Ellsworth is a city in, and the county seat of, Hancock County, incorporated as a town on February 26, 1800 from Plantation Number 7. The new community was named for Oliver Ellsworth, a Massachusetts delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
The incorporation of Ellsworth as a city on February 27, 1869 made it one of the three largest cities by area in Maine, the others being Caribou and Presque Isle.
Settled in 1763, the community has relied on lumbering, shipbuilding, and industry to support its economy
Virtually all travelers from the west and north heading to Acadia National Park, or other points Downeast, pass through the city. Lying just south of Graham Lake, on which it has substantial frontage, Ellsworth is at the junction of U.S. Route 1 with Maine Routes 3, 172, 179, 180, 184 and 230.
Birdsacre Sanctuary is a 40-acre woodland with trails and ponds adjacent to pioneer ornithologist Cordelia J. Stanwood’s family home, with furnishings and her collection of mounted birds
