This is a small, irregular boot-shaped township north of Sebec in Piscataquis County. Barnard Corner is a modest village in the southeast. The only improved road is a north-south stretch of about four miles with three names: Sebec Village Road (south), Barnard Road (middle) and Austin Road (north). The landscape contains no lakes, ponds, or mountains.
Originally, neighboring Williamsburg and Barnard were one, within Number Six Range Eight township. A large swamp running through the center of Williamsburg separated the settlements, and presented natural inconveniences which led to a separation. In 1834 the original township was split when Barnard and Williamsburg each became incorporated towns.
Barnard decided to give up its organization in 1877 and reverted to being an unorganized township. In 1939, in the midst of the Great Depression, Williamsburg also gave up its organization and became an unorganized township.
According to Amasa Loring, in 1880,
Barnard (now a township) is the west part of the original town of Williamsburg, and as such, it was purchased and settled. A portion of its soil is good for agriculture, and a part of it was covered with valuable timber, the hemlock, spruce and cedar, not being yet exhausted. A rich vein of slate has been opened and worked successfully in two places.
It is well watered. Bear Brook passes through the town from north to south, which, with its branches, affords several mill privileges, three of which have been improved.
The first settlers entered this town by way of Sebec Mills, about 1809 or 1810. Mark Pitman, John Thompson, Benjamin Miller, and B. Bunker being the earlier of them.
A. H. Merrill’s farm, in this town, contained a good slate quarry. Merrill made an advantageous sale of his farm in 1835, and then moved into Williamsburg.
Additional resources
Loring, Amasa. History of Piscataquis County, Maine: From Its Earliest Settlement to 1880. From Maine History Documents at https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mainehistory/33/ (accessed December 9, 2019.