Belfast Wedding

Belfast is a city in Waldo County, Maine, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 6,381. It is the county seat of Waldo CountyGR6. Located on Penobscot Bay, the community is named for Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Belfast was for the first hundred years of its organized history a ship building center, sending hundreds of three, four, and five masted schooners into the world and making the fortune of many New England shipping and whaling families. Its location on the western shore of idyllic Penobscot Bay is far enough from the open ocean to be sheltered but close enough to make for an ideal shipbuilding location. Bangor, Maine, the North American lumber capital for most of the later 1800s, was less than a day's run up the Penobscot River, and Boston, Massachusetts was a little over a day's run south. The death of wooden cargo sailing vessels around the turn of the 20th century coincided with the advent of modern refrigeration, allowing the plentiful local seafood (mainly lobsters) to take the place of schooners and lumber as the region's primary export. Lobsters, scallops, sardines, herring, and mackerel made their way to the markets in Boston, New York City, and farther afield. Along the way, Belfast and the surrounding communities became a favored summer destination in Maine's mid-coast region.