sentences:  There are 2,500-year-old oyster shell middens (heaps) along the banks of the Damariscotta River, which occupies a drowned river valley leading to the Gulf of Maine, a large embayment of the Atlantic Ocean.The Damariscotta River begins at the outlet of Damariscotta Lake, at Damariscotta Mills, a village straddling the boundary between the towns of Newcastle and Nobleboro.Damariscotta Lake extends north into the town of Jefferson and is fed from tributaries originating as far north as Washington and Somerville, Maine.