
Monhegan Island, recorded by Italian explorer John Cabot in 1498, was visited by English colonist John Smith in 1614. Bristol is the site of Nahanda Village, a prehistoric Indian encampment, and of Fort William Henry (built 1692). The county was formed in 1760 and named for Lincoln, Eng. Wiscasset, the county seat, flourished as a centre of shipping and lumbering in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Nearby Fort Edgecomb, which never saw battle, was built in 1808 as a bulwark against British warships. Several extant lighthouses were built in the 1820s. Boothbay Harbor, a 17th-century English settlement, and Waldoboro, an 18th-century German settlement, are resort towns that developed as shipbuilding centres. Tourism is a major industry in the county. Area 456 square miles (1,180 square km). Pop. (1990) 30,357; (1996 est.) 31,303.