Dec. 31, 1775: As the first year of the American Revolution draws to a close, American Revolutionary forces led by Col. Benedict Arnold and Maj. Gen. Richard Montgomery attack the British fortress at Quebec City while a snowstorm rages. The assault fails. Arnold, who led his men on an epic, hardship-filled journey up Maine’s Kennebec […]

Dec. 30, 2006: The $85 million Penobscot Narrows Bridge, which carries Route 1 across the Penobscot River and links the towns of Prospect and Verona Island, opens to traffic for the first time. The cable-stayed 2,120-foot bridge features two 430-foot-tall towers, the western one of which contains the world’s highest public bridge observation deck. Dave […]

Dec. 29, 2012: Three couples get married and a fourth obtains a marriage license early on a Saturday morning at Bangor City Hall, amid a crowd of about 50 well-wishers. Normally city offices aren’t open Saturdays, but this is an exception. Special business hours were scheduled because this is the first day on which marriages […]

Dec. 28, 1814: A convention of Democrat-Republicans from several Oxford County towns is convened. Outraged about the inability of the federal government to expel the British from eastern Maine during the ongoing War of 1812, about the Massachusetts authorities’ unwillingness to aid in that effort, they conclude that the only sensible course of action to […]

Dec. 27, 2005: The Nature Conservancy announces it has bought nearly 10,000 acres of forested land in Hancock County for $2.2 million and that it plans to preserve the property. The purchase is emblematic of many other land preservation steps taken by various organizations in this period. The Nature Conservancy land, called the Spring River […]