York County, Maine is the state's southernmost county, and the first county incorporated after Maine attained statehood. Its county seat is Alfred. The first attempt to settle the region that was to become York County failed. In 1622, a patent establishing the Province of Maine was granted to Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason by the Plymouth Council for New England. This patent encompassed the coast between the Merrimack and Kennebec Rivers, as well as an irregular piece of land between the headwaters of the two rivers. Gorges and Mason agreed to split the patent at the Piscataqua River, with Mason retaining the land south of the river, which was named the Province of New Hampshire. Gorges named his more northerly parcel of land New Somersetshire. However, due a lack of funds and colonial settlement, his venture failed. Christopher Levett, an agent for Gorges, also failed in an attempt to found a settlement named after the city of his birth in England, which was York. Ultimately, his settlement was abandoned, and Levett died aboard ship on his return trip to England.
The name survived, however. In 1639, Gorges obtained a renewed patent, called the Gorges Patent, for the area between the Piscataqua and Kennebec Rivers, but this effort also failed due to a lack of funds and sparce settlement. In 1664, what had been the Province of Maine was given a grant by Charles II of England to James, the Duke of York. Under the terms of this patent, the territory was incorporated into Cornwall County, which was part of the Province of New York. After a series of minor changes, the Province had become, by the 18th century, part of the Province of Massachusetts, and later the State of Massachusetts, where it remained until Maine achieved statehood in 1820.