Editing Machiasport, Maine (section)

==History==

In 1633, the [[Plymouth Company]] established a [[trading post]] here to conduct business with the [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]]s. But this was part of [[Acadia]], territory which [[New France]] considered its own. So in 1634, the trading post was sacked by [[French people|French]] forces from [[Port-Royal (Acadia)|Port Royal]] under the command of [[Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour]].<ref name=Coolidge>{{Cite book  | last = Coolidge  | first = Austin J.|author2=John B. Mansfield  | title = A History and Description of New England| publisher = A.J. Coolidge  | year = 1859| location = Boston, Massachusetts| page = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ/page/n238 204]| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ| quote = coolidge mansfield history description new england 1859.  }}</ref>
In 1770, the area was granted by the [[Massachusetts General Court]] to 80 petitioners, 54 from [[Scarborough, Maine|Scarborough]]. It was first part of [[Machias, Maine|Machias]], incorporated in 1784, then set off and incorporated as Machiasport in 1826.<ref>{{Citation
  | last = Varney
  | first = George J.
  | title = Gazetteer of the state of Maine. Machiasport
  | place = Boston
  | publisher = Russell
  | year = 1886
  | url = http://history.rays-place.com/me/machiasport-me.htm }}
</ref>

In 1775, following [[Battle of Machias|the capture]] of the [[British people|British]] ship HMS ''Margaretta'' by locals under leadership of [[Jeremiah O'Brien]], the residents built a small [[breastwork (fortification)|breastworks]] here to guard the mouth of the [[Machias River]] and the area settlements. Later that year, the British sent four ships under the command of Sir [[George Collier]] that defeated the local [[militia]], destroyed the breastworks, and burned several buildings. In 1777, the fort was rebuilt as a crescent shaped four-gun [[artillery battery|battery]]. In 1781 it was made part of the national defense and named [[Fort O'Brien]]. In 1808–1809, Lemuel Trescott of [[Eastport, Maine|Eastport]] oversaw the construction of a [[blockhouse]], [[barracks]] and battery. During the [[War of 1812]], in September 1814 the British captured the fort and burnt the barracks.<ref name="MAGDE">{{cite book |last= Maine League of Historical Societies and Museums |editor=Doris A. Isaacson |title=Maine: A Guide 'Down East' |year=1970 |publisher=Courier-Gazette, Inc. |location=Rockland, Me | pages = 271–272 }}</ref>

In 1863, during the [[American Civil War]], Fort Machias was built adjacent to the ruins of Fort O'Brien. It was a five-gun earthworks fort with [[Canon obusier de 12|Napoleon 12-pound cannon]]. It was actively manned from 1863 to 1865. In 1923, the U.S. government transferred the sites of both forts to the state of Maine. As of 2006, they are managed as a historic site by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands.<ref>{{cite web | title = Historic Fort O'Brien | publisher = Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands | date = October 27, 2006 | url = http://www.state.me.us/doc/parks/programs/history/fortobrien/fort.htm | accessdate = December 10, 2006 }}</ref>  In 1969, they were added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]], as structure #69000024.<ref>{{cite web | title = MAINE - Washington County | publisher =  www.nationalregisterofhistoricalplaces.com | date = January 26, 2006 | url = http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/ME/Washington/state.html | accessdate = December 10, 2006 }}</ref>

Machiasport has been the setting of several ethnographic documentary films about its inhabitants by the anthropologist and filmmaker Anna Grimshaw.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grimshaw |first1=Anna |title=At Low Tide |url=https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work%7C3611340 |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute |date=2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ramey |first1=Kathryn |title=Time and the Axe: A Review of Anna Grimshaw's Mr. Coperthwaite |url=https://culanth.org/fieldsights/time-and-the-axe-a-review-of-anna-grimshaws-mr-coperthwaite |website=Society for Cultural Anthropology |date=November 30, 2015 |access-date=June 15, 2023}}</ref>