Kittery City Map Poster

About Kittery

The area was once the domain of the Portsmouth tribe, a branch of the Pennacook nation. They spoke an Algonquian language and were related to other tribes in New England. The English settlement at Kittery began in 1623 when Captain Wollaston established a trading post on Seavey's Island (now part of Kittery Point). He named it "Kittery" after his home town, also called Kittery, Maine. In 1628 he left Maine for good; subsequently several raids by Indians occurred during King Philip's War between members of various Indian groups allied with France against those allied with England and their Native American allies from New Hampshire to Virginia who fought under Metacomet (King Philip), chief sachem or sagamore ("head warrior")of the Pokanoket Nation/Pokanoket Tribe which included all tribes living along Narragansett Bay including what is now known as Rhode Island) led by Massasoit.