Editing Castine, Maine (section)

===1820–1960===
[[File:Union war memorial, Castine, ME IMG 2378.JPG|200px|right|thumb|The [[American Civil War|Civil War]] monument on the village green is dedicated "In memory of the soldiers and sailors from Castine who offered their lives in The War for the Preservation of the Union."]]
With the growth of the postwar economy, the town became a prosperous place: the seat of Hancock County and a center for shipbuilding and coastal trading. By the 1820s, it had become a major [[entrepot]] for American fishing fleets on their way to the [[Grand Banks of Newfoundland]]. It also prospered from the lumber industry, in which eastern Maine dominated before the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. During this period of growth and prosperity, many of the handsome [[Federal style architecture|Federal]] and [[Greek Revival]] style mansions that still grace the village's streets were constructed.

[[Image:Castine from Fort George.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''Castine from Fort George'', 1856, by [[Fitz Henry Lane]]]]
Castine declined after the Civil War. By then its fleet, which once sailed the globe, carried coal, firewood, and lime to coastal ports in competition with railroads and steamships. Ambitious young people sought their fortunes elsewhere. In 1838, the Hancock County seat moved to [[Ellsworth, Maine|Ellsworth]].<ref name="Coolidge"/>

By the 1870s, Castine's quaint old architecture and cool summer air attracted "rusticators"—well-to-do urban families seeking rest and recreation. Its charms also drew activists, including [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]] and [[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]], whose writings romanticized its past. By the 1890s, wealthy families from [[Boston]], [[Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford]] and [[Chicago]] were buying up old farms and sea captains' houses. Hotels and inns opened as Castine became a flourishing summer colony. Since 1867, it had been site of the Eastern State Normal School.<ref name="Varney 1886"/>

In the 1930s, the [[Great Depression]] and the automobile killed off the hotel trade, the steamship lines that had linked coastal towns and islands, and the local fishing industry. The fortunes of the community did not revive until the 1960s, with the rediscovery of the town's charms by a new generation of summer tourists.<ref name="History of Castine, Maine"/>{{failed verification|date=December 2016}}