Small Pond with Beaver Lodge on the West Side of Long Falls Road (2013) @ N45° 5′ 4.86″ W70° 7′ 34.74″
Location Map for Highland Plantation
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1970 | 23 |
| 1980 | 60 |
| 1990 | 38 |
| 2000 | 52 |
| 2010 | 73 |
Population Trend 1870-2010
| Geographic Data | |
|---|---|
| N. Latitude | 45:05:42 |
| W. Longitude | 70:04:30 |
| Maine House | District 118 |
| Maine Senate | District 3 |
| Congress | District 2 |
| Area sq. mi. | (total) 42.0 |
| Area sq. mi. | (land) 42.0 |
| Population/sq.mi. | (land) 1.7 |
County: Somerset
Total=land+water; Land=land only |
|
[HI-land] is a plantation in Somerset County formally organized February 10, 1886. As early as October 20, 1840 the township T2 R2 BKP, WKR was organized for election purposes and became known as Plantation Number 2. On February 18, 1871 its name was changed to Highland Plantation.
Located thirty-two miles northwest of Skowhegan, road access is limited through North New Portland and Lexington to the south and through Bingham and Pleasant Ridge to the east.
The Long Falls Dam Road, from North New Portland to Long Falls Dam on the Dead River, is the only paved road through the plantation.
Small Store and Village (2013) @
Highland-Lexington Fire (2013) @
The plantation office (below) is located a few miles north of the junction on the Long Falls Dam Road. (N45° 3′ 17.72″; W70° 4′ 47.69″)
Assessors meet here in the small building that can accommodate the equally small voting population. Apparently this is the “Highland School” noted on the 1956 U.S.G.S. topographic map of the area.
Assessor Building (2013) @
Assessor Building Interior (’13)
Highland is remarkable as one of the very few townships in Maine without a lake or a significant pond. It does have two mountains over 2,000 feet in elevation: Bald and Witham.
In February 2011 Highland Wind LLC proposed a wind energy development of about 39 wind turbines on these and nearby mountains. Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission has review jurisdiction over the proposed project. The application was withdrawn in May 2011, but its representative, former governor Angus King, indicated then that the application might be refiled.
According to the Gazetteer of Maine in 1886, the leading, maybe only, manufactures were of snowshoes and “refined spruce gum.” The plantation had three public school houses and one hotel on the “stage-road.” Described as the road “from Anson (distant 20 miles) to Dead River,” it probably included much of the Long Falls Dam Road. The reported population in 1880 was 121.
The pond above is noted on the Delorme Maine Atlas and Gazetteer of 2011, at map 30 that includes Highland. The pond includes Little Michael Stream, which may have expanded due to the beaver activity on the pond as suggested by the beaver lodge across the pond. The photo below was taken westward from the Long Falls Dam Road in October 2013.
Form of Government: Assessors-Annual Meeting.
Additional resources
Highland Plt. Census Records. 1830, 1837, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910. [Maine State Library]
“Highland Wind LLC Development Pending Actions.” http://www.maine.gov/doc/lurc/projects/Windpower/HighlandWind/Highland_DP4862.shtml (accessed December 17, 2011)
Varney, George J. A Gazetteer of the State of Maine. 1886. pp. 279-280.