Machias

Town and seat of Washington County, in eastern Maine; population (1990) 2,600. Machias lies on Route US 1 and the Machias River, at the head of Machias Bay, 40 km/25 mi southwest of Eastport.

Originally an English trading post, in the 1700s Machias became a stronghold for pirates, including Samuel Bellamy, the ‘Robin Hood’ of American piracy. In 1775, the British vessel Margaretta was captured in Machias Bay, in one of the Revolution's first naval engagements. The settlement developed as a lumber and shipbuilding centre, and was one of the last communities to undertake spring log drives down the river. Now that the lumber industry, paper mills, and canneries have suffered decline, economic activity in Machias centres on tourism, granite quarrying, grist and rayon milling, farming, and some timber processing. The University of Maine has a campus here. Machiasport (population (1990) 1,200), which adjoins Machias to the east, became a separate town in 1862.