Norumbega, or Nurembega, is a legendary settlement in northeastern North America which was featured on many early maps from the 16th century until European colonization of the region.
[1][2] It was alleged that the houses had pillars of gold and the inhabitants carried quarts of pearls on their heads.
It often appeared on subsequent European maps of North America, lying south of Acadia in what is now New England.
In 1886, inventor Joseph Barker Stearns built a mansion named "Norumbega Castle", which still stands on US Route 1 in Camden, Maine, overlooking Penobscot Bay.
In honor of Horsford's generous donations to Wellesley College, a building named Norumbega Hall was dedicated in 1886 and celebrated in a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier.