Maine Plantations

United States Maine  Maine plantations  In Maine a plantation is a form of local self-government intended to help a town-sized area with a low population to transition toward full town status as they increase their population and government services. Plantations do not have their own representative in the Maine legislature. Most have meetings and keep records of meetings. Towns and plantations maintained records of their citizens' births, marriages, and deaths from their founding until 1922, even though statewide registration began in 1892. Look for Maine plantation records the same way you look for Maine town records. Some of Maine's populated coastal islands outside the borders of a town are organized as plantations. However, most of Maine's 34 plantations are in sparsely populated forests inland. Status changes. Plantations that increase in population may become a town. Also, some plantations have lost population and been changed to unincorporated townships without meetings or record-keeping. If an ancestor lived in a plantation that became a township, look for the records of the former plantation in a nearby town in the same county.

Modern Maine Plantations (listed by county)
* Maine plantations normally referenced without using that descriptor. Discontinued Plantations:


 * Abbotstown
 * Little River Plantation (Franklin Co.) became Freeman 1808; incorporation surrendered 1937, now Freeman Township
 * Milton Plantation (Oxford Co.) discontinued 1944, now Milton Township
 * Number 6 Plantation (Franklin Co.) became Berlin 1824; incorporation repealed 1842, now Township 6 North of Weld