Shapleigh, Maine

 town (New England / New York), draw only border

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In 1668, Chief Captain Sunday (or Wesumbe) of the Newichawannock Abenaki tribe sold to Francis Small the Ossipee Tract, which included Cornish, Parsonsfield, Newfield, Limerick, Limington and Shapleigh. Small, a trader from Kittery, then sold a half interest to Major Nicholas Shapleigh of Eliot. In 1770, heirs discovered the unrecorded deed and made claim. Shapleigh's heirs took Parsonsfield, Shapleigh and one half of Limerick, the last awarded in full to James Sullivan for his legal services.

First called Hubbardstown, Shapleigh Plantation was settled in 1772 when Simeon Emery erected a sawmill at the foot of Mousam Pond. On March 5, 1785, the town was incorporated as Shapleigh, named for Nicholas Shapleigh. In 1830, Shapleigh's west half was set off and incorporated as Acton. In 1846, 600-800 acres of the northeastern part of Shapleigh were annexed by Newfield. Shapleigh annexed an eastern portion of land from Waterboro in 1854.

Farmers found the land to have sandy loam, which yielded good crops of grain. The town also had orchards, and before 1842, cider was a principal product. There were sawmills at Emery Mills, Shapleigh Corner and North Shapleigh, which also had a woolen textile factory and leather board factory. By 1870, the population was 1,087. Shapleigh was one of the Maine towns devastated by the Great Fires of 1947.