Vol. 6, No. 2 MAINE FIELD OBSERVER February, 1961 THE DAMARISCOTTA OYSTER BANKS heap or oyster banks in their names. By Augustus T. Demers Interest in this site has been ex- pressed since the formation of the With the new Route 1 bypass around Maine Archaeological Society. The Damariscotta grazing the edges of the very generous cooperation of the Oyster Shell Banks, general public property owner has made possible the interest will again be directed te- exploratory work that we have attemp- ward these shell heaps. Since an early ted to date. Our activities have cen- era in our history various groups tered around the examination of the have shown a particular interest in records and the site. From the scien- this section. Very early man came tific papers and artifacts now at here to live (part of each year) as Harvard, to old state and local his- he accumulated food for the winter. tories, can be found the fact and Oysters abounded in the river and fiction relative to this place. Our provided immediate food and winter job is to separate the fact from fic- preserves. At intervals he stopped tion and find the missing facts. coming for a number of years only to The first close-up view of the oy- eventually return for another long ster heaps is overwhelming. Standing series of summer sojourns. on a narrow strip of river shore one Early 17th Century explorers who looks up in amazement at a bank of visited our shores recorded this oyster shells rising almost straight place "where oysters were gotten, up for 30 or 40 feet, From this point They mention invitations from the one may look up or down the shore for Wawenock Indians to visit the Great a hundred or more yards to see more Bashaba, ruler of all the Abnaki. Ref- and more of the same shell banks. erences to the location of the "lost The generally accepted opinion is city of New England," Norumbega or that here are the dumps of bygone the ancient city of Arumpeag indicate eras, and so up across the fields, this same general area, Settlers in away from the dumps, must be the place the middle 1700's te31 of Indian where the Indians lived. Several Soc- bands living in the area of the Oyster iety excursions have undertaken the Shell Banks, first steps in testing the area for Commercial investment in the shells camp-site evidence. The test digging was established during the 1800's. has produced evidence of occupation, Very early, a lime kiln was operated tools, weapons, and pottery have been on the western bank, an unsuccessful found in many different spots. Mere venture. Later, a syndicate of Boston testing must be done to determine the men erected a factory on the eastern actual area where concentrated "dig" shore and began manufacturing lime. procedures will be undertaken. The business soon failed, was revived; New evidence will unfold as arti- and failed again. Geologists, archae- facts are uncovered, identified as to ologists and other scientists explored use and period of existence, and pre- these heaps to discover implements, served for display and study. This types of food, and actual skeletal new evidence which will fill the remains of the earlier residents. blank pages of the story should be Through the years many visitors linked closely with the evidence and have driven to a point where they facts of the past, now preserved in might view these massive white banks museums not in Maine. on the river. On Route 1 east of Dam- We hope the day is not too distant ariscotta one is continually reminded when the Maine Archaeological Society of the pressence of these banks as will play a part in telling and show- commercial establishments along the ing the whole story about the Oyster road have incorporated the term shell Banks along the Damariscotta River. 14 **