Sagadahoc became a county in 1854 and was originally a part of Lincoln County. The name is said to come from the Sasanoa Native American Tribe and means "mouth of big river". The Native Americans spelled it Sagadahock. The big river refers to the Kennebec River. Sagadahoc is the smallest county in Maine and covers approximately 254 square miles. The population of the County, based on the 2000 census, is 35,214.

There are ten municipalities in the county:

        City of Bath, 1847 (Town of Bath, 1781)

        Town of Arrowsic, 1841                                       

        Town of Bowdoin, 1788

        Town of Bowdoinham, 1762

        Town of Georgetown, 1764

        Town of Phippsburg, 1814

        Town of Topsham, 1764

        Town of Richmond, 1823

        Town of West Bath, 1844                                                          -Downtown Bath-

        Town of Woolwich, 1759

    The Courthouse, built in 1869, looks over beautiful downtown Bath and the spacious Kennebec River. In November 1985, the voters of Sagadahoc County approved a $1,250,000 bond issue to renovate the courthouse and to add a three-story addition. A dedication was held in November 1988 with a session of the Main Supreme Judicial Court.

    Most county courthouses in Maine have a Superior Courtroom where trials are held. Many courthouses also have District Courts in the same building; Sagadahoc's is located in a different building in West Bath. The Court System is run by the state of Maine.

    Sagadahoc has had a long history of shipbuilding. Bath Iron Works is one of the largest employers in the state of Maine. In the 1920s and 1930s many luxury yachts were built. During World War II, BIW alone built more Destroyers than the entire nation of Japan. Today, BIW builds ships primarily for the United States Navy. One of the largest cranes in the United States is located at BIW and can be seen for miles around.

One of the finest collection of maritime artifacts is housed at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, founded in 1962. It illustrates timeless themes on Coastal Living in Maine and is home to the Percy and Small Shipyard. The Percy and Small Shipyard, between 1897 and 1920, built 41 four-, five-, and six-masted schooners - including the largest wooden vessel in the world, the six-masted Wyoming. (For more information please click here for their website)

                    -View of the Sagadahoc Bridge-

    Other economic activities in the County included commerce (retail stores, banks, insurance, etc), commercial fishing, vacation/travel, shoe manufacturing, and farming. Crops grown in Sagadahoc County included carrot, feed corn, hay, raspberries, strawberries, and turnips.

    Two of the most popular sandy ocean beaches in the state are located in Sagadahoc County - Popham Beach State Park in Phippsburg and Reid State Park in Georgetown. Popham Beach is also the location of Fort Popham, home to one of the earliest colonies in the United States. The "Virginia", widely considered the first ship built in America, was built in Popham Colony in 1607.

    William King, the first Governor of Maine, lived in Bath at the time of his election. His home in Bath was built of stone and is now occupied by the descendants of the Sewall family, whom were very prominent in shipbuilding. A member of that family, Sumner Sewall, became Governor of Maine in the 1940s. Before the American Revolution, an early part-time resident of the area was Sir William Phipps, whom was Governor General of Massachusetts.

-Laura Broussard
 County Clerk

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