First Falls (Yarmouth, Maine)

For the architecture of Lower Falls, see Lower Falls (Yarmouth, Maine).
First Falls
The falls in 2024
Map
LocationYarmouth, Maine, U.S.
Coordinates43°47′56″N 70°10′43″W / 43.7988606560°N 70.17857211°W / 43.7988606560; -70.17857211 (First Falls)
Number of drops1
WatercourseRoyal River

The First Falls are the first of four waterfalls in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. They are located on the Royal River, approximately a mile from its mouth with inner Casco Bay at Yarmouth Harbor and around 0.35 miles (0.56 km) downstream of the Second Falls. The river appealed to settlers because its 45-foot rise in close proximity to navigable water each provided potential waterpower sites. As such, each of the four falls was used to power 57 mills between 1674 and the mid-20th century.[1]

The local Native Americans called the First Falls (or Lower Falls) Pumgustuk, which means head of tide. (The town's early firefighters were called Pumgustuk Fire Company. Their eponymous pumper was purchased in 1856[2] and retired in 1928.[3] The first incarnation of today's Yarmouth Water District was called Pumgustuk Water Company.)[4]

  1. ^ Ancient North Yarmouth and Yarmouth, Maine 1636-1936: A History, William Hutchinson Rowe (1937)
  2. ^ "THE NOTES 12-08-2020 by The Notes - Issuu". issuu.com. 2020-12-07. Retrieved 2024-03-17.
  3. ^ "Pumgustuk Fire Company, Yarmouth, ca. 1900" - Maine Memory Network
  4. ^ Maine (1887). Acts and Resolves as Passed by the Legislature. Kennebec Journal. p. 320.