In 1807 the Colcord brothers from Bangor built a grist mill and a saw mill on Alder Stream. Named for Judge Atkinson, the major landowner, it incorporated in 1819. Atkinson also donated a small library to the community, which is just east of Dover-Foxcroft in Piscataquis County.
Settled by Revolutionary War soldiers, Athens incorporated in 1804. Somerset Academy now serves as town office, American Legion hall, and Christian Fellowship meeting place. The Union Meetinghouse has served the community since 1840. Athens has hosted a small agricultural fair for many years.
Frenchville and Sheridan are villages north of the village of Ashland. Lumbering, once the major industry, is recalled in Ashland’s Logging Museum.
The Appalachian Trail crosses B Hill Road in nearby Andover North Surplus. AT&T built the Telstar satellite station here in the 1960s. Community photos. Native American Molly Ockett was buried in an unmarked grave in Andover’s Woodlawn Cemetery in 1816.
A town “Arundel” formed in 1719. In 1821 it became Kennebunk Port, from which, in 1915 a new town emerged: “North Kennebunkport.” In 1957 it changed to Arundel. Kenneth Roberts’ historical novel “Arundel” recounts the early life of the area and influenced the reemergence of the name. See video and photos.
Arrowsic Island in the Kennebec River separates Georgetown from Phippsburg, which was settled in 1607. In 1625 Europeans moved to Arrowsic, five years after the Pilgrim landing. Two lighthouses have been established on Arrowsic’s Kennebec shore. See videos and photos.
It was the nation’s only war declared by a state and the nation’s only bloodless war. Its roots were planted in the Treaty of Paris of 1783 ending the Revolutionary War. With inaccurate maps and uncertainty about with local river was the French named St. Croix River, the treaty language left the British termed “Disputed…
On the old stage route (now Rt. 116) along the Penobscot River, Argyle shares the Scottish origins of adjoining Edinburg. Formed as a town in 1839, it deorganized in 1938.
(1815-1864), a U.S. Representative born in Beverly, Massachusetts on February 11, 1815, was graduated from Bowdoin College in 1834. He studied law at the Cambridge Law School, was admitted to the Cumberland bar in 1837, and commenced practice in Portland. Appleton engaged in editorial work on the Eastern Argus and became editor in 1838. Register…
Outline of a Building at Pemaquid (2001) The views above represent products of historic archaeology, showing outlines of buildings in the early years of the Pemaquid settlement. The views of digs at shell middens…
is named for Samuel Appleton, an early settler (1770’s), and has frontage on Sennebec Pond. The Medomak Valley Grange is on Rt. 105 south of Burkettville village.
rises in the northwestern corner of the state, enters New Hampshire at Errol, then crosses back in the Oxford County town of Gilead. It then heads north at Bethel to Hanover then Rumford and Mexico before turning south to Livermore Falls and the cities of Lewiston and Auburn, soon to join the Kennebec River in…
is a small town in Aroostook County, incorporated on March 19, 1836 from township T10 R01. Even as Aroostook County has lost population over the years, Amity has managed slow but consistent growth.
Amish Baskets for Sale, Golden Ridge Road, Sherman (2014) People of the Old Order Amish community have moved to the town of Smyrna in substantial numbers. Arriving in 1996, the Amish community had grown from just a few settlers to approximately 80 people in 12 families by 2002. Their shed-building business, Sturdi-Built, has…
A web of dirt roads leads into the hinterland where several streams, the West Branch of the Union River, and a half dozen small ponds attract fishermen, hunters, and vacationers. Amherst was the site of an unsolved a homicide, in 1976. Video. Named for Amherst, New Hampshire, it is located on the east-west Maine Route 9, known as the Airline.
Near Bangor and the University of Maine in Orono, home to the Hirundo Wildlife Refuge and Alton Bog, it has steadily gained population since 1970. The Refuge is the site of an archaeological project on Pushaw Stream; evidence suggests occupation by prehistoric Indian cultures dating back approximately 7,000 years.
(1945- ) U.S. Representative; born in Portland on April 16, 1945, he graduated Bowdoin College in 1967, and was a Rhodes Scholar to Oxford University in 1970. He received his J.D. from Harvard University in 1974. Allen was on the staff of Governor Kenneth B. Curtis in 1968, and on the staff of Senator Edmund…
Head Tide village, poet Edwin Arlington Robinson’s birthplace, is a “small, picturesque river community with many … well-preserved 19th century buildings.” Video. Alna is home to the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington narrow gauge railway museum. The Sheepscot River runs through the town, the site of canoe trips from Whitefield to Wiscasset.
(1804-1883), son of Samuel Clesson Allen, was a U.S. Representative who was born in New Salem, Massachusetts on January 28, 1804. He attended New Salem Academy, and was graduated from Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1823. Allen studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1825, and commenced practice in Brattleboro, Vermont. After moving to…
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.