Sheepscot River
Evening on the Sheepscot River
Location
Country	United States
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Maine
• elevation	540 feet (160 m)
Mouth
• location	Gulf of Maine,Atlantic Ocean
• coordinates	43°48′10″N69°42′0″W / 43.80278°N 69.70000°W /43.80278; -69.70000
• elevation	sea level
Length	66 mi (106 km)

v t e Sheepscot River
Legend
Montville Liberty Branch Pond SR 3Palermo Sheepscot Pond Palermo Fish Hatchery Meadow Brook Weeks Mills Hewitt Brook Dearborn Brook Choate Brook SR 105Windsor &Somerville Long Pond Travel Brook SR 17SR 32Coopers Mills West Branch Sheepscot River Finn Brook SR 126North Whitefield Canyon Brook SR 194SR 218Whitefield former railroad bridge Head Tide Trout Brook Alna Ben Brook Dyer River Sheepscot Maine Eastern Railroad US 1Wiscasset Sheepscot Estuary Gulf of Maine

TheSheepscot River is a 66-mile-long (106 km)^[1] river in theU.S. state ofMaine. Its lower portion is a complex islandestuary with connections to theKennebec River downstream ofMerrymeeting Bay.

The Sheepscot River originates inFreedom (44°29′22″N69°18′40″W / 44.4894°N 69.3111°W /44.4894; -69.3111 (Sheepscot River source)) and flows southwesterly throughSheepscot Pond inPalermo and Long Pond inSomerville andWindsor. The river is bridged byMaine State Route 3 upstream of Sheepscot Pond and byMaine State Route 105 in Somerville between Sheepscot Pond and Long Pond. The river continues flowing southwesterly through the villages of Coopers Mills, North Whitefield, and Whitefield in the town ofWhitefield. The river is bridged byconcurrentMaine State Routes 17 and32 at Coopers Mills. TheWest Branch Sheepscot River joins the main stem between Cooper's Mills and North Whitefield. The river is bridged byMaine State Route 126 at North Whitefield and by concurrentMaine State Routes 194 and218 at Whitefield. The river flows south from Whitefield and becomes atidal estuary at the village of Head Tide inAlna. Thenarrow gaugeWiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway closely followed the river through the town of Whitefield to Head Tide from 1895 until 1933 and bridged the river between the villages of Whitefield and Head Tide. AtWiscasset the estuary is bridged by theMaine Central Railroad Rockland Branch and byDavey Bridge, carryingU.S. Route 1. Sheepscot Bay is navigable for a distance of approximately 15 miles (24 km) from Wiscasset to the mouth betweenReid State Park andSouthport Island.

The lower estuary is defined by large islands. The estuary is split byWestport Island. The channel east of Westport Island is considered the Sheepscot River, while the western channel is identified as theBack River. The Back River is crossed inHockomock Bay by a tidal channel identified as theSasanoa River. The Sasanoa River connects the Kennebec River estuary atWoolwich with the Sheepscot River estuary between Westport Island andGeorgetown Island. Georgetown Island forms the west side of the mouth of Sheepscot Bay and the east side of the mouth of the Kennebec River estuary. The Back River reaches the Kennebec River on the west side of Georgetown Island.Arrowsic Island forms the east side of the Kennebec River estuary between the Sasanoa River and the Back River.Maine State Route 144 bridges the Back River from Wiscasset to Westport Island.Maine State Route 127 bridges the Sasanoa River from Woolwich to Arrowsic Island and the Back River from Arrowsic Island to Georgetown Island.

The Sheepscot River portion of the estuary includes the following named islands:

In 2018 the Coopers Mill Dam was removed on the Sheepscot River. In the Summer/Fall of 2019 the Head Tide Dam near Alna was partially breached to allow easier passage for differing fish species. A pedestrian overlook was constructed in late 2019 on the re-configured Head Tide Dam. This overlook will allow locals, visitors, and tourists to access the continued restoration of the lower portions of the Sheepscot. Alewives, herring, Atlantic salmon, and resident trout species will assuredly benefit from these restoration efforts.^[2]

• List of rivers of Maine
• Midcoast Conservancy

• "Sheepscot River".Geographic Names Information System.United States Geological Survey,United States Department of the Interior. 30 September 1980. Retrieved2010-10-11.
• Maine Streamflow Data from the USGS
• Maine Watershed Data From Environmental Protection Agency

Media related toSheepscot River at Wikimedia Commons

• Rivers of Lincoln County, Maine
• Rivers of Waldo County, Maine
• Wiscasset, Maine
• Rivers of Maine

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