Town of Dresden

Dresden was first settled as Frankfort in 1752 by German and French Huguenot immigrants. A town in Lincoln County, it incorporated on June 25, 1794 from a portion of the town of Pownalborough (later Wiscasset). The Germans, brought to the area through the encouragement of General Samuel Waldo, contributed the name Dresden after the city in their homeland.

It annexed land from Alna in 1741. In 1847 it set off two islands to form the Town of Perkins, which surrendered its organization in 1918 leaving the unorganized township of Perkins. The two islands are Swan Island and Little Swan Island, now a nature preserve administered by the State of Maine.

The 1761 Pownalborough Courthouse was the first built in Maine and the only one built prior to the Revolution.

The Earle R. Kelley Wildlife Management Area is a 500 acre park, 290 acres of which is marshland, maintained by the State Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, 1.5 miles from the intersection of Route 27 and Blinn Hill Road.

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