ABOUT THE TOWN OF UNION
20th Maine Regiment Civil War Union soldiers
Location
Union is located on the St. George River in Knox County in mid-coast Maine. It is accessed
by Routes 17 and 235 and is roughly equidistant from Augusta (the capital) situated inland,
and Waldoboro, Rockland and Camden on the coast. Route 235 as it passes through Union is
part of the George's River Scenic Byway. This pleasant community of 2,209 people (in 2000
Census) is surrounded by a beautiful countryside of hills, lakes, rivers and rolling
agricultural and blueberry land. The village center is set around a public common, one of
the oldest in the state of Maine. The town contains many fine pre-1840 homes.
Early history
The Union area was used by Wawenock native Americans of the Abenaki nation for hunting, fishing
and gathering berries and other vegetable food. They maintained no permanent settlement but
there is evidence of campsites and burial sites. The native Americans of this area and the
white settlers had relations which were mostly cordial and cooperative, but cautious and wary
on both sides.
The first white settlers arrived in September or October of 1772. With the
names Anderson, Malcolm and Crawford, they were of natives of Scotland and called their bachelor
logging camp "Sterlingtown" after the Scottish town of Stirling. In the spring of 1774
Dr. John Taylor of Lunenburg, Massachusetts entered into negotiations with the heirs of the
Waldo patent on purchasing the entire gore of unappropriated land belonging to the patent.
Accompanied by John and Phineas Butler, he landed near the mouth of the Crawford river on Monday
July 18, 1774. Taylor's deed to the land was executed on November 17, 1774. The Butlers and
Benjamin Packard continued to work the land until the arrival in 1776 of the first family of
settlers, that of Philip Robbins. Philip's son David and his wife arrived in May and were followed
in the fall by Philip and his wife and family, including an unmarried daughter named Mima. Philip
and his sons built a small cabin on the shore of Seven Tree Pond into which his family crowded for
the first winter. The foundation of the cabin can still be seen today. These beginnings and the
early days of many settler-farmers are vividly recounted by author Ben Ames Williams in his 1940
historical novel
Come Spring. The plantation of
Sterlingtown was incorporated on October 20, 1786 by the name of UNION, so called because of the
"uncommon harmony" among its people.
Union Common
The earliest record of the Common appears in Sibley's History of Union where it was noted that
on April 5, 1790 a vote was passed denying boars and rams the liberty of going on the Common,
but permitting hogs to roam at large. In May 1801 the town voted to accept from David Gilmore
a donation of the land which now forms Union Common, and also approved clearing out the stumps
and stone to make it fit for drilling the militia. The deed was eventually recorded on June 15,
1809. The enterprising Gilmore had just built the Cobb Tavern on the Common's north side to
attract travelers on the stagecoach route to Searsmont, and wanted to redirect the business
center of town, at that time in South Union, to the Common. His strategy was successful and the
Union Common is one of the oldest public common in the state.
Its stately elms have long gone
but the Common is still a beautiful place with mature maples and birches, a flower planter made
from an old water trough, and a map of historical sites mentioned in Come Spring. A young sugar
maple, one of many recent plantings, is dedicated to the memory of Ben Ames Williams, author of
Come Spring. There are benches for the public, a bandstand built in 1897, a war memorial and of
course a fine Civil War memorial made from local granite with its pensive statue of a young
Union soldier. A time capsule from the town's Bicentennial celebration is buried on the Common.
Surrounded by commercial structures and fine homes, the Common is a favorite venue for outdoor
public events such as Founder's Day, band concerts, the library book sale, and the annual
Christmas tree lighting. The Union Common was registered on the National Register of Historic
Places on November 7, 2007.
Industry
Modern Union is primarily an agricultural community, with dairy and blueberry farming predominating,
a casket factory and a pottery, service-related businesses, and some tourism. Past industries have
included quarrying and shipping limestone, and growing and shipping apples, as well as making the
barrels used to ship them. Small manufacturing businesses included the making of furniture, carriages,
parlor organs, granite monuments and a grist mill.
Museum
Union is home to the
Matthews Museum of Maine Heritage, located at Union
Fairgrounds and open during July 1 through Labor Day. This little-known museum has been called the
finest collection of agricultural artifacts outside the Smithsonian.
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The first white settlers arrived in September or October of 1772. With the
names Anderson, Malcolm and Crawford, they were of natives of Scotland and called their bachelor
logging camp "Sterlingtown" after the Scottish town of Stirling. In the spring of 1774
Dr. John Taylor of Lunenburg, Massachusetts entered into negotiations with the heirs of the
Waldo patent on purchasing the entire gore of unappropriated land belonging to the patent.
Accompanied by John and Phineas Butler, he landed near the mouth of the Crawford river on Monday
July 18, 1774. Taylor's deed to the land was executed on November 17, 1774. The Butlers and
Benjamin Packard continued to work the land until the arrival in 1776 of the first family of
settlers, that of Philip Robbins. Philip's son David and his wife arrived in May and were followed
in the fall by Philip and his wife and family, including an unmarried daughter named Mima. Philip
and his sons built a small cabin on the shore of Seven Tree Pond into which his family crowded for
the first winter. The foundation of the cabin can still be seen today. These beginnings and the
early days of many settler-farmers are vividly recounted by author Ben Ames Williams in his 1940
historical novel Come Spring. The plantation of
Sterlingtown was incorporated on October 20, 1786 by the name of UNION, so called because of the
"uncommon harmony" among its people.
Its stately elms have long gone
but the Common is still a beautiful place with mature maples and birches, a flower planter made
from an old water trough, and a map of historical sites mentioned in Come Spring. A young sugar
maple, one of many recent plantings, is dedicated to the memory of Ben Ames Williams, author of
Come Spring. There are benches for the public, a bandstand built in 1897, a war memorial and of
course a fine Civil War memorial made from local granite with its pensive statue of a young
Union soldier. A time capsule from the town's Bicentennial celebration is buried on the Common.
Surrounded by commercial structures and fine homes, the Common is a favorite venue for outdoor
public events such as Founder's Day, band concerts, the library book sale, and the annual
Christmas tree lighting. The Union Common was registered on the National Register of Historic
Places on November 7, 2007.
Modern Union is primarily an agricultural community, with dairy and blueberry farming predominating,
a casket factory and a pottery, service-related businesses, and some tourism. Past industries have
included quarrying and shipping limestone, and growing and shipping apples, as well as making the
barrels used to ship them. Small manufacturing businesses included the making of furniture, carriages,
parlor organs, granite monuments and a grist mill.
Union is home to the Matthews Museum of Maine Heritage, located at Union
Fairgrounds and open during July 1 through Labor Day. This little-known museum has been called the
finest collection of agricultural artifacts outside the Smithsonian.
