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| Popham Colony is an English settlement that predates the Pilgrims by 13 years. Melanie Stetson Freeman – staff |
Popham, Maine's 'lost' colony, to get its modest due
Jamestown's forgotten sister colony turns 400 this month, but few realize its role in history.
from the August 15, 2007 edition
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But the colony's stature has grown in recent years, following archaeologists' discovery of the remains of the walled settlement in Stevens's backyard. "There's no question that this is one of the foremost historical sites in the country," says Jeffrey Brain of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., the archaeologist who headed the 1994-2004 dig at the site. "A lot of the lessons learned at Popham enabled the Pilgrims to survive, so it was crucial to the foundation of English America."
Indeed, by the time the Pilgrims arrived, Gorges had set up several year-round fishing stations on the Maine coast, possibly hiring men who had served at Popham Beach.
When the Pilgrims were starving in the spring of 1622, they sent a ship to the Damariscove Island station, whose fishermen gave them enough cod to survive. But while the date of the Mayflower's arrival at Plymouth became part of America's historical mythology, the date of Damariscove's settlement was lost and forgotten.
"The Popham colony awakened English people to the possibility of settling New England," Mr. Baker says. "It really triggered the foundation of these fishing stations, which were vital to support permanent settlements like Plymouth."
Festivity parity
In May, "America's 400th Anniversary" celebration in Virginia drew Queen Elizabeth II, President Bush, and more than 65,000 visitors. By contrast, Phippsburg will be having "a nice little hometown commemoration," according to volunteer organizer Bill Perkins, a retired high school football coach.
"We've invited a bunch of dignitaries to come, but so far they haven't committed, and our requests to get a military band to perform have fallen on deaf ears," says Mr. Perkins, who adds that it's probably just as well. "We're just a little town on a little peninsula and we truly can't sustain a huge celebration without overwhelming the town."
Another group had hoped to build a replica of the Virginia to serve as the centerpiece of the festivities, but have had trouble raising funds for the 50-foot vessel's construction in time. "Boatbuilders recognize the Virginia as the beginning of their industry, but I'm not sure historians give it its due," says Susan McChesney, director of Maine's First Ship in Bath, Maine.
She notes that the Virginia later served as a resupply ship for Jamestown.
Ironically, Ms. McChesney says, replicas of the two much larger vessels that participated in the Jamestown 400th – the Godspeed and Discovery – were both built in Maine in 2005 and 2006.
Mr. Brain says that Jamestown and Popham were part of the same event, the first serious English effort to colonize North America. "One colony failed and one succeeded, but they should be considered two sides of the same coin," he says.
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