Camden, Maine

Camden is a town in

• 
  Camden in 1906
• 
  Camden Hills in 1906
• 
  High Street in 1913
• 
  Charlotte A. Maxwell, a four-masted schooner built at Camden, launched in 1917
• 
  Curtis Island Light c. 1920

In November 1892, a fire fed by a strong easterly wind-burned the business district to the ground. Immediately, Camden businessmen drew together to make the investment required to build 12 large brick buildings, including the Camden Opera House and, controversially, the Masonic Temple (now the Lord Camden Inn). The Great Fire, as it became known, did not discourage increasing numbers of affluent summer people from making Camden their summer enclave. Indeed, in 1897 a road was built to the top of Mt. Battie, one of the two mountains rising above the town, and an inn was erected at the summit. In 1898, a group of wealthy summer residents from Philadelphia established the Megunticook Golf Club on Beauchamp Point. And in 1901, the Whitehall Inn opened on High Street in an old mansion built by a sea captain, catering to a well-to-do clientele. Around the turn of the century families such as Curtis, Bok, Keep, Gribbel, Dillingham and Borland not only built estates but their donations resulted in the public library, the amphitheatre, which was designed by Fletcher Steele, the Camden Harbor Park, which was designed by the Olmsted Brothers, the Village Green, and the Camden Opera House.

Camden Yacht Club

The Philadelphia publishing tycoon, Cyrus Curtis, maintained a summer home and several yachts in Camden. Given the many other private yachts of the upper class that filled Camden Harbor as well, Curtis decided in 1912 to establish and build the Camden Yacht Club. In 2006, as part of the club's centennial celebrations, the Club published 'From steam to sail : 100 years of the Camden Yacht Club" ^[6] Yachting continues to thrive in Camden, particularly during the summer months, with the HAJ Boat racing fleet at the Yacht Club with the younger sailors in their turnabouts. In 1936 the cruise schooner business was started by Captain Frank Swift and the windjammer fleet continues to this day.

Music and culture

Music and cultural interests have long flourished in Camden. In 1912, Edna St. Vincent Millay read "Renascence," a poem she wrote from the top of Mt. Battie, to the guests at the Whitehall Inn, one of whom offered to pay her tuition to Vassar. After graduating from Vassar, she went on to write poetry and plays that made her one of the most famous women in America and an inspiration for the Roaring Twenties, winning the Pulitzer Prize.

The French harpist, composer and conductor, Carlos Salzedo, founded the internationally renowned Salzedo Summer Harp Colony in Camden and each summer held a Harp Festival in the amphitheater beside the library. Camden/Rockport also is home to Bay Chamber Concerts. Theatre productions at the Opera House and Shakespeare in the Amphitheatre enriched the lives of residents and summer visitors for generations.

In the 1950s, artists and writers of significant reputation began moving to Camden and neighboring Rockport, where local artists organized Maine Coast Artists. Wayne Doolittle began publishing

The town is home to a summer Shakespeare festival, the Camden Shakespeare Company, which performs in an amphitheater behind the town library. During the second weekend of February, the annual U.S. National Toboggan Championships are held at the town-owned Camden Snow Bowl. This nationally known race started as a lark for something to do during the long Maine winters, and more than 20 years later is one of New England's premier cold-weather events. The iced chute is 400 feet (120 m) long, and the four-man teams attain speeds of up to 35 miles (56 km) an hour. Most racers arrive in costume, and 100% percent of race revenue is used to offset operating expenses for this recreation area.

Camden is the location of the 2001 HGTV Dream Home.

The Points North Institute, located in Camden and Rockport, Maine, is organizing the annual Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) founded in 2005. It focuses exclusively on documentary film and building community among the professional filmmakers. The Points North Forum was launched in 2009 to provide debates about documentary developments on a par with peers. Over the following years more than 50 funders, broadcasters, distributors and producers have been participating annually. Further on, in 2015 as a partnership with Tribeca Film Institute the Camden/TFI Retreat was started, a week-long educational program. Additionally was introduced: the Shortform Editing Residency, the North Star Fellowship, Points North 1:1 Meetings, and the 4th World Indigenous Media Lab.^[7]

• 
  Main Street
• 
  Camden harbor
• 
  Public Library
• 
  Baptist Church

In popular culture

• The 2001 Best Picture Academy Award nominated film In the Bedroom had scenes that were shot in Camden. Specifically, the historic welcome arch, the bar where Tom Wilkinson's character goes looking for his son's friend, the Camden Harbor Park and Amphitheatre where Sissy Spacek's character directs the Balkan Girl's Chorus in an outdoor concert, the exterior of the bar where her son's killer is working, and the shots of the town at dawn from the summit of Mount Battie for the film's finale^[8]
• The majority of the 1995 film Casper was filmed in Camden, though the story takes place in Friendship. The production crew chose Camden, citing it to be "more authentic". In the film, Friendship is home to a fictional Art Nouveau mansion called Whipstaff Manor, which is haunted by four ghosts. However Whipstaff Manor is not a real mansion located on the sea front of Camden. The lower exterior and interior of the mansion was built on a set.
• Other movies shot in Camden includes
  Carousel (1957) and Peyton Place (1957)^[9] and Head Above Water
  (1996).

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 26.65 square miles (69.02 km²), of which 18.24 square miles (47.24 km²) is land and 8.41 square miles (21.78 km²) is water.^[1] Drained by the Megunticook River, Camden is located beside Penobscot Bay and the Gulf of Maine, part of the Atlantic Ocean. Principal bodies of water include: Megunticook Lake, Hosmer Pond (54 acres), Impoundment (Seabright Pond) (74 acres) and Lily Pond (32 acres). Mount Megunticook has an elevation of 1385 feet (419 m).

The town is crossed by U. S. Route 1 and state routes 52 and 105. It borders the towns of Rockport to the south, Hope to the southwest, and Lincolnville to the north.

Climate

Like most of New England, Camden has a humid continental climate with wide variations in temperature between seasons.^[10]

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

There were 2,382 households, of which 21.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.7% were married couples living together, 8.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 44.9% were non-families. 39.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 22.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.01 and the average family size was 2.65.

The median age in the town was 53.2 years. 17.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 4.7% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 16.2% were from 25 to 44; 33.5% were from 45 to 64; and 27.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 45.6% male and 54.4% female.

2000 census

At the 2000

There were 2,390 households, of which 24.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.1% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a divorced female householder, and 40.8% were non-families. 34.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.11 and the average family size was 2.71.

The age distribution was 19.7% under the age of 18, 4.4% from 18 to 24, 22.2% from 25 to 44, 30.3% from 45 to 64, and 23.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.1 males.

The

Ancestry/ethnicity

As of 2017 the largest self-identified ancestry groups/ethnic groups in Camden, Maine were:^[15]

^[15]

Economy

Banks

• Camden National Bank

Education

Camden is serviced by several public and private schools. They are:

• The Children's House Montessori School
• Ashwood Waldorf School
• People Place Cooperative Preschool
• Service by
  MSAD 28
  , which operates:
  • Camden Rockport Elementary School
  • Camden Rockport Middle School
• Service by the
  Five Town Community School District
  , which operates:
  • Camden Hills Regional High School
• The Watershed School

Sites of interest

• Bald Mountain
• Bay Chamber Concerts
• Camden Public Library
  • The Walsh History Center
  • Peyton Place Archives
  • Edna St.Vincent Millay Archives
• Camden Hills State Park
• Camden Opera House
  • Conway House Museum
  • Mary Meeker Cramer Museum
• Camden Snow Bowl
• Curtis Island Lighthouse
• Camden Town office
• Maiden's Cliff

Notable people

Free land

Camden made national headlines in 2010 after it was announced that the town would be giving some land away (2.8 acres and a run-down leather tannery) for "free", on the condition that a prospective business owner would have to pay $175,000 to the city of Camden and create 24 "full time" jobs. As of 2012, Camden had yet to find any takers.^[18] In fact, the land was still available for "free" as of 2018.

See also

• Center for Creative Imaging

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Camden, Maine.

• City of Camden
• Chamber of Commerce
• Camden, Maine travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Camden Public Library
• The Camden Conference
• Pop!Tech Conference
• Seven Towns Where Land Is Free; CNBC.com; November 17, 2010