About Us

The Town of New Gloucester is located on the northern boundary of Cumberland County between the two largest metropolitan centers in Maine: Portland to the south and Lewiston-Auburn to the north.  The town's 48.6 square miles includes a beautiful village area and many acres of farmland and forest.

Settled in the 1740's by men from Gloucester, Massachusetts, who saw the promise of its fertile intervale and wooded hills, New Gloucester was soon completely abandoned in the face of hostile Indian action.  Settlers returned in the 1750's and obtained the town's incorporation in 1774, only to be pitched into the turmoil of Revolution.  With peace and a new national Constitution, the town achieved sudden prominence as a court seat for western Cumberland County and as a supply and transportation center for lumbering and farming in the surrounding region.  Mills, shops, and inns were numerous.  Great homes were built, and huge farms were laid out and worked as the town prospered.  Active schools, three churches, and the Shaker community brought a spiritual dimension to the town.

After 1850, New Gloucester lost its prominence.  The action shifted to the cities, to the great plains of the west, to the wilderness of northern Maine, as an expanding railroad network made possible the development and marketing of resources on a national scale not previously possible. 

New Gloucester has become a placid and still prosperous farming community where commuters make their homes.  The town treasures its rural character yet seeks to blend its future growth with the traditions of its past.  A prime example being that New Gloucester is home to both Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village and Pineland Farms.