Town of Franklin

Franklin is a town in Hancock County, incorporated on January 24, 1825 from portions of plantations number 8 and 9. Between 1837 and 1857 it annexed land from the balance of Plantation Number 9, from Hancock, and from Plantation Number 10.

Moses Butler was the first settler in 1764 at Butler's point, a site of an earlier Indian settlement. In addition to shipbuilding, the quarrying and shipment of white granite dominated the local economy for a century beginning in about 1840.

Named for Benjamin Franklin, the town lies east of Ellsworth at the junction of Maine Routes 182 and 200. Though substantially inland, the extension of Sullivan Harbor expands to Taunton Bay and Hog Bay to give it a coastal flavor.

The Taunton Bay Islands nature preserve consists of two small islands offshore of a large mainland bald eagle site purchased by the Nature Conservancy in 1989, helping to protect the eagle territory as well as the habitat used by thousands of migratory shorebirds.

Blueberries and Christmas trees are major crops in this still growing rural community.

From Maine: An Encyclopedia (www.themaineencyclopedia.com)