Sweden

[SWEE-dehn] is a town in Oxford County, settled in 1784 and incorporated on February 26, 1813 from a portion of Lovell.

Named for the European country as was the custom in the early 19th century, it has no relation to the “Swedish Colony” project that populated the towns of New Sweden and Stockholm in Aroostook County.

The 1834 Black Mountain Cemetery at right memorializes many of those early settlers.

In the 1700’s along the Saco River valley in nearby Fryeburg lived the Pequawket branch of the Sokokis Indian tribe.

In 1725 Captain John Lovewell organized a company of nearly 50 men against the Pequawket settlement in the Fryeburg intervale.

The expedition resulted in a bloody battle known as Lovewell’s Fight, which took a heavy toll on both the company and the Pequawket.

In compensation, survivors and descendants of Captain Lovewell’s company were provided with a grant of land from the General Court of Massachusetts in an area of the District of Maine called New Suncook, later named Lovell in honor of Captain Lovewell.

In 1812, citizens of Southland in south Lovell, appealed for separation from Lovell. In 1813, with the concurrence of Lovell, Southland broke away from Lovell and became Sweden.

In the nineteenth century, the settler generation occupied most of the best sites for agriculture including raising livestock and timber harvesting.

As the town matured, residents established supporting businesses such as saw mills, tanneries, and apple presses. The town also maintained four small stores, a blacksmith shop, cooperages, at least one wheelwright shop, a post office, and eventually even a dance hall and bowling alleys. All of this took place with no single commercial center, no immediate access to railroads, and roads kept unpaved until 1948.

Most physical remains of those years appear only in traces such as roads, stone walls, cellar holes, and an occasional shed that once served a rural business.

Following the Civil War families moved west where more promising farmland was available at little or no cost. By 1900, the population had decreased from over 700 in the 1850s to about 300. Through abandonment and fires, the old homesteads disappeared, leaving only foundations. Tracts of second and third growth trees dominate Sweden’s landscape today, interspersed with a multitude of stone walls attesting to the once-cleared farmlands.

Webber Pond Road, also known as Plummer Hill Road, (see  photos below) runs from Route 93 in south central Sweden through woods, past a pond and two small mountains.

Since 1900, commercial activities have been limited to low-impact businesses including timber harvesting, apple growing, and two summer recreational camps for young people. Recently, the summer and year-round population has rebounded with vacationers, retirees, and commuters.

The town is just north of Bridgton and east of Lovell on Maine Route 93. Its ponds, streams, and rural areas attract hunting and fishing enthusiasts to its sporting camps. Its higher elevations provide spectacular views of the White Mountains.

Sweden, like many other towns, is struggling to maintain its historic heritage and rural landscape in the face of suburban pressures of subdivisions and commercial development.

Form of Government: Town Meeting-Select Board-Administrative Assistant.

Additional resources

Pike, Clifford L. Story of Sweden, Oxford County, Maine. 1890. Sweden, Maine: A Conservation and Historical Guide to a Rural Community. Sweden, Me. P.W.R. 1997. (Denmark, Me. Cardinal Printing Co.)

Richards, Philip W. Sweden, Maine History. Volume Two, Adversity and Determination. Sweden, Me. P.W. Richards. c1989. (Denmark, Me. Cardinal Printing Co.) [Maine State Library]

Richards, Philip W. Sweden, Maine: The Early Years. Sweden, Me. P.W. Richards. c1986. (Denmark, Me. Cardinal Printing Co.) [University of Maine, Raymond H. Fogler Library, Special Collections; Maine State Library]

Town of Sweden, Maine. Comprehensive Plan. 2004. (updated) http://www.eskerridge.com/Sweden_CompPlan_Final_2004.pdf (accessed April 7, 2012) [Town history condensed and edited for this article.]