A brief about Dresden, is the most westerly town in Lincoln County and is situated upon the Kennebec River, opposite Richmond with Alna and Wiscasset lie on the east; Pittston on the north; and, and Woolwich on the south is Woolwich. The area is nicely treed with Dresden Mills and West Dresden being the primary community areas. The first is situated at the head of sloop navigation on Eastern River (just north of this cache - at the north bridge.) The latter was connected by a ferry with Richmond, but long replaced by the Dresden-Richmond bridge.
The town was originally settled in 1752 under the name Frankfort by French and German Huguenots, who were part of the first wave of French speaking immigrants to arrive in Maine. First called Frankfort, the town was incorporated as Pownalborough in 1760, when Lincoln County was created in the Maine District of Massachusetts. As noted, Pownalborough included the Towns of Alna, Woolwich and Wiscasset - with the latter soon setting off on its own as the new shire town of Lincoln County.
Dresden was formerly a part of Pownalboro, which embraced the town of Alna, Wiscasset and Perkins Plantation (Swan Island) is located on the eastern side of the Kennebec River and offers its own historical sites as well, including an old brick school building and the Pownalborough Courthouse (now used as a museum) built in 1760 and was the first seat of government east of the Kennebec River. The families who settled Dresden and those who were soon afterward sent there by the government of Massachusetts played a crucial role in the battle for American independence in Maine. Robert Treat Paine, John Hancock, and John Adams appeared at the Court House in the Revolutionary Warc era.
The territory of these towns, excepting the last, was purchased by Christopher Lawson from the Indigenous peoples in 1649. In a 1754, a fort was erected on the shore opposite the upper end of Swan Island, named Fort Shirley ( in compliment to Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts). Pownalboro (incorporated in 1760) was the shire town of Lincoln County for thirty-four years. Its courthouse is still standing and is the site of a local multi-cache - Dresden, Wiscasset and Richmond have other geocaches to be found.
Dresden formed what was known as the west precinct of Pownalborough, the east being Alna, and the south Wiscasset. In 1794, the precinct was incorporated as the Town of Dresden (taking its name from the German town from which some of the inhabitants had emigrated).
During the Revolution the town was in a troubled state; the loyalist side being sustained by Rev. Jacob Bailey, an Episcopal clergyman. He appears to have been a pious man and faithful pastor; yet the outrageous treatment he received from those favorable to revolution led him to forsake the country and take refuge in Nova Scotia (see the geocache at the site of the original St. John's church in Dresden.)
In 1870 the population of Dresden was 990, in 1880 it was 1,032, and as of 2010 the population is approximately 1672 (700 households, and 482 families) residing in the town.