Freeport, ME news and local guide

At Mast Landing, at the head of tide on the Harraseeket, timber was shipped, especially for masts, and the estuary was dammed to power a gristmill, sawmill and fulling mill. Porter's Landing was a shipbuilding center after the Revolution, an industry that peaked between 1850 and 1860 and declined with the Civil War, and South Freeport, the largest waterfront village, once had four shipyards along with fishing, canning and farming. In 1903 Amos Gerald built the Casco Castle hotel there to encourage trolley travel; it burned in 1914, but its tower still stands. Freeport Corner, an inland farming and trading village, became the town's commercial center after the railroad arrived in 1849. In the 19th century fabric was sent from New York and Boston to be sewn into clothing by local pieceworkers, and the businessman E. B. Mallet established a sawmill, brickyard, granite quarry and large shoe factory. In 1912 Leon Leonwood Bean opened a store in the basement of his brother's apparel shop there, selling the Bean Boot, or Maine Hunting Shoe. L.L.Bean began staying open 24 hours a day in 1951 and grew into a worldwide company that anchors the town's outlet shopping. Sources Wikipedia: Freeport, Maine