Merrymeeting Bay

"[citation needed] The head of Merrymeeting Bay is generally considered to begin at the southernmost point of Swan Island.

Merrymeeting Bay is linked to the Gulf of Maine and the Atlantic Ocean by the Lower Kennebec River, a long saltwater tidal channel.

Merrymeeting Bay's connection to the Lower Kennebec River is via a 280-yard (260 m) slot in the bedrock called The Chops, an area of converging water flows known to be hazardous to boaters.

The unusual combination of a large body of freshwater and strong tides results in an intertidal habitat that harbors a variety of rare plant species.

Abenaki names recorded for this bay were Chisapeak ("at the big part of the river")[2] and Quabacook, meaning "duck watering place".

Puritans in New England, who were Calvinist Protestants, denounced these folk festivals as vulgar revelries with "light, lewde, and lascivious dancing.

[3] According to historian Frank Burroughs, the name may have been related to the annual springtime rendezvous of fur traders and trappers, at which time drink flowed freely as goods were paid for and exchanged.

But he thinks the name was intended to attract a certain kind of English colonist and repel Puritans, as the bay was host to rum importation.