Kennebec River

The Kennebec River is a 170-mile-long (270 km) river that is entirely within the U.S. state of Maine.

It rises in Moosehead Lake in west-central Maine. The East and West Outlets join at Indian Pond and the river then flows southward from Harris Station Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the state. It is joined at The Forks by the Dead River, also called the West Branch then continues southward past the cities of Madison, Skowhegan, Waterville, and the state capital Augusta. At Richmond it flows into Merrymeeting Bay, a 16-mile-long (26 km) freshwater tidal bay into which also flow the Androscoggin River and five smaller rivers. The Kennebec then runs past the shipbuilding center of Bath, thence to the Gulf of Maine in the Atlantic Ocean. Ocean tides affect the river height as far north as Augusta. Tributaries of the Kennebec River include the Carrabassett River, Sandy River, and Sebasticook River.

The name "Kennebec" comes from the Eastern Abenaki /kínipekʷ/, meaning "large body of still water, large bay".