Maine · ME
Belfast
A Scots-Irish schooner town at the head of Penobscot Bay.
- Population
- 6,938 (2020 census)
- Settled
- 1770
- Burned by the British
- 1779
Then
- 1770
Scots-Irish settlers from Londonderry, New Hampshire, settle the town and name it for Belfast.
- 1779
The British burn Belfast. They occupy it again for five days in 1814.
- 1800s
Shipyards build hundreds of three-, four- and five-masted schooners.
- 1990s
After the poultry plants close, credit card giant MBNA opens offices here.
Now
Belfast is the Waldo County seat, at the mouth of the Passagassawakeag River. A rail trail opened along the river in 2016.