At the same site and back a short distance from the river bank, a Christian Science church sits on what was, essentially, the site of the 1628 Cushnoc Trading Post. A plaque donated by the Daughters of the American Revolution marks the location of the post that disappeared over three centuries ago.  

Abenaki women were involved in the early trading post, for traditional female responsibilities included skinning and preparing animal pelts -- the main items of trade. Some historians propose that Abenaki women had a role in trading sessions, with the right to indicate their approval or disapproval of a specific transaction.

Europeans came to the Augusta area certainly by 1607 when a party from the Popham settlement (British) explored the river, although French accounts of the Kennebec date from 1604. It is not certain, however, if they went as far inland as Augusta. Trade on the Kennebec began as early as 1625, and a sustained European presence was established in Augusta in 1628 when members of the Plymouth (Massachusetts) Colony built the Cushnoc Trading Post. Early in 1629, the Pilgrims sought and received a patent from authorities in England for rights to the land (fifteen miles on either side of the river) and exclusive trade with the tribes in the area. Based on earlier exploration and land claims, King James I had granted the New England land rights to a group of English nobles (in 1621) who then made the grant to the Pilgrims. There were overlapping claims by the French, and certainly the Abenaki people occupied the land and felt it to be collectively theirs. The Pilgrims operated Cushnoc from 1628 to 166l, before selling to others, and made enough profit (and more) to pay off their English sponsors.

Fur was the main item of trade, and in exchange, the Abenaki received corn, biscuits, fruit, other food items, blankets, knives, hatchets, kettles, pipes, tobacco, beads and, alcohol - –the dreadful fire-water!" (Nash, 28) Beaver was the common fur traded, but other skins changed hands - muskrat, mink, deer, lynx, fox, bear, and moose were among them. The pelts were destined for England, most to be made into felt for stylish –beaver" hats. The Plymouth Colony, the subsequent owners, and the Abenaki traded in relative peace for nearly 50 years, but in 1675 the political climate changed and the Abenaki joined other Maine Indians in resisting European encroachment on their land. The trading post was abandoned around 1675, and over eighty years of unrest and warfare followed. The period 1678 - 1759 was one of great unrest on the Maine frontier, marked with warfare and conflict involving the British, the French, and the Abenaki peoples, with changing patterns of conflict, coalition, and indifference.

Even prior to 1675, the trade at Cushnoc had diminished, prompting the Plymouth Colony to sell the no-longer-profitable patent. In 1661, four Boston men purchased the Kennebec patent: John Winslow, Antipas Boyes, Edward Tyng, and Thomas Brattle. Their brief attempt at trade failed - the dwindling fur supply and a change in the relationship with the natives were the main reasons - and the post was closed. The area was of little interest until the mid-eighteenth century.

In the 1750's, as settlements on southern and coastal lands presented the possibility for expansion and economic gain, interest in the old patent renewed. The descendant of the four purchasers of the right to the Kennebec patent claimed the land and began to settle the area. The group incorporated and called themselves the Proprietors of the Kennebec Purchase from the Late Colony of New Plymouth (known as the Plymouth Company or the Kennebec Proprietors). The proprietors held rights because of inheritance, purchase, trade, gift or division of the land rights purchased in 1661 by Winslow, Boyes, Tyng, and Brattle.

In 1753, two women were identified as heirs (out of 32) to the forgotten Kennebec land: Sarah Smith, through Thomas Brattle's estate, and Mary Bayard (rights passed to her children), connected through John Winslow. Between 1661 and 1753, numerous women are noted in the complex succession of sellers, conveyors, purchasers, and inheritors of claims to the Kennebec lands. No woman, however, was listed in the first land grants that happened between 1762 and 1764.

Site # 2.1 Sources: