Pennellville Historic District is a residential district located in Brunswick, Maine. To locals, the neighborhood is known simply as "Pennellville."
Pennellville is significant for two main reasons: it has several historic ship captains' mansions, and much of the real estate is waterfront property. The real estate in Pennellville is some of the most expensive in the state of Maine.
The area's historic significance centers on the fact that the Pennell family founded a shipbuilding company and shipyard there. The company built wooden ships there for the 18th and 19th century shipping trade. Their company was Pennell Brothers, and it was one of the most successful shipbuilding companies in the country. The shipyard was located in the cove at Pennellville.
Geography and government
Geography
Pennellville is located in the southern portion of Brunswick, Maine, on the Atlantic Ocean. It sits on a cove known as Middle Bay Cove. The greater bay where it sits is known as Middle Bay, which is a part of the still larger Casco Bay. No official boundaries of Pennellville have ever been designated.
Local government
Pennellville is part of the town of Brunswick, Maine, and has no government of its own. Residents use Brunswick's post office, police department, fire and rescue departments, library, and public school system. Residents of Pennellville are also subject to Brunswick's town taxation system and Maine's state taxation system.
History
Native Americans
Before the arrival of white settlers, Pennellville and Brunswick were inhabited by Native Americans. The greater area was known as "Pejepscot" at the time, and encompassed the modern-day town of Brunswick and other nearby towns. Native Americans left the area by the year 1725.
European settlers
Pennellville was settled by Thomas Pennell, who moved to Brunswick from Falmouth before 1765. Contrary to what appears in many sources, Thomas Pennell was not the son of Thomas Pennell of Gloucester, Massachusetts, nor is there any reliable evidence that he came from the Channel Islands. Thomas Pennell's history before his 1735 marriage to Rachel Riggs remains unknown. Thomas had five sons (four of them being John, Thomas, Matthew and Stephen). His second son was Thomas Pennell II (1739–1812), who married, about 1768, Alice Anderson. Thomas II lived in the Brunswick area, becoming a tax collector and was a shipwright in the 1790s. He married Alice Anderson of Freeport, Maine. Thomas II and Alice had five sons and five daughters. Thomas II taught these sons the shipbuilding trade. Together, they expanded their shipbuilding activities and merchant shipping business in the period around 1800.
The fifth child and second son of Thomas II was Jacob Pennell, (1778–1841). He was the most prosperous of the five sons, and built at least twenty ships in Middle Bay (the larger bay upon which Pennellville sits) between 1810 and 1841. He acquired most of the land at Pennellville (land originally owned by his father) by buying the lots that had been divided amongst his brothers. He then built a house with his new-found wealth. At the beginning of the 21st century, his house, the Jacob Pennell Mansion, is the oldest standing house in Pennellville.
Pennellville today
Housing development has been relatively sparse, and much of Pennellville remains wooded areas and open fields. However, the area has become somewhat more developed since the 1980s. Because of its historical significance, Pennellville was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Evidence of the shipyard still exists. The ways (the wooden rails a ship was launched down) can still be seen sitting in the bay at low tide. Another visible feature of the yard is the hall where the shipyard workers lived, located at the very end of Pennellville Road, on the east side of the road.