Ripogenus Dam

Ripogenus (Abenaki for “gravel) is the name given for the dam and the lake created by it.  Ripogenus Lake is essentially a human-made extension of Chesuncook Lake.         The dam [N45° 52′ 47.64″  W69° 10′ 32.56″], completed in 1920, provides water power for McKay power station through an underground tunnel. In 1989…

Wind Turbines

Wind Turbines from a Hill in Beddington on Route 9 (2013)

Wind turbines and wind “farms” of many turbines are sprouting all over Maine.  Ridges and mountains are the most likely spots.  As a result, they are visible for many miles and may intrude on enjoyment of hikers or residents near the devices. Electricity generated by the turbines displace that generated by other sources, including those…

T3 R11 WELS

Ripogenus Gorge

This township is located east of the southern portion of Baxter State Park.  Both the Golden Road and the West Branch of the Penobscot River span its width.  Ripogenus Dam, Lake, and Gorge are major geographic features. [See related Chesuncook]                              …

Yarmouth

Yarmouth is a coastal town northeast of Portland on I-295 and U.S. Route 1. See photos. It is home to the Delorme Mapping Company and North Yarmouth Academy. Cousin’s Island is home to a large, oil fueled electric power plant known as Wyman Station. The Island has ferry terminal for Chebeague Island.

Veazie

Veazie Dam on the Penobscot River (2003)

At only 3.4 square miles in area, Veazie is one of the smallest municipalities in the state. U.S. Route 2 is also its Main Street. Created in 1853, it was named, and likely created, for General Samuel Veazie who owned the saw mills and most of the property in the new town. Mills and a power station took advantage of the Penobscot River here.

Stacyville

Mount Katahdin and Hunt Mountain from Swift Brook Road in Stacyville (2017)

Its main village is Sherman Station on the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad line and Maine Route 11 just across the town line from the Town of Sherman. Stacyville Village is in the southwest of the township; Siberia village is in the center on the Grindstone Road. That portion of Route 11 in Sherman Station Village serves as the “Main Street” for the town, with community buildings and businesses.

Rumford

Deacon Hutchins House (1979)

Year Population 1970 9,363 1980 8,240 1990 7,078 2000 6,472 2010 5,841 Geographic Data N. Latitude 44:31:19 W. Longitude 70:35:50 Maine House District 115 Maine Senate District 18 Congress District 2 Area sq. mi. (total) 69.9 Area sq. mi. (land) 68.6 Population/sq.mi. (land) 85.2 County: Oxford   Total=land+water; Land=land only [RUM-frd] a town in Oxford…

Roxbury

The Swift River in Roxbury from Route 17 (2007)

Several miles north of the Rumford-Mexico area on Maine Routes 17 and 120, the community (see photos) is known for its mineral deposits, especially accessible for amateur rock hunters. It has substantial frontage on Ellis Pond (also known as Silver Lake and Roxbury Pond) and on the Swift River. A wind farm is on Record Hill.

Newcastle

Deer Meadow Brook from Frank Steele Woods in South Newcastle (2011)

Damariscotta Lake is a major destination for adult alewives with intentions of spawning the next generation. The fishway near the dam at Damariscotta Mills in Newcastle provides access to and from the lake. See photos. Newcastle, located on U.S. Route 1 just west of the Damariscotta River, is home to Maine’s oldest Catholic Church, St. Patrick’s, completed in 1808. Several nature preserves in Lincoln County are in Newcastle. Nearby Great Salt Bay is protected by Maine legislation and is the state’s first marine shellfish protected area.

Milford

Sunkhaze Stream near U.S. Route 2 (2005)

The Bodwell Water Power Company Plant is a historic structure and landmark on the banks of the Penobscot River. The Sunkhaze Meadows National Wildlife Refuge combines bog, marsh, floodplain forest and the state’s second largest peatland. The town, across the river from Old Town, is a moderately growing residential area near the greater Bangor area and the University of Maine in Orono.

Lincoln Plantation

In the 19th century, it was a magnet for summer visitors to Parmachene Lake, a hunting and fishing resort. See photos. The southern end of Aziscohos Lake offers campsites and fishing in the area known as Wilsons Mills. The Aziscohos Dam spills water into the Magalloway River. A 93-foot Covered Bridge, built in 1901 has been closed to traffic since 1985.

Greenville

Plaque noting the early settlement of Greenville and the site of its first school

On the shore of Moosehead Lake, it serves as the gateway to Lily Bay State Park and to the upper reaches of the lake via combined Maine Routes 6 and 15. See video and photos. It is also an access point for Elephant Mountain and the preserved site of a B-52 bomber crash in 1963. In 1853 Henry David Thoreau met his guide, Joseph Atteon, in Greenville before boarding a steamboat passing Mount Kineo, to Northeast Carry for the portage to the West Branch of the Penobscot River.

Flagstaff Township

rtion of Flagstaff Lake in Flagstaff Plantation from Bigelow Mountain (2003)

[FLAG-staff] plantation was formally organized on March 5, 1895, though it had been organized for election purposes in 1851, 1865 and 1870. Flagstaff and nearby Dead River Plantation were inundated with water from the Central Maine Power Company’s Long Falls Dam on the Dead River in 1949, after a planned and complete relocation of its…

Ellsworth

Settled in 1763, it has relied on lumbering, shipbuilding, and industry to support its economy. The classic Grand Theater has been saved as an active movie and performance space. See photos. At the confluence of seven highway routes, the city is a shopping center for the area and summer tourism. The Col. John Black Mansion, a modified Georgian design, was home to the land agent for William Bingham.

Dickey-Lincoln

Dickey Site on the St. John River

Electric power generated from Maine’s rivers provided an early source of energy for large pulp and paper companies and other sectors of the economy. Later oil fueled electric generation emerged, followed in the mid-20th century by nuclear power. Later still in that century, biomass (primarily wood) generators were added to the mix. The early 21st…

Skowhegan

Recorded as Skwahegan in early reports, the name means “watching place for fish,” drawn from the falls in the Kennebec River that harbored salmon. See photos. Local Indians speared them as they attempted to scale the falls. Textile and shoe manufacturing were major employment options for local residents during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Once home to Camp Modin, a camp for Jewish boys and girls until 1992, Lake George Regional Park is split between Skowhegan and Canaan.

Fernald, Bert M.

Bert M. Fernald (courtesy Maine State Museum)

Fernald (1858-1926) a Senator from Maine, was born in West Poland, Androscoggin County, April 3, 1858. He attended the public schools, Hebron Academy, and a business and preparatory school in Boston. Fernald taught school, was elected supervisor of schools in at the age of twenty in 1878, and engaged in the canning, dairy, and telephone…

August 1

Chimney Pond in Baxter State Park (August 2001)

August 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1865 Birth date of Cornelia Stanwood, ornithologist-photographer 1901 Augusta Masons’ Tenders Union and Bangor Laborers Protective Union are organized 1924 Bangor Hydroelectric Company…