Princes Point is a promontory in
Yarmouth, Maine
Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, twelve miles north of the state's largest city, Portland. When originally settled in 1636, as North Yarmouth, it was part of Massachusetts, and remained as such for 213 years. In 1849, ...
, United States. It is located around south of Yarmouth Village and looks out into inner
Casco Bay
Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the southern coast of Maine, New England, United States. Its easternmost approach is Cape Small and its westernmost approach is Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth. The city of Portland sits along its south ...
.
Princes Point Road leads to the point, which is named for shipwright Benjamin Prince, while Princes Point Road is named for his son,
Paul Prince. They were both relatives of poet
Elizabeth Oakes Smith. The point was part of an estate purchased by the Prince family in 1680.
When Yarmouth residents voted to secede from
North Yarmouth
North Yarmouth, officially the Town of North Yarmouth, is a town in Cumberland County, Maine. The population was 4,072 at the 2020 United States Census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford Metropolitan Statistical Area. ...
in the mid-19th century, Princes Point residents were against the plan. As historian Alan M. Hall noted: "Coastal farms, such as the Nicholas Drinkwater homestead on Princes Point
oad were often perched on more ledges than topsoil, a fact that nudged many Drinkwaters into a life at sea."
In the early 1880s, Princes Point began to develop as a summer colony. For several years it had become a favorite camping spot for the villagers and the inhabitants of the inland parts of the town who came here for
clam bakes and picnics. The town road ended at the John Allen Drinkwater barn, and here a large gate opened into the pasture which included the two points.
[''Ancient North Yarmouth and Yarmouth, Maine 1636-1936: A History'', William Hutchinson Rowe (1937)]
A short-lived steamship line ferried passengers to and from Princes Point aboard the ''Madeleine''.
In 1905, property owners on Princes Point formed a Princes Point Improvement Association.
Mrs. Bagley's Camp, a summer camp for boys, was held at the point in the early 20th century.
References
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Landforms of Yarmouth, Maine