About 1659 Major Nicholas Shapleigh of Kittery, Maine, bought Merriconeag and Sebascodegan Island from the Abenaki, but because of Indian defense, attempts to settle the area were abandoned until after Dummer's War.

[4] Formerly a part of North Yarmouth, in 1758 the town was incorporated by the Massachusetts General Court and named for Harpswell in Lincolnshire, England.

[5] Industries included farming and some shipbuilding, but fishing brought considerable profit, and lobstering still contributes to the local economy.

[citation needed] The Bailey Island Bridge is a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

[1] The town is situated on Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine, part of the Atlantic Ocean.

It is bordered by the town of Brunswick to the north, and is separated by the New Meadows River from West Bath to the northeast and Phippsburg to the east.

Law enforcement services are provided by the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office.

There is a private preschool, the Harpswell Nature School, residing within the Elijah Kellogg Church (not religiously affiliated) that was established in 2003 under the name Harpswell Community Nursery School, with four teachers and twenty-four students ages 3–5.

The fictional murder mystery Blow the Man Down was filmed in Harpswell in 2018.

[13] The name of the town in the film is changed to Easter Cove, Maine.

The Marvel Comics superhero Carol Danvers has a family home in Harpswell.