[3] Situated beside the Atlantic Ocean on the Gulf of Maine, York is a well-known summer resort town.

First settled by Europeans in 1624, the plantation was originally called Agamenticus, the Abenaki term for the York River, which also was the name given to the hill, visible from sea.

Envisioning a great city arising from the wilderness, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, lord proprietor of Maine under the Plymouth patent, named the capital of his province Gorgeana.

About 50 others were slain and near 100 carried away captive, among them Dummer's wife, Lydia, and their son, where "through snows and hardships among those dragons of the desert she also quickly died"; nothing further was heard of the boy.

[7] The final local Indian attack occurred at the Cape Neddick area during Dummer's War in 1723.

Hostilities diminished with the French defeat at the Siege of Louisbourg (1745), and ceased altogether with the 1763 Treaty of Paris.

York, bereft of status as capitol, would not again be prosperous until after the Civil War, when its sea breezes and colonial charm, including old homes like the John Sedgley Homestead, attracted tourists.

[9] Like Bar Harbor and Newport, Rhode Island, York became a fashionable summer resort, and retains many distinctive examples of Gilded Age architecture, particularly in the Shingle style.

A number of five-star hotels and other accommodations operate in the York Beach area, although most close after summer.

[citation needed] A number of spots throughout The Yorks have views of the Cape Neddick Light at Nubble Rock, which has figured in both artists' work and souvenirs of the Maine coast.

A photo of the Cape Neddick Light is on the Voyager 1 spacecraft labeled as Seashore, Maine.

The highest point in town is Mount Agamenticus, with an elevation of 692 feet (211 meters) above sea level.

[11][12] York School Department receives the largest portion (69%) of the town's budget.

A granite monument depicting a Civil War soldier was erected in 1906 at a traffic triangle in York Village.

[16] Another explanation is that either the sculptor, Englishman Frederick Barnicoat, or designer John Staples, mistakenly depicted a uniform from the time of the Spanish–American War.