Winthrop

Maranacook Lake in Winthrop (2013)

n addition to its recreational attractions, the town is a suburban community serving both the Augusta and Lewiston-Auburn areas. See photos. Winthrop is the birthplace in 1899 of Delphia Louis “Del” Bissonette, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Windham

The main village, North Windham, lies adjacent to Sebago Lake and on the shore of Little Sebago Lake at the junction of U.S. Route 302 and Maine Routes 35 and 115. See photos. While Route 302 is a long commercial strip, an old meeting house is adjacent to the Windham Union Church. Young adult offenders are held at the Maine Correctional Center in South Windham.

Troy

Classic Barn in Troy (2006)

Maine Route 220 joins U.S. Route 202/Maine Route 9 at Green’s Corner near the shore of Unity Pond. Carleton Pond, Bog, and Stream are accessible from Route 220 in the north end of town. The 1840 Troy Union Meeting House is a classic example of a type of meeting house or church in Maine in the four decades prior to the Civil War.

Newburgh

Small Waterfall on the West Branch of Souadabscook Stream (2014)

Settled in about 1794, the town is on the old stage route from Bangor through China to Vassalboro near Augusta. Newburgh Center village is on combined U.S. Route 202 and Maine Route 9. See photos. The Kennard Road hiking trail, originally developed by the Newburgh Heritage Trust, is a one-mile walk, with parking available.

New Gloucester

Pineland Farms near the Intervale Road in New Gloucester (2013)

home for Pineland Center from 1908 to 1996, that facility for the mentally retarded was known as the “Maine School for the Feeble-Minded” and later as the Pownal State School. See photos. It has been redeveloped as an office park. The multiple-use campus hosts professional, educational, and civic organizations, along with a conference facility. Pineland Farms and its Equestrian Center are major facilities nearby.

Monmouth

Cumston Hall (2001)

The Theater at Monmouth, specializes in Elizabethan productions. See photos. Highmoor Farm is part of the University of Maine’s agricultural experiment station network. This growing town is located on U.S. Route 202 between Augusta and Lewiston, making it a convenient location for commuters to each city.

Hollis

Just 10 miles northwest of Biddeford-Saco, the town was the summer home of Kate Douglas Wiggin, author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm among others. See photos. Her house is now the library. Wildfires of 1947 wiped out many historic homes, so only about 20% of all houses are older 50 years. The village with most commercial development is Hollis Center, with restaurants, gasoline stations, a food market and other service businesses. Poland Spring bottling plant was the only substantial industrial use in Hollis as of 2004.

Hampden

Apparent former Dam Site for the Old Emerson Mill on Emerson Mill Road (2014)

The town is a suburb of Bangor lying just south of that city on U.S. Route 1A. It hosts a regional U.S. Post Office processing center. Hampden Academy was established in 1803. The Grange Hall, one of the first chartered Granges in 1880. See photos. While teaching here Stephen King was spending his spare time writing short stories and novels. It is the birthplace of social reformer Dorothea Dix. Settled in 1767 it was once known as Wheelersborough after the first settler, carpenter, and mill owner.

China

in Kennebec County near Augusta, incorporated 1818, is the birthplace of a member of Congress and a Quaker educator-author. China Lake, around which Quakers and Baptists settled in the early 19th century, dominates the community and its history as a recreational center. See photos.

Buxton

Saco River with old bridge abutments in Buxton (2003)

was settled by men who were survivors of King Philip’s War having been granted allotments of land in what was then Narragansett, Number One. The first permanent settlers arrived in 1750. Named for Buxton in Norfolk, England, it incorporated in 1762. The Buxton Powder House, one of only three War of 1812 powder houses to survive in Maine, was erected on a vote of local citizens. See photos.

Bethel

Classic Barn photographed by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1973, still stands in 2019

one of the oldest villages in western Maine, incorporated in 1796 from Sudbury Canada Plantation. Its name signifies the “House of God,” possibly inspired by its location among the Oxford Hills. The Middle Intervale Meetinghouse was built in 1816. West Bethel village is along a canoe trip route on the Androscoggin River. See photos.

Winslow

Winslow is on the east side of the Kennebec River, across from Waterville, on Routes U.S. 201 and Maine routes 32, 100, 100A, and 137. See photos. A reconstructed blockhouse of Fort Halifax, which incorporates many original timbers, stands on the fort’s original site.

Vassalboro

has sufficient space to support farming as well as serving as a residential area for people working in Augusta and Waterville. See video and photos. Benedict Arnold stopped here to obtain a canoe on his way to Quebec. Site of Oak Grove Seminary in 1844, then Oak Grove Coburn school in 1970, then the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in 2001.

Bangor

Bangor Downtown near the West Market Square Historic District (2001)

When Maine separated from Massachusetts in 1820, the vast Maine timberlands were put on the block for speculation, which drew investors and fortune hunters. By the 1830s, Bangor was building 500 structures annually. Dow Air Force Base provided an economic and civic boost during the Cold War until closing in 1968. The creation of Bangor International Airport turned the potential liability into an asset.