Editing Shapleigh, Maine (section)

==History==

In 1668, Chief Captain Sunday (or Wesumbe) of the Newichawannock [[Abenaki]] tribe deeded [[Francis Small]] the Ossipee Tract, which included [[Cornish, Maine|Cornish]], [[Parsonsfield, Maine|Parsonsfield]], [[Newfield, Maine|Newfield]], [[Limerick, Maine|Limerick]], [[Limington, Maine|Limington]] and Shapleigh. Small, a trader from [[Kittery, Maine|Kittery]], then sold a half interest to Major Nicholas Shapleigh of [[Eliot, Maine|Eliot]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.actonshapleigh.com/ActonShapleighHistory.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313090557/http://www.actonshapleigh.com/ActonShapleighHistory.aspx|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 13, 2012|title=A Brief History of Acton & Shapleigh (archived)| work=Acton-Shapleigh Historical Society |access-date=October 4, 2010 }}</ref> In 1770, heirs discovered the unrecorded deed and made claim. Shapleigh's heirs took Parsonsfield, Shapleigh and one half of Limerick.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shapleigh.net/history.cfm |title=History of Shapleigh | work=shapleigh.net |access-date=October 4, 2010 }}</ref>

First called Hubbardstown, it was settled in 1772 when Simeon Emery erected a [[sawmill]] at the foot of Mousam Pond.<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| pages = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ/page/n341 303]–304| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ| quote = coolidge mansfield history description new england 1859.  }}</ref> On March 5, 1785, the town was incorporated as Shapleigh, named for its early proprietor.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://history.rays-place.com/me/shapleigh-me.htm |title=History of Shapleigh, Maine | work=Rays Place |access-date=October 4, 2010 }}</ref> In 1830, Shapleigh's west half was set off and incorporated as [[Acton, Maine|Acton]]. In 1846, a portion of Shapleigh was annexed by [[Newfield, Maine|Newfield]]. Shapleigh annexed an eastern portion of land from [[Waterboro, Maine|Waterboro]] in 1854.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mainegenealogy.net/individual_place_record.asp?place=shapleigh |title=Shapleigh, York County, Maine | work=Maine Genealogy |access-date=October 4, 2010 }}</ref>

There were sawmills in Emery Mills, Shapleigh Corner and North Shapleigh, which also had a [[woolen]] [[textile]] factory (known as Hargraves Woolen Mill) and leather board factory.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://actonshapleigh.com/ShapleighCorner.aspx |title=Villages | work=Acton-Shapleigh Historical Society |access-date=October 4, 2010 }}</ref> For a few years beginning in 1837, iron was produced at a blast furnace in North Shapleigh from [[bog iron]] retrieved from Little Ossipee Pond. Foundations, walls, and slag remained at the site at the time of a 2003 Maine Geological Survey publication on the site.<ref>Loring, Rev. Amasa. ''A History of Shapleigh'', Portland, ME: Brown and Thurston, 1854.</ref><ref>Weddle, Thomas K. The Iron Age of Maine, Part II: The Shapleigh Iron Company: A Foray into Industrial (geo)Archaeology in ''Maine Geologic Facts and Localities''. Augusta, Maine: Maine Geological Survey, November 2003. https://digitalmaine.com/mgs_publications/370/, Retrieved September 6, 2019.</ref>  Shapleigh was one of the Maine towns devastated by the [[Great Fires of 1947]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://swim.wellsreserve.org/town.php?town_id=31 |title=Town of Shapleigh | work=Seacoast Watershed Information Manager |access-date=October 4, 2010 }}</ref>

In 2009, Shapleigh residents (along with those of [[Newfield, Maine|Newfield]]) successfully opposed the industrial-scale drawing of water from its aquifer by [[Nestlé]], operating under the [[Poland Spring]] brand.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.soh2o.org/?page_id=893 |title=Save Our Water in Shapleigh/Newfield, Maine | work=Water Campaign |access-date=September 1, 2014 }}</ref>