Winterport

Marsh Bay on the Penobscot River just South of Winterport Village (2003)

Winterport is primarily a rural community with its land area extending ten miles westward from the river. See photos. An attraction along Route 139 among the farms and woods is the Winterport Dragway, featuring auto drag races with specialty vehicles and “street” vehicles. In recent years a marina has expanded and an export business has been established on the river. A dockside freezer operation enabled the storage and shipping of commodities such as fish and chicken.

Vanceboro

Sunset over Small Stream in Vanceboro (2013)

At the easternend of Maine Route 6, Vanceboro lies across the river from St. Croix, New Brunswick where 24-hour per day customs stations manage border crossings. See photos. A hill in the village overlooks the main street. With the large houses, the veterans hall and memorial, it appears to have been an important neighborhood in the history of Vanceboro. The local school of recent vintage is located there. Trains from Maine pass through Vanceboro to Canada.

Unity

is home to Unity College, a small liberal arts institution in a rural setting where the Common Ground Country Fair is held each fall. See photos. The main village is at the south end of the 2,528-acre Unity Pond, also known as Lake Winnecook.

Trenton

Union River Bay from Bayside Road at Low Tide (2013)

South on Route 230 (Bayside Road) from Ellsworth, on the west shore of town, one notes the very modest houses on the inland side and the more substantial houses and cottages set back from the road on the Union Bay side. Route 3, the “Bar Harbor Road,” on the east side has a completely different character, featuring attractions for tourists bound for Acadia National Park, and the Hancock County – Bar Harbor Airport.

Sweden

Webber Pond on the Webber Pond Road in Sweden (2014)

Year Population 1970 110 1980 163 1990 222 2000 324 2010 391 Geographic Data N. Latitude 44:07:24 W. Longitude 70:48:59 Maine House District 71 Maine Senate District 18 Congress District 2 Area sq. mi. (total) 29.7 Area sq. mi. (land) 28.8 Population/sq.mi. (land) 13.6 County: Oxford Total=land+water; Land=land only [SWEE-dehn] is a town in Oxford…

Stetson

Road to Stetson Shores Campground (2014)

Just 20 miles northwest of Bangor and adjacent to Newport, the town is a growing, but still rural community. Settled in 1800, it was soon organized as a plantation for election purposes. The post office opened in 1829. In the 1880’s Stetson was home to three sawmills, a grist mill, Stetson Cheese Factory, and a carriage factory.

South Berwick

Counting House Day Lily Memorial Park at the Salmon Falls River (2018)

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.

Rockland

The Farnsworth Museum (2005)

a city in, and the county seat of, Knox County, it is the home to the Farnsworth Art Museum, the Maine Seafood Festival, a historic working waterfront, historic structures, and birthplace of notable cultural and political figures. Located on U.S. Route 1, the city is a regional service and retail center.

Parsonsfield

Porter-Parsonsfield Covered Bridge over the Ossipee River (2014)

Kezar Falls, a village on the Ossipee River named for George Kezar, is the largest in the area at the junction of Maine Routes 25 and 160. The community is split between Parsonsfield and Porter across the river, and is governed and taxed separately by the two towns. An early 20th century sanatorium, Maple Crest, was “located among the beautiful Limerick hills, the wild and picturesque outlines of which may be seen in every direction from the building. The view is in itself enough to stimulate the interest and mental activity so important to the cure of all diseases.

Otis

Boat Launch on Beech Hill Pond (2013)

Located just north of Ellsworth, the town is dominated by Floods Pond and Beech Hill Pond, with several smaller ponds and streams mixed in. See photos. The small, old cemetery and the working forest symbolize Otis’ past and present as a sparsely populated, wooded area off the major highways.

Oakland

Waterville’s commercial strip that is Kennedy Memorial Drive continues into Oakland for about a mile before becoming a more scenic road. See photos. Here the village emerges as it sits at Messalonskee Stream. Long the home of the New England Music Camp, recreational opportunities include access to several of the Belgrade lakes.

Lyman

Dam and Spillway near the old Sawmill (2003)

Earlier called Swansfield, it was named after Theodore Lyman of York, a successful businessman and Boston merchant. Goodwins Mills is a village straddling the town lines of Lyman and Dayton. The first saw and grist mills were located there in 1782. Lyman’s United Methodist Church was established in 1840. Dotted with ponds, the area is a rural commuter community with easy access to Sanford and the Biddeford-Saco areas..

Lamoine

Lamoine Consolidated School (2013)

a town in Hancock County, incorporated in 1870. Mount Desert Narrows separates Mount Desert Island from Trenton and Lamoine. Eastern Bay is east of the narrows between Lamoine and the island. Lamoine State Park and Lamoine Beach are both on the shore of Eastern Bay. They are at the end of Maine Route 184, which departs from U.S. Route 1 in Ellsworth.

Jackman

James Jackman, was usually called “Captain Jackman.” He was contracted by the State to build the Canada Road from the Forks to the Canadian border. See photos. The village is on the shore of Wood Pond in Attean Township. Attean Pond and Attean Mountain are southwest of the village in an area designated as one of Maine’s “public reserved lands.” The area provides attractive fishing and hunting opportunities, canoe trips on the Moose River, and jobs for workers in the logging industry.

Greenbush

Helen S. Dunn School (2012)

Located on the east bank of the Penobscot River, Greenbush includes several islands, the largest of which, Olamon, abuts Olamon Stream as it empties into the river. Olamon, the name of a village near the island, means “red paint.” The Indians traveled up the stream to retrieve the red ochre they used as paint for decorating their bodies. Greenbush village is on the River and U.S. Route 2. A smaller village, Cardville, is in the middle of the township on the Cardville Road.

Gardiner

The Oaklands. Robert Hallowell Gardiner estate (2017)

on the Kennebec River, it is named for Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, an early proprietor and developer who brought settlers too the area in 1754. See photos. Notable residents included Revolutionary War General Henry Dearborn, Dr. Gideon Stinson Palmer, author Laura E. Richards, and poet Edwin Arlington Robinson.

Fryeburg

White Mountains in New Hampshire across a Field in Fryeburg on Route 113 (2013)

a town in Oxford County, incorporated in 1777 on the site of an Indian settlement known as Pequawket. See photos. Daniel Webster was a teacher at Fryeburg Academy in 1802. Native American Molly Ockett was born about 1740 into the Pigwacket tribe. The Battle of Lovewell’s Pond was one long day in 1725, during which the leader of the white volunteers, Captain Lovewell, was slain along with the Indian leader Pangus.

East Millinocket

Truly a company town, as is Millinocket, its incorporation followed Great Northern’s development of the paper mill and ground wood mill in 1906. Once a source of well-paid employment, the mill has been under economic pressure, a partial cause of population loss of over 3 % during the 1970-2010 period. It is just west of Medway off I-95 in Aroostook County.

Eastbrook

Sign: Town Line, Entering Eastbrook from Waltham (2003)

in Hancock County, incorporated 1837, Settled in 1800, an early settler built the first house and established its first mill. In 1886 Eastbrook had four mills – two sawmills, one producing staves, and one manufacturing shingles. It still has several historically significant buildings. See photos. Lyle Frost Wildlife Management Area offers canoeing; wildlife to be seen: eagles, deer and water birds.