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In November, 1652, the division line between Kittery and this town was declared to be as follows: . . . the Head Line of York Bounds into the Country shall be upon a streight Line by the South East Side of a certain Pond about 2 Miles into the Country, beyond the Northerly Branch of a certain Marsh now improved by some of the Inhabitants of York & so the Division Lines betwext the Townes beforementioned & if it fall out that any part of the Marshes now reputed to belong to Yorke & improved by the Inhabitants thereof shall fall within Kittery Bounds, yet the Propriety of the said Marsh shall belong to the Inhabitants of Yorke to whom it was granted. . . . {Deeds, i, 27).
On April 10, 1641, a patent was granted to Sir Ferdinando Gorges for the Colony of Maine, part of the Plymouth charter at the time. He would seat the head of government at Bristol, later called Gorgeana, and even later, in 1652, named York. The boundaries of the borough would extend three miles in all directions from the church; the land belonging to the plantation of Agamenticus. Thomas Gorges, his cousin, was appointed Mayor. Edward Godfrey was the Justice of the Peace.
But Sir Ferdinando Gorges had big visions of what Gorgeana (York), could become. So within one year, he changed its charter, on March 1, 1642, into a city; the first such incorporation in the American colonies and he extended its boundaries.
"From the beginning of the entrance of the river, commonly called and known by the name of Agamenticus, and so up the said river seven English miles, and all along the east and northeast side of the sea-shore three English miles in breadth from the entrance of the said river, up into the main land, seven miles, butting with the seven miles from the sea-side up the said river, the breadth of the said three miles opposite thereunto,".
Its name was changed to Gorgeana, and it was appointed to have a corporation, consisting of a mayor, twelve aldermen, and twenty-four common councilmen.
Surveyors often use physical landmarks to create land boundaries. The boundary of York with Kittery was at the tidal inlet of Brave Boat Harbor. Likely, not far from where Brave Boat Harbor Road now crosses the stream portion of the tidal inlet, was an old Oak tree. This became the starting point across land to define the boundary with Kittery. On the map drawn by surveyor Daniel Sewall in 1794, as requested by the Selectmen of York, Sewall corrected the boundary line with Kittery perviously drawn by a different surveyor. The other surveyor had drawn a line with a bow to it. A surveyors instrument involve a compass and line of sight. Boundary lines are straight because of this unless a physical item in the area (such as a stream) or an agreed upon jog in the boundary line to accommodate a land agreement, affect the straight line. For early land surveys, large trees, boulders, and other natural features were commonly used as boundary markers. Sewall’s annotation on the 1794 map is:
“North 46 1/4 degrees West, 4 miles and 53 rods, from an oak tree to pitch pine stump and rock mark’d YK.”
A rod is a surveyors tool that is 16 and a half feet long.
Debates about the exact location of boundary lines between towns and personal properties have always gone on. In 2025, the boundary line between York and Kittery, as corrected by Sewall, is still being contended in Maine courts.