in Aroostook County, is at the mouth of the Allagash River as it enters the St, John. Large in area, small in population, hunting and camping is an economic asset. The Allagash River flows through the town and is the tenth longest in the State. At 69 miles, it drains 1,240 square miles in northern Maine. Across the St. John lies the small Canadian town of Connors.
is a town in Washington County named for Alexander Baring (Lord Ashburton) the British envoy who, along with Daniel Webster, settled Maine’s northern boundary with the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. It contains Barrows and Pleasant lakes, and has substantial frontage on Meddybemps Lake.
In the early 1600’s a dam was built in Nequasset, now a portion of Woolwich. It was the early primary power source for the town, the site of grist, saw, and fulling mills. The original wooden fishway provided a rich harvest of alewives, which was apportioned among the residents according to their…
Maine was the home of prohibition. In 1846 Maine passed the first laws in the country outlawing the sale of alcoholic beverages except for “industrial and medicinal purposes.” In 1851, a stricter statute known as the “Maine Law” was passed and signed by the “Father of Prohibition,” Governor John Hubbard. It prohibited both the manufacture…
“I cannot surrender my principles, though the whole world would vote them down. I can make no compromise between truth and error, even though my life be the alternative.“ – – ELIJAH PARISH LOVEJOY, 1835 Elijah Parish Lovejoy (1802-1837) was born in Albion on November 9, 1802, the son of Daniel Lovejoy, a Congregational minister.…
First settled in 1790, probably by Congregational minister Daniel Lovejoy, Albion, in Kennebec County, is the birthplace of Elijah Parish Lovejoy, son of Daniel and a fearless journalist and opponent of slavery. A plaque to Lovejoy, who was murdered for his beliefs, rests outside the town library.
an unorganized township in Oxford County, was originally incorporated as a town on June 20, 1803 from its earlier designation as Oxford Plantation. It lies just south of the town of Bethel and on the edge of the scenic White Mountains National Forest in Western Maine. The town house, grange, and congregational church, all near Routes 5 and 15, are historic landmarks.
is an east-west transportation route from Bangor to Calais, currently a portion of state highway Route 9. Crossing Penobscot, Hancock, and Washington counties, it was planned as a military road in 1838-1839 during the Aroostook War, but remained unfinished 20 years after the “War” was settled. The Airline passes through mostly small communities, West to…
As Maine communities began to lose some of their frontier aspects in the early 19th century and assumed a more settled appearance, civic improvements were initiated. Among these was the regulation of livestock which, in contrast to earlier times, were becoming numerous. Swine, although useful for consuming garbage, in themselves provided a health hazard. No…
were in Maine at least as early as 1736 when a church in York purchased a slave for its minister. John Brown Russwurm was Bowdoin College‘s first black graduate, in 1826. The third black to graduate from an American college, he went on to become the co-founder and co-editor of the country’s first black newspaper,…
is a town in York County, incorporated on March 6, 1830; it ceded land to Shapleigh in 1831. It was part of a much larger tract of land in purchased in 1661 by Francis Small from Chief Sunday of the Newichawannock Tribe. Settled in 1776, the town’s first mill, a grist mill, was built on the Salmon Falls River in 1779 by Joseph Parsons.
is the science of managing forest resources for human benefit. Maine has had a long history of using forest resources and an equally long history of controversy over whether proper management of those resources has been adequate.
Through the summer and into the fall of 1947 Maine received only 50% of its normal rainfall. Vegetation dries; water supplies dwindled. But the autumn rains never came and by mid-October, Mount Desert Island was experiencing the driest conditions ever recorded. The stage was set for a disastrous blaze in the state’s history of forest…
is in Hancock County on Mount Desert Island, about which explorer Samuel de Champlain created the first reliable European record in 1604. Through the gateway town…
Originally a French colony, Acadian lands in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia were passed back and forth between the French and English by various treaties settling European wars. The last of these, the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, gave the land to England. For a time the Acadians lived peacefully with the English. In…
Abortion has been the center of political conflict for much of the last one hundred years, but especially so since the United State Supreme Court ruled in 1973, in the case of Roe v. Wade, that prohibition of abortion is an unconstitutional invasion of a woman’s right to privacy. However, the Court did allow for…
(1804-1877) was a U.S. Representative born in Sidney on March 29, 1804. He studied law at the Litchfield (Connecticut) Law School, was admitted to the bar in 1836, and commenced practice at Calais. Abbott moved to Columbus, Mississippi in 1839, continuing his practice of law, then returned to Maine in 1840 settling in Belfast A…
was born in Brunswick on September 18, 1805. He was a brother of Jacob Abbott. Having graduated Bowdoin College in 1825, with Longfellow and Hawthorne. He later attended Andover Theological Seminary, serving as a minister between 1830 and 1844 when he retired. John Abbot was a historian and author of fifty-four books, including a partisan…
(1803-1879) was born in Hallowell, graduated from Bowdoin College in 1820 and from Andover Theological Seminary in 1825. He was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Amherst College from 1825-1829. He was ordained in 1834 at Elliot Church, Boston Highlands. An author, he wrote extensively for juveniles, including his first success, The Young Christian…
Kennebunk Plains, McGuire Road, Kennebunk. This 1,000-acre sandplain community provides vital habitat for the endangered grasshopper sparrow and four other animals and plants of special concern in Maine. Managed by the Nature Conservancy, acquired with a grant from the Land For Maine’s Future Board. Butler/Marshall Preserve, Kennebunk. The Kennebunk River bisects the two preserves which…