Biddeford Wedding

Biddeford is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the most southerly incorporated city in the State of Maine, situated in a region known as the South Coast. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 20,942. Biddeford, which includes the resort community of Biddeford Pool, is home to the University of New England.

Biddeford is the site of the earliest recorded permanent settlement in Maine. In the winter of 1616-1617, Richard Vines, a physician, resided at "Winter Harbor," as he called Biddeford Pool. In 1630, the Plymouth Company granted the land to the south of "River Swanekaclocke," as the Saco River was then known, to Vines and John Oldham. In 1653, the town, which then included both sides of the river, was incorporated by the General Court of Massachusetts as "Saco." That same year, Roger Spencer was granted the right to build the first sawmill. Lumber and fish became the community's chief exports. In 1659, Major William Phillips of Boston became a proprietor, and constructed a garrison and mill at the falls.