Scarborough City Map Poster

About Scarborough

Scarborough is home to the University of New England. The town was named after Scarborough, in North Yorkshire, England. It was first settled by Europeans in 1633 as a fishing and trading village at the mouth of the Megunticook River near its confluence with Long Creek (now part of Casco Bay). The area had previously been inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years; they called it "Saccarappa." In 1637 an Englishman named William Hilton built a house on land granted to him by the Plymouth Company—the first settlement in what would become Maine. A fortification known as Fort Loyalty was built at today's Spring Point around 1730 during King George's War but abandoned about 1750 when hostilities ended with France and Spain. The township grew slowly until about 1820 when tourism became popular following word that President James Monroe spent summers here while Secretary of State under President Thomas Jefferson from 1803–1809.[2] Today this historic district is listed on both National Register[3] and Historic Registry.