Introduction
There are two towns named Bristol in Maine, Bristol in and South Bristol, which is about 9 miles south. Both are in Lincoln County, and both are named after Bristol, England.
Bristol, known from 1632 to 1765 as Pemaquid. Beginning with seasonal fishing, as early as 1625 the English established at Pemaquid Point a year-round trading post for fur trading. In 1631, the area was granted as the Pemaquid Patent by the Plymouth Council to Robert Aldsworth and Gyles Elbridge, merchants from Bristol, England. On June 21, 1765, the town was incorporated as Bristol, named after the home port of the Pemaquid Patent holders.
The town would sometimes sell off land, and it was on one of these parcels that the town of South Bristol was built in 1915.
Pemaquid Point
Image: Wikimedia
South Bristol
Image: Wikimedia
Bristol, Maine (wikipedia)
Colonial Pemaquid (Bureau of Parks and Lands)
Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site (wikipedia)
Maine - Town of Bristol in A history and description of New England, general and local by Austin Jacobs Coolidge & John Brainard Mansfield, 1859 (Internet Archive)
Pemaquid Point Light (wikipedia)
South Bristol, Maine (wikipedia)