Relics of farmhouses hint at the glory days of Maine’s agricultural tradition. In remote villages, scenes of abandoned homes, churches, and vehicles mark changes in communities as populations ebb. The landscape is littered with these ghosts of Maine’s past, recalling a lost civilization but evoking questions of their secrets. …
2018 Acton Aug 23-26 Augusta Athens Aug 7-9 Bangor State Fair July 27-Aug 5 Blue Hill Aug 30 – Sept 3 Clinton Maine Farm Days Aug 22-23; Lions Fair Sept 6-9 Common Ground (Unity) Sept 21-23 Cumberland Sept 23-29 Farmington Sept 16-22 Fryeburg Sept 30 – Oct 7 Harmony Free Fair Aug 31 – Sept 3 Houlton June 30-July…
The federal government provides a “safety net” to agricultural producers to help them through the variations in agricultural production and profitability from year to year – due to variations in weather, market prices, and other factors – while ensuring a stable food supply. However, this support is mostly for five major “program” commodities of corn,…
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…
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…
In 2006 Maine had 50 airports, 36 publicly owned. Of the publicly owned, only 6 were served by regularly scheduled passenger service. The other 30 serve the general aviation community which flies smaller, unscheduled aircraft. There are some others reserved for private use only. According to an economic impact study by the Alliance for Aviation…
Alewife landings crashed in 1981 and have yet to recover to any of the 1950-1980 levels. While both the catch and value were depressed through 2000, more recent years have shown a rise in total value and price per pound. Latest data are preliminary. YEAR POUNDS POUNDS (millions) VALUE PRICE/LB 1950 3,165,600 3.1656 $28,294 $0.01…
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.
Otherwise known as the Common Eel or Freshwater Eel, they range in size of up to 6 feet for females and up to 2 feet for males. Color is olive-green to brown on the back, with yellow-green on the sides and gray-white below. Adults leave freshwater for the ocean to spawn, changing color to black…
American Plaice had modest landings by commercial fishermen of one to two million pounds from 1950 through 1976. It then jumped to six million per year that, with a few exceptions, was the minimum landing amount until 1995. It then began to slip, again with a few exeptions, until landngs hit a six decade low…
This Township in Somerset County has no village and probably no permanent residents. Spencer Road winds among several mountains from Hobbstown Township in the southeast to Skinner Township in the northwest. Greenlaw Mountain (2,991 feet) in its lower center and Number 5 Mountain in its northeast (3,168 feet) contribute to the mountainous landscape in…
April 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 3rd Monday Patriots Day in Maine and Massachusetts commemorates the battles of Lexington and Concord, fought near Boston in 1775. 1844…
From 1950 to about 1974, commercial fishermen saw relatively low total value and prices per pound when landing American Pollock. Then the landings increased and so did the total value and the per pound price. As the big landings began to decline, the price per pound climbed to a range between $.60 and $.80. With…
The once substantial landings of Atlantic Redfish by commercial fishermen began a severe, and as yet unending, decline, in 1962. The many years of landings exceeding 60 million pounds has ended, with recent catches well below 200,000 pounds. The higher prices per pound are undoubtedly little comfort to those who have few fish to sell.…
The following is abridged from Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife internet site at http://www.maine.gov/ifw/wildlife/species/endangered_species/atlantic_salmon/ (accessed December 2, 2012) In Maine, Atlantic salmon were historically found in all major river systems and many of their tributaries with suitable spawning habitat. Today, they have disappeared from much of their historic range. In Maine they…
Etienne Orson was a settler in the area around 1793. McCauley reports that the name came from a mispronunciation of Etienne. In the township-range system it is T6 R7 NBKP. The U.S. Census reported a single resident in 1870, five in 1900, fifteen in 1910, eighteen in 1920, and fifteen in 1930, the last report…
Woodland, site of a paper mill since 1905, is Baileyville’s primary village. (Not the Town of Woodland in Aroostook County.) Baileyville’s eastern boundary is with Canada, defined by the St. Croix River and Woodland Lake. See photos.
Shipbuilding has been a way of life along the Kennebec River in Bath since 1743 when Jonathan Philbrick launched a schooner with the help of his two sons. Smaller fishing and sailing craft had been built for years, but a new industry was now emerging. In 1762 the Earl of Bute, the first full-rigged ship…
The township (T6 R19 WELS) in Somerset County is on the border with Quebec in western Maine. It has no improved roads, but a substantial amount of unimproved roads serving forestry operations. The small Little Southwest Brook rises here and flows northward, finally entering the St. John River in T9 R18 WELS in northern Somerset…
The 1909, 318-foot long truss bridge was built by Pennsylvania Steel Company of Steelton, Pennsylvania, replacing an earlier double-decker bridge. It spans the Androscoggin River between Brunswick and Topsham. According to the website HistoricBridges.org: This double deck bridge is one of the most unusual and unique bridges in Maine due to its suspended highway deck…