to
Update
is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,299 at the 2000 census. It is a summer recreation area and is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area. Raymond Neck is the landing for the ferry to the town of Frye Island in Sebago Lake.
Raymondtown Plantation was granted in 1767 by the Massachusetts General Court to the descendants of Captain William Raymond of Beverly, Massachusetts and his militia. It was the second attempt to repay the troop (or heirs) for service under Governor Sir William Phipps during the Battle of Quebec in 1690. A township had been awarded them in 1735 called Beverly-Canada (now Weare, New Hampshire), but in 1741 descendants of John Mason proved a prior claim.
The township at Sebago Lake was given to the Beverly Proprietors as compensation. It was first settled in 1770 by Captain Joseph Dingley and Dominicus Jordan of Cape Elizabeth, although most families arrived after the Revolutionary War. It was on the stage route to Bridgton. On June 21, 1803, the Raymondtown Plantation was incorporated as Raymond, named in honor of Captain Raymond. In 1829, land was annexed to help form the new town of Naples, and in 1841, Casco was set off and incorporated as a town.
The town provided agriculture and lumber products for Portland and other cities. Panther Run, which drains Panther Pond, provided water power for industry. Raymond village grew near the mills, which included a gristmill, sawmill, plaster mill, a stave factory and a children's sled factory. From about 1812 until 1825, Nathaniel Hawthorne lived in Raymond with his siblings and widowed mother. His later writings would reminisce about his boyhood hiking in the woods or fishing in the lake.