The village has a number of antique shops and restaurants near historic Thompson Park.

In 1668, Small purchased from Newichawannock Chief Captain Sunday (or Wesumbe) the Ossipee Tract, encompassing the present-day towns of Cornish, Parsonsfield, Newfield, Limerick, Limington and Shapleigh (which then included Acton).

Small then sold a half interest in the tract to Major Nicholas Shapleigh of Eliot.

[4] In 1770, heirs discovered the unrecorded deed, and hired attorney James Sullivan of Biddeford to pursue their claim.

Small's descendants took possession of Newfield, Limington and Cornish, the latter first named Francisborough, then Francistown, after its original proprietor.

Settled by Joseph Thompson in 1782, it was incorporated on February 27, 1794, as Cornish, presumably by settlers from the county of Cornwall, England.

The soil was very productive for farming, producing large crops of corn and other types of grain.

The Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad ran up the Saco River valley in the early 1870s, servicing Baldwin Station across the bridge from Cornish.

The town's highest point is Clark Mountain,[6] 1,320+ feet (402+ m) above sea level.

Cornish borders the towns of Hiram to the north, Baldwin to the northeast, Limington to the east, Limerick to the south, and Parsonsfield to the west.