Enfield

Panoramic Mountain View from Enfield (2014)

Year Population 1970 1,148 1980 1,397 1990 1,476 2000 1,616 2010 1,607 Geographic Data N. Latitude 45:15:56 W. Longitude 68:35:39 Maine House District 142 Maine Senate District 5 Congress District 2 Area sq. mi. (total) 33.2 Area sq. mi. (land) 27.9 Population/sq.mi. (land) 57.6 County: Penobscot Total=land+water; Land=land only [EN-field] is a town in Penobscot…

Economy, Current Issues

Tree stand in T8 R10 NWP

Maine’s economy represents 0.4% (less than half a percent) of the U.S. national economy. With a slow national pace, Maine is likely to have slow growth as well. The important forest products sector has been blunted by the recent events, including a slowdown in construction and the transition from printed media (newspapers, magazines) to digital…

Bowdoin College Grant West TWP

[T8 R10 NWP] is located immediately east of Greenville, accessible from that town’s  East Road, then the K1 Road which travels through the township to Gulf Hagas. The K1 road is private and travelers must stop at the North Maine Woods Hedgehog checkpoint on the way to Little Lyford Ponds and Katahdin Iron Works. See…

Upton

This small community borders New Hampshire and Umbagog Lake that straddles the two states and is the source of the Androscoggin River. However, the river runs south through New Hampshire before entering Maine in Gilead. Upton is far from other sizable Maine towns on Maine Route 26 as it ends at the New Hampshire border.

Smyrna

Farm Buildings in Smyrna (2003)

Named for a famous city in ancient Turkey, the town is west of Houlton on Interstate 95 and on U.S. Route 2, where the village of Smyrna Mills straddles the town line with Merrill. See photos. The town has become home to a substantial number of Amish people, who farm and work using simple, low technology methods. The Mattawamkeag River flows through the village. In the river is the ruins of an old dam and mill.

Newfield

The old center of Newfield village was destroyed by the great forest fire of 1947. See photos. The Willowbrook Historic District covers this area and the buildings that survived the fire. In 1984 the application to establish the historic district reported “Very little change in the buildings or landscape has occurred in the last one-hundred years so that the sense of time and place of a remote southwestern Maine rural community of the 19th century remains strongly present.” At the source of the Little Ossipee River, and dotted with ponds and streams, Newfield is a rapidly growing community about twenty miles northwest of Sanford

New Vineyard

Porter Pond in New Vinyard; probably Saddleback Mountain in distance (2017)

Framed by the Carrabassett and Sandy Rivers, this irregularly shaped town’s main village lies on Maine Route 27 between New Portland and Farmington. See photos. The Maine Wood Turning company is on Route 27 in the village. Nearby Bauds, Mill, and Lily ponds, and frontage on Porter Lake, provide wide fishing and recreational opportunities.

Masardis

Railroad Crossing in Masardis near Fraser Timber Mill on Route 11 (2015)

The Aroostook River flows northward through the middle of the township and by the village of Masardis. The small Pollard Flat Wildlife Management Area lies on the west bank of the river north of the village. A boat launch provides access to Scopan (formerly Squa Pan) Lake. Most of the Lake is in adjoining Scopan Township.

Macwahoc

The name (the Indian term for “bog” or “wet ground”) is appropriate since the main village lies at the north end of a bog on Molunkus Stream. See photos. The township has some frontage on Molunkus Lake. A 485 acre section of Maine Public Reserved Land is here.

Lumber Industry

Logging Equipment at a Sawmill in Belgrade (2003)

From earliest European presence, the Maine woods have been a source for masts, boat building, housing, and other structures. Later, the paper industry and recreational hunting, hiking, and camping, broadened its importance. Still later, people saw its role in absorbing greenhouse gasses, providing wildlife habitat wildlife, and protecting water resources.

Katahdin, The

The Katahdin (2002)

The first Katahdin, a wooden hulled steam vessel, began plying the waters of Moosehead Lake in 1896. While towing a raft of logs near Sand Bar Island, her steam engines caught fire on May 13, 1913. Work on a replacement began almost immediately. Hull # 63 was built for the Coburn Steamboat Company by Bath…

Jefferson

Abandoned granite quarries and clay banks where bricks were made suggest the early economic activities of the area. See photos. Several fine farm houses and barns have survived to recall the great heritage of the town. See images below from the Library of Congress of the old cattle pound.

Haynesville

Mattawamkeag River crossing under U.S. Route 2A in Haynesville (2014)

Located on U.S. Route 2A in Aroostook County, this wooded community has recently experienced a major decline in population. See photo. A military road to supply the Houlton post was completed in 1832, providing easy access to the town. Scenic canoeing and fishing is renowned here. The road through the Haynesville Woods was immortalized in the hit song sung by Fort Fairfield’s Richard “Dick” Curless in 1965 – “A Tombstone Every Mile.”

Guilford

Park in Guilford with mill buildings downtown (2002)

The Piscataquis River flows through the main village with neighboring Sangerville, formed with some land from Guilford, on the southern shore. The town was long a center for textile production. The late 20th century was marked by fires, floods, and economic instability, but the early 21st century opened with efforts at renewal with a river festival and downtown revtlalization.

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.

Great Pond Plantation

Great Pond in the Town of Great Pond (2013)

The small main village is a mile south of Great Pond. The town office, an old church, and a few houses are there. See photos. “Stud Mill Road” runs east-west through the Plantation from Washington and Hancock counties, to the Costigan stud mill in Milford. The Union River, outlet from Great Pond, flows south through Ellsworth to Union River Bay. The Navy has a recreation center at the lake.

Farmingdale

On the Kennebec River just north of Gardiner, it is a residential community serving the Augusta-Gardiner capital area. Several large homes overlook the Kennebec River. See photos. West of the main street, in a suburban-rural area, it touches on Jamies Pond Wildlife Management Area at Jimmies Pond near the Outlet Road.

Corinth

Inside the wood pellet mill in Corinth (2010)

in Penobscot County, incorporated in 1811. In 1886 it had three saw-mills, three shingle, one stave, two planing and two grist mills, one cheese-factory, one carriage and sleigh factory. Recently, Corinth Wood Pellets mill has taken advantage of this new form of heating fuel. Its population has had steady growth 1970-2010.

Codyville

is a plantation in eastern Washington County organized in 1871. Recent population losses may threaten its ability to survive. Maine Route 6 links it to Vanceboro on the Canadian Border. This heavily forested area is subject to the “Eastern Interior Region Management Plan” of the Maine Department of Conservation. See photos.