The Abenaki: When did they live in western Maine?

This post is the third in a series originally posted on our Facebook page in October 2021.

When did the Abenaki people live here in western Maine, and when did they leave?

The Abenaki and their ancestors occupied this land from the last Ice Age, an estimated 10-11,000 years ago. Before their initial contact with European colonizers in the 1520s, they numbered in the hundreds of thousands. The tribe did not have central leadership, especially in peacetime, and was made up of family villages. The Abenaki people typically traveled and lived among several villages during their lifetimes.

The Abenaki population was devastated by epidemics of new diseases introduced by European fishermen.
By the late eighteenth century, there were around 500 Abenaki remaining in this area. 

In the 1840s, a number of Abenaki timber workers returned to Maine as the industry grew. While Abenaki descendants still live in Maine, the tribes are officially located in Canada and Vermont now. 

This animation details Wabanaki tribal presence in what is now New England over the past 500+ years.

It is important that we remember that while the Abenaki are no longer in what is now Oxford County, Maine, they are still alive and advocating for their rights, their culture, their history and their lives.

The information in this post came from Audubon Vermont, Marianopolis College, the Abenaki Arts & Education Center, and the book Twelve Thousand Years: American Indian in Maine by Bruce Bourque.