Kennebec County is home to Augusta, capital of Maine. Long before Europeans came up the Kennebec River to the "head of the tide," Algonquian-speaking Indians, considered Wabanaki or "People of the Dawn," were already here. As early as1607, the area was explored by English settlers from the short-lived Sagadahoc or Popham Colony at the river’s mouth.
Representatives of Plymouth Colony were the first English to actually live here. In 1625, on a river expedition to find a place to trade agricultural products for Indian furs, Plymouth pilgrims chose the east shore for their "House at Kennebeck."
In 1799, Augusta became the shire town of the newly formed Kennebec County. In 1827, the town was designated the capital of Maine, which had entered the union in 1820 as the 23rd state. The Maine Legislature met here for the first time in January, 1832. Augusta was chartered as a city in 1849.