Soldiertown is one of two unorganized townships by the same name. This one is in Somerset County and is also known as T2 R3 NBKP. The other Soldiertown, known as T2 R7 WELS, is in Penobscot County. The Northern Road, which runs north from Rockwood Strip to Pittston Farm, hugs the eastern side of the…
Solon, Maine is a town in Somerset County, incorporated on February 23, 1809 from the township T1 R2 EKR. Settled in 1782 by William Hilton of Wiscasset, it was named for one of the great sages of Ancient Greece, in keeping with its neighboring town of Athens.
A series of boundary changes in the 19th century came to an end in 1885 when a portion of Wellington in Piscataquis County was annexed to Cambridge in Somerset. The county now consists of the towns of Anson, Athens, Bingham, Cambridge, Canaan, Caratunk, Cornville, Detroit, Embden, Fairfield, Harmony, Hartland, Jackman, Madison, Mercer, Moose…
The Sheepscot River runs through the western portion of the town, and through Somerville Village itself. It widens into Long Pond (once known as Patricktown Pond), on which the town has substantial frontage. See photos. Somerville is east of Windsor on Maine Route 105, and north of Jefferson following Maine Route 206 to 105. This rural town has had a small, but growing population. Since the 1970’s it has grown to two and a half times its size then.
Daniel Elton Somes (1815-1888) a U.S. Representative was born in Meredith (now Laconia), New Hampshire on May 20, 1815 where he received an academic education. Somes moved to Biddeford in 1846 and established the Eastern Journal, later known as the Union and Journal; and engaged in the manufacture of loom harnesses, reed twine, and varnishes.…
Sorrento sits on Waukeag Neck, on Maine Route 185 south of Sullivan. See photos. The neck juts into Frenchman’s Bay with spectacular views of the mountains in Acadia National Park. Sorrento Harbor is a centerpiece of the community, especially when the “summer people” return and the water fills with pleasure boats. The town hosts two nature preserves in Sorrento Harbor, both maintained by the Nature Conservancy: Dram Island, is home to nesting osprey; Preble Island is densely forested with eagles roosting.
Maine’s oldest educational institution, Berwick Academy, was established here in 1791 when the town was part of Berwick. See photos. South Berwick is the birthplace of Sarah Orne Jewett, who attended Berwick Academy for four years — her only formal education. The town is accessible to the coastal communities of York and Kittery via Maine Routes 91 and 236.
The Darling Marine Center of the University of Maine is located in the village of Walpole. See photos. The population centers in the town’s southern most reaches are on Rutherford Island, perched at the end of a peninsular. The community is home to three nature preserves. Plummer Point is a 74 acre wooded peninsula with over a mile of shoreline. The Tracy Property is a town park with public access to the Damariscotta River. The wooded 18-acre Witch Island Sanctuary, provides two beaches and views of Johns Bay.
South Freeport is on the broad Harraseeket River leading to Casco Bay. Once a shipbuilding center, it now hosts the town’s public wharf, a marina, a boatyard, and the Harraseeket Yacht Club. Winslow Park on the Bay provides recreation and camping opportunities.
A residential community serving the greater Portland area for over a hundred years, the City has developed independent economic resources. See photos. It is part of the Port of Portland and home to a major railroad yard and fuel tank storage facility. The Southern Maine Community College campus includes Fort Preble, named for Commodore Edward Preble.
The 1842 South Solon Meeting House in Solon, is a period piece well preserved, with colorful murals depicting religious themes on the walls. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Meeting House is located about five miles Southeast of Solon village. The Maine Historic Preservation Commission has compared the meeting house to others, …
The town lies on the Weskeag River, which broadens into several large coves before emptying into the Muscle Ridge Channel. In addition to the main village, Pleasant Beach, Waterman Beach, and Spruce Head villages hug the shore on Penobscot Bay. Spruce Head Island, connected to the mainland by a bridge, juts into Muscle Ridge Channel, a favorite passage for boaters seeking the protection of the outlying islands.
Located between Sheepscot Bay and Booth Bay, it is connected by a swing bridge to the town of Boothbay Harbor, and the casual visitor might not assume the town with two lighthouses was on an island. See photos. At the height of the summer, traffic is often backed up at the bridge as boats pass. Townsend Gut is the narrow waterway that separates the two towns. It is a shortcut from Boothbay Harbor to the Sheepscot River. The general store in West Southport village has been an institution for over a century.
It lies on the southwest entrance to Somes Sound, diagonally across from Northeast Harbor, a village in the town of Mount Desert. Southwest Harbor has been both a fishing and summer resort community from its earliest days as a town. See photos. Maine Route 102 begins at entrance to Mount Desert Island and leads directly south to the main village of Southwest Harbor. Here the Wendell Gilley Museum celebrates the life and work of Gilley, a pioneer of decorative bird carving. South of the harbor, the small villages of Manset and Seawall face the entrance to Somes Sound and the Cranberry Isles.
This township in Piscataquis County abuts a long shore of Moosehead Lake by way of Spencer Bay. The Spencer Bay Road trends northwest from Kokadjo to Spencer Pond in East Middlesex Canal Grant Township. Roach River also flows northwest about five miles from First Roach Pond to Spencer Bay. Campgrounds are frequent along the northeast…
(1793-1880), grandfather of Charles Franklin Sprague (a U.S Representative from Massachusetts 1897-1901), was a himself a Representative and a U. S. Senator from Maine Charles Sprague was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts on April 27, 1793. He graduated from Harvard University in 1812, studied law at Litchfield, Connecticut, was admitted to the bar in 1815 and…
Located on the east-west Maine Route 6 crossing eastern Penobscot and northern Washington counties, the town has a substantial area in wetlands. See photos. One account has the name commemorating “extensive fields abounding in springs.” The village is centered around the crossroads of Route 6, Park Street (Routes 169/170), and Shep Road.
Settled by Acadians, the name derives from the parish church that was established in 1890. Farming and lumbering have been this St. John Valley area town’s historic economic base. Located on the northwest shore of Long Lake, Maine Route 162 from Frenchville passes through the main village, then hugs the lake shore and continues along nearby Mud Lake.
At the junction of Maine Routes 23, 43 and 152, the village lies at the southwestern tip of Indian Pond. The three and one-half mile Pond (sometimes called Indian Lake, or Big Indian Lake) is maintained by a dam at the park in the main village.
The St. Francis River, which forms the northeastern border with Canada along with the St. John River, joins the St. John at the town of St. Francis. Across the St. John lies Madawaska County, New Brunswick. The St. John River forms the northern boundary of this small community, which has been declining in population for the past two decades. It is the last organized town on Route 161, which follows the St. John River from Fort Kent.