inhabited the area year round. There is still some evidence of Indian shell heaps along the shore in Lamoine, although there has been substantial erosion. After the appearance of the white men in the area, the Native Americans began migrating inland during the winter months.
Lamoine was originally included within a much larger township. This township, which came to be called Trenton, covered an area from Card’s Brook in Ellsworth to Hancock (then a part of Sullivan)
The attraction for both the Native Americans and the early settlers was the coastline. Lamoine’s many coves and inlets made for ideal harbors. Fish and clams were plentiful. During the first half of the 1800’s, Lamoine was a major shipbuilding area. There were over sixty vessels built here, the peak years of production being reached before the Civil War, in the 1840’s.
The vessels built were primarily two-masted schooners, used for fishing and hauling freight along the coast, and to and from the Caribbean. Residents supported themselves by fishing or farming. There were other businesses supporting the shipping industry as well; logging, blacksmithing, carpentry, and general stores.
Most of the larger shipyards and fishing wharves were located along the Jordan River and there were several stores there. Some physical evidence remains of the many piers that were there. However, ships were built all around the shores of Lamoine: Raccoon Cove, Berry’s Cove, and even at the site of the present cemetery at Lamoine Corner.
There never was any one town center in Lamoine, but rather a collection of village areas. These all corresponded to the original shipbuilding and fishing centers. At Lamoine Corner, where the Grange Hall and Baptist Church are now, there was the largest cluster of buildings, including a two-storied Grange Hall with a store on its ground floor, a post office, the church, the Lamoine High School (where the present elementary school is now), and the Town Hall. There was an elementary school not far down the shore road.
Other village areas can be identified by their post offices: East Lamoine, North Lamoine, Marlboro, and Lamoine Beach. These areas lost their post offices when Rural Free Delivery came to Lamoine in 1904. The school population declined in the 1930’s and then rose again, and by the 1940’s the town had the current school plan.
The roads, originally, were secondary tracks between houses and villages. Most of the roads were approximately where they are now. The biggest exception was the north end of Route 184. What is now Route 184 went to Ellsworth by a different route. It went out what is now the MacQuinn Asphalt Plant road and on to Ellsworth by way of Washington Junction. The main road to Ellsworth was the current Buttermilk Road. Most travel in early Lamoine was by boat, and roads were incidental.
Fishing was the major industry in Lamoine until the end of the 1800’s. Schooners sailed to the Grand Banks during the summer months, usually with a crew of three to six men, and stayed until their holds were filled with salted fish. The cod and herring were brought back to be dried along the Jordan River, then shipped to the Boston Market. Lamoine’s fisheries were second only in importance to those of Lubec during these years.
The Civil War disrupted the economy of the area. Shipbuilding continued until the 1880’s but never again reached the peak production of the 1840’s. After the war, there was an economic boom during which time the fishing industry flourished, but, as the railroads took over most of the haulage of freight, the coastwise shipping trade declined.
In 1870, Lamoine separated from Trenton and was incorporated as a town. It was named after an early resident, Andre LeMoyne. The Marlboro section of the town remained a part of Hancock until 1933. The population reached a peak in 1880 with over 800 people, but it began to decline thereafter, reaching a low point in the 1920s and 1930s. As shipping and fishing disappeared, the Lamoine economy suffered. Many residents in the late 1880’s migrated to Massachusetts for employment in the textile mills or as carpenters or went West. There were some attempts to promote Lamoine as a summer resort, hoping to raise property values and provide seasonal employment to the residents, but the developers met with no success. Plans to bring the railroad to Lamoine were also unsuccessful.
Hopes for the town’s economy were raised when the U.S. Navy chose Lamoine as the site for a coaling station for its ships, located at the site of the current State Park. The station was completed in 1902, but was only in operation for a short while. Oil was already replacing coal as the major fuel used by the Navy. During World War I, the station was used for the storage of nitrates, used in making explosives. After that, much of the Station was dismantled for scrap. In the 1930’s the University of Maine acquired some of the buildings for a biological laboratory. It became a State Park in the 1950’s.
Around the turn of the century, ice was an important product, being harvested at Blunt’s Pond and shipped to Boston. There was also a large sardine cannery located at Lamoine Beach at this time and another smaller one at the mouth of the Skillings River at Marlboro. Neither seem to have been in operation very long. There were also two hotels in Lamoine around this time. One was Shore Acres at Lamoine Beach; the other was the Gault Hotel, located where the State Park is now.
The coast remained Lamoine’s greatest asset but now it was because of its scenic beauty. The population of summer residents grew, particularly after World War II. Many former residents who had had to move elsewhere to find employment continued to maintain summer homes here. Between the wars, many Lamoine families supported themselves with some farming and with seasonal work in neighboring resort towns, particularly Bar Harbor.
World War II brought a major change to the landscape of Lamoine as gravel pits were dug all over the town to provide gravel to build the airport in Trenton. It was not the first time gravel had been dug and sold in Lamoine; in the 1800’s there was a gravel operation near Berry’s Cove and another along the Jordan River that shipped gravel by boat. Today gravel operations have replaced fishing as Lamoine’s major natural resource industry.
C. ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES
The Maine Historic Preservation Commission lists six numbered prehistoric archaeological sites in Lamoine. All are coastal shell middens. With the exception of Site 43-4, the Boynton Site at Old Point, none have been scientifically surveyed.
The Commission has designated most of the shore of Lamoine as “archaeologically sensitive,” with the exceptions of Raccoon and Partridge Coves, part of Berry Cove, and the upper reaches of the Jordan River. A mechanism for review of construction activity in these areas should be set up. The one site in Lamoine on which material has actually been published is the Boynton Site. It was first excavated in 1913 by Warren K. Moorehead, then director of the Robert S. Peabody Museum in Andover, Massachusetts. It was again dug in 1916 by George G. Heye of the Museum of the American Indian (now a part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.), and in 1948 by Wendell Hadlock and Douglas Byers of the Robert Abbe Museum of Bar Harbor, Maine. The most recent digging at the Boynton Site was in 1983 by a group of Ellsworth High School students. There was also been extensive casual and unrecorded digging at the site.
When Morehead began his work on the site, he estimated the Boynton Site at about 300 meters by 150 meters with depths of a meter and a half, making it one of the larger sites on the Maine coast.
Moorehead’s excavations indicated two or possible three periods of prehistoric occupation and yielded about 5,000 artifacts, including bone points, fish hooks, and harpoons; chipped stone points and knives; ground stone tools; pottery; and small numbers of copper and slate artifacts. Heye found the same type of material taking 2,200 artifacts from the site. Byers and Hadlock found an additional 500 objects. No firm evidence of a habitation site has been found.
Currently, the artifacts and field notes from the Byers and Hadlock expedition are held at the Abbe Museum where they have been catalogued but not yet accessioned. Moorehead’s material, including field notes and a number of photographs, are at the Peabody Museum at Andover, Massachusetts. Local Research could not locate the Heye material but it may be at the Smithsonian or in the Heye Collection at the University of Pennsylvania.
Archaeologists do not currently recommend any further research at the Boynton shell heap due to the extensive amount of work already done, and the quantity and duration of amateur diggings and “pot hunting” at the site.
PART II DEMOGRAPHICS
A. POPULATION TRENDS
(Table is an approximation based on the table in the
original version of the Comprehensive Plan).
The Lamoine population is expected to continue its growth and any long range planning must start with this basic factor. The increase in population from 1970 to 1980 was about 57% and from 1980 to 1990 was 37.5% per decade. If you examine these figures closely, you would note the 1980-90 percentage increase of 37.5% represented an increase of 358 people, and the increase in the preceding decade represented an increase of 338 people, so the addition of 358, the most recent gain per decade, might be a more conservative approach to predicting future growth. We have used both a percent change based on the last decade, and an increment approach, adding 358 people per decade to predict future population.
(Table is an approximation based on the table in the
original version of the Comprehensive Plan).
Since there is a considerable difference by the two methods, the population must be closely followed over the next decade to see which method of prediction is the better.
While the population of Lamoine has exceeded predictions, rising by 37.6% over the last decade, this change is not due to local births exceeding deaths. This factor would account for only 11% of the increase so there has been an in-migration of over three hundred people. The most recent data on the age distribution shows the pattern compared to the county and state data.
B. AGE DISTRIBUTION LAMOINE 1990**
AGE GROUP LAMOINE HANCOCK CTY STATE OF MAINE
|
|
Number |
% |
Number |
% |
Number |
% |
|
Under 5 years |
85 |
6.5 |
3,205 |
6.8 |
85,722 |
7.0 |
|
5-17 years |
239 |
18.2 |
8,130 |
17.3 |
223,280 |
18.2 |
|
18-20 years |
37 |
2.8 |
1,881 |
4.0 |
56,232 |
4.6 |
|
21-24 years |
43 |
3.3 |
2,270 |
4.8 |
67,540 |
5.5 |
|
25-44 years |
440 |
33.6 |
14,906 |
31.8 |
398,580 |
32.5 |
|
45-54 years |
168 |
12.8 |
4,899 |
10.4 |
124,751 |
10.2 |
|
55-59 years |
82 |
6.3 |
2,180 |
4.6 |
54,216 |
4.4 |
|
60-64 years |
59 |
4.5 |
2,322 |
4.9 |
54,234 |
4.4 |
|
65-74 years |
90 |
6.9 |
3,835 |
8.2 |
91,600 |
7.5 |
|
75-85 years |
54 |
4.1 |
2,435 |
5.2 |
53,547 |
4.4 |
|
over 85 years |
14 |
1.1 |
885 |
1.9 |
18,226 |
1.4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total population |
1,311 |
|
46,948 |
|
1,227,928 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Median age |
36.7 |
|
35.8 |
|
33.9 |
|
**FROM THE 1990 CENSUS DATA
The Lamoine population profile indicates that the community is comparable to the county except for a shortfall of almost 3% in the young adult group (18-24 years old) and an excess of 4% among older age groups (45-59 years old). Compared to state-wide figures the pattern is the same. There is a shortage of young adults and a population peak shift toward the 45-59 age group.
C. AGE CHANGES
(Table is an approximation
based on the table in the original version of the Comprehensive Plan).
From this table, one can see the changing distribution among age groups. Note that the 18-65 age group, whose percentage of the population dropped from 1940 to 1970, has been growing for the last twenty years. The trend will probably continue and the over 65-year group show an increase, as this spills over with time.
The community survey conducted in 1991, hereafter, simply called “the Survey”, shows the type of family grouping currently providing the growth impetus. Respondents placed themselves into the categories and this information, taken with the census data, indicates that a continuance of the existing inmigrant patterns will lead to an increase in the average age in the Lamoine population mixture and that there will be more 45-65 year olds in the next decade.
D. INMIGRANT INFORMATION
(Table is an approximation
based on the table in the original version of the Comprehensive Plan).
This data also indicates that the future school population will probably lag behind the total population increase. This means that school planning for the future will have to be conservative for the next decade or until the ratio of the school population/total population becomes more clearly established. The need for social services for the elderly may, conversely, increase more rapidly than casually anticipated. This trend may turn out to be ameliorated by the socio-economic cross section entering the community whose capacity to move may indicate greater than average financial resources.
(Table is an approximation
based on the table in the original version of the Comprehensive Plan).
CHART DATA FROM 1991 SURVEY
It is clear that a major reason for choosing Lamoine for a new home is its rural coastal character. Financial considerations were often a factor. Family ties in the area were also important in bringing people back to the town.
The graph below shows the origins of the people moving into Lamoine. The largest group of new residents comes from Mt. Desert and other surrounding towns but another part of the recent influx is from out of state.
While it is obvious that the physical attributes of the town are the dominant attraction for people entering the community, many of these newcomers are moving from towns of similar attractiveness. Fifty-two percent of these people are merely changing towns within the Hancock County and Washington county area, and two thirds of these are from within Hancock County, itself.
(Table is an approximation
based on the table in the original version of the Comprehensive Plan).
CHART DATA FROM 1991 SURVEY
There must be an additional factor and so one must either presume that Lamoine’s locale is more convenient to where these people work, or economic factors, which were cited by 25% of respondents as being a consideration, were important in the choice. Some 35% of our new residents came from out of state, many of them being retirees or near retirees, and these may have been looking for an area with affordable housing. This may be a factor in our growth.
Since some twenty percent move here from Mount Desert Island which has an acute housing shortage, we should be aware of any large-scale projects there which would decrease movement into Lamoine. Ellsworth is continually adding housing so the number entering Lamoine from there is probably already in some type of equilibrium.
E. HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS **
|
|
NUMBER |
PERCENT |
Households |
501 |
100% |
|
Family Households |
380 |
76% of all households |
|
Married Couple-Families |
328 |
65% of all households 86% of Family Households |
|
Single Parent, Female |
42 |
8% of all households 11% of Family Households |
|
Single Parent, Male |
10 |
2% of all households 3% of Family Households |
Non Family Households |
121 |
24% of all |
|
Living Alone |
96 |
19% of all households 79% of non-family Households |
|
Living Alone-over 65 |
44 |
9% of all households 46% of Living Alone |
Living Alone – Over 65 |
|
|
|
Female |
33 |
7% of all Households 34% of Living Alone 75% of Living Alone over 65 |
|
Male |
11 |
2% of all Households 11% of Living Alone 25% of Living Alone over 65 |
|
|
Lamoine |
Hancock County |
State of Maine |
|
Persons Per Household |
2.62 |
2.48 |
2.56 |
|
Persons Per Family |
2.97 |
2.94 |
3.03 |
** Chart Data from 1990 Census
(Table is an approximation
based on the table in the original version of the Comprehensive Plan).
There are no institutional groupings in Lamoine. There are a significant number of single parent households and day care availability is usually more pressing within this group. With current trends towards both parents in two-parent households working, child care facilities in the community should be encouraged and their cost and availability monitored.
Lamoine is developing a significant population of elderly people who are living alone, almost a tenth of our households, and the community is almost totally lacking in an infrastructure to deal with this. In the past, we have depended heavily on this group having strong family support elsewhere in the area and have relied on neighbors relaying the problems to the relatives.
When there was no family support, our town officers handled emergencies on an ad hoc basis. Ongoing problems were, normally, referred to the appropriate state agency. With our local government totally part-time, this is an awkward procedure if the state agency does not pick up the problem and there are few, if any, routine channels to make the Lamoine Selectmen aware of the continuance of a local need for monitoring the problem.
F. POPULATION OF LAMOINE BY SEX AND ETHNIC STATUS **
|
CHARACTERISTIC |
NUMBER |
% |
|
Females |
678 |
51.7 |
|
Males |
633 |
48.3 |
|
|
|
|
|
White |
1302 |
99.3 |
|
Black |
0 |
0.0 |
|
Native American |
7 |
0.5 |
|
Asian/Pacific Islander |
1 |
0.1 |
|
Other |
1 |
0.1 |
|
Hispanic Origin |
10 |
1.0 |
** Chart Data from 1990 Census
ANCESTRY-LAMOINE*
|
GROUP |
PERCENT |
GROUP |
PERCENT |
|
English |
28 |
French |
1 |
|
German |
2 |
Greek |
<1 |
|
Irish |
10 |
Italian |
1 |
|
Norwegian |
1 |
Russian |
<1 |
|
Scottish |
3 |
Other |
2 |
16% reported being a mixture of two groups and 25% of three groups from the list above. 9% did not get recorded.
*Chart Data from 1980 Census
BIRTH LOCALE*
|
State of Maine |
72% |
|
Other States |
25% |
|
Other than USA |
3% |
* Chart Data from 1980 Census
The local population is a relatively homogeneous group and is almost exclusively of northern European origin showing a considerable mix of all these elements. Three-quarters of the residents were born in Maine. This distribution is similar to that found in earlier censuses.
PART III LAND USAGE
A. SOILS AND GEOLOGY
The soils and geology of Lamoine have been extensively catalogued. The Maine Agricultural Experiment Station used the community for a pilot study to demonstrate soil study data usage. The result was SOIL POTENTIAL RATING FOR LOCAL LAND USE PLANNING AT A LOCAL LEVEL IN MAINE, Bulletin 747, 1977, 141 pages, the booklet being totally devoted to the soils of Lamoine. A copy of this analysis is kept in the Town Office. In addition, in 1983, the Planning Board commissioned a study of the principal sand and gravel aquifer of the town through a grant from Maine’s Coastal Program whose funding was derived from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Office of Coastal Zone Management. This study was done for Lamoine by Robert G. Gerber, Inc., Consulting Engineers & Geologists of South Harpswell Maine and the study contains some 50 pages of data on the hydrological characteristics of the community.
Most of the community has soils that are unsuited for simple septic systems unless compensated for soil permeability, with immediate site filling to compensate for drainage, depth to bedrock, and rooting depths, in accordance with the Maine State Plumbing Code. Some areas cannot be compensated in this manner. The map on the next page shows the areas that can be made suitable in white and unsuitable areas are shown shaded. Contractors working in the town should be advised of the necessity to reinforce trench walls during work and to provide adequate drainage for foundations.
Lamoine consists, principally, of various types of glacial, marine and stream sediments. The town’s surface gradually slopes up from the sea, rising to its highest point of slightly over 300 feet on Beckwith Hill in the northwestern part of town. More than half of the town, though, is less than 100 feet high. Besides the Beckwith rise, there are three other ridges of glacial till and supporting bedrock: one running northwest from the western side of Berry Cove, a second running north-northwest from Marlboro, and a third starting from Lamoine State Park with Blunt’s Pond in its middle. Sand and gravel is deposited on top of the till and bedrock and represents glacial eskers left some ten to thirteen thousand years ago when the glaciers retreated. These sand and gravel deposits are the principal aquifers of the town.
Note: This map is the original from the Soil Potential Report, not the original contained in the Comprehensive Plan, but the information is identical.
The four distinct types of surface deposits are shown on the map following page 15. The principal aquifer is in the sand and gravel of the beaded eskers and submarine fans of glacial stream deposits. There are several raised beach deposits (Qb). These mantle wave cut terraces are made up of medium to coarse sand. The glacial till in Lamoine is a mixture of sand, silt, clay, and gravel (Qt). The fourth type of deposit is a blanket of massive to thinly laminated glaciomarine silts and clays of the Presumpscot Formation which underlies much of the town (Qp). See the geology appendix for further details of these soils.
There are numerous springs in the town; the most well known are Latona Spring in East Lamoine and Cold Spring, the water source for about fifty users at Lamoine Corners. The only true surface water in Lamoine is Blunt’s Pond, essentially a water table pond with no true surface outlet.
B. LAND AND SOIL MAPPING
Lamoine was the pilot town in a Maine Agricultural Experiment Station project and the soils were classified and mapped in 1977 and are reported in their Bulletin 747 entitled SOIL POTENTIAL RATING FOR LAND USE PLANNING AT A LOCAL LEVEL IN MAINE. The only copies now in existence are those kept in the Lamoine Town Office and these should not leave this locale. In addition the Frenchman Bay Conservancy had a contract to provide a consistent set of GIS maps to the communities littoral to the bay and this project was completed in late 1991.
C. THE LAMOINE AQUIFER
The dark contour lines on the aquifer map show the position of the average ground water table position and the rate and direction of the ground water flow. The map shows the assumed boundaries of the aquifer, contained on its sides by less permeable glaciomarine soils. The water table is recharged by precipitation. Water level table represent a balance between this precipitation and the rate at which water can leak out through the “leaky” boundaries of the confining soils. A ground water high is in the vicinity of Blunt’s Pond with a ridge extending northwest to a ground water low in the esker near the Town Hall. Cold Spring is in this ridge. Basically ground water flow can be determined for any point on this map since the flow will be at right angles to the ground water contours. Leached solute from the town landfill will eventually flow toward the northwest corner of Berry Cove.
There is a second gravel deposit and presumed aquifer around the gravel pit area to the interior from Seal Point Road. This has not been analyzed.
D. HOUSING
Lamoine is almost exclusively a residential community with medium and low-cost housing and a scattering of more expensive housing. Mobile homes are 13% of the local housing. There is one Mobile Home Park that is mainly in Hancock. Only three of the mobile homes in this park are in Lamoine.
STRUCTURAL AND VACANCY CHARACTERISTICS**
LAMOINE
|
Total Housing Units |
692 |
Units in Structure |
|
|
1 Unit, Detached |
569 |
|
1 Unit, Attached |
12 |
|
2-4 Units |
20 |
|
Mobile Homes |
91 |
|
|
|
|
Mean Number of Rooms |
5.9 |
|
|
|
|
Occupied Units |
501 |
|
|
|
|
Units with 1 or more persons per room |
12 |
|
|
|
|
Vacant Units |
191 |