Waldoboro is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States.

[5] Waldoboro was incorporated in 1773 and developed a reputation as a ship building and port facility from the banks of the Medomak River.

The town's strong agricultural and fishing legacy continues today, with recently renewed enthusiasm for traditional natural fiber production, cheesemaking, farm brewing, fermentation, soapmaking, and other lost agrarian arts.

[6] Waldoboro is becoming a popular destination, with miles of scenic river frontage, a thriving arts community, and historical interest in its past as a German settlement.

In 1629 the area that would become Waldoboro was granted to John Beauchamp of London and Thomas Leverett of Boston, England, and was known as the Muscongus Patent.

[7] The patent lay dormant until 1719 when Leverett's great-grandson, John Leverett, President of Harvard College, revived the ancient claim and formed the Lincolnshire Proprietors, also known as the Ten Proprietors, so named for the ten shares distributed, one to each member.

[8][9] Following Dummer's War, the area represented the easternmost extension of the Province of Massachusetts and was protected by Fort St. George.

First called Broad Bay, the village was settled between 1733 and 1740, but suffered a devastating attack as part of the Northeast Coast Campaign (1746) by Native Americans allied with New France during King George's War.

[10] New Englanders aware of these wartime losses were reluctant to resettle this vulnerable frontier, so from 1741 to 1753, Samuel Waldo, son of the general Jonathan Waldo, visited Germany and recruited about 1,500 immigrants to Waldoboro.

Some were followers of Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli but they did not immigrate for religious reasons like the Pilgrims but for "...increasing their worldly goods.

[12] Many settled on the western side of Broad Bay, although in 1763–1764 the land was claimed under the Pemaquid Patent.

About 300 residents moved to the Moravian settlements in what is now Forsyth County, North Carolina, but the remainder bought their properties.

[15] A port of entry, the town features an 1857 custom house designed by Ammi B.