![Granite moving mechanism in Augusta (2002) [See crane below right]](https://maineanencyclopedia.com/wp-content/uploads/02110116-Copy.jpg)
Granite: The Product and the People The 19th century granite industry provided jobs for men on the islands as well as on the mainland. The Wiscasset, now historic, jail was completed in 1811 with granite walls from the Edgecomb quarries. As early as 1832 many rooms, walls and arches of Fort Knox in Prospect were…
Great Diamond, home to Fort McKinley, is just northeast of its neighbor Little Diamond Island, linked only by a sandbar at low tide. The island has a limited network of roads, used primarily by golf carts and bicycles. Access is by about a half hour ferry ride from Portland Harbor, with two landing sites. Landing site…
Dr. Sylvester Gardiner was born in South Kingston, Rhode Island in 1707. He studied eight years in England and France. Returning to Boston he pursued a successful professional career. He established a store for the importation of drugs and acquired a fortune. Gardiner accumulated much real estate in Maine and became proprietor of one-twelfth part…
Major State Agencies accounted for 98.7 percent of the total State budget. The $8 billion budget for the major agencies in fiscal year 2014-2015 allocated 47% of its funds for Human Services, 21% for education, and 9% for Transportation. Health & Human Services $3,769,766,585 Transportation Department $678,279,421 Administration & Finance $373,112,863 Labor Department $312,440,538 Defense,…
Two Islands These two small islands, in the town of Harpswell, are in Middle Bay, a major inlet off Casco Bay. A popular destination for boaters, they lie just off the southern tip of Lower Goose Island. Each has campsites with a strict carry-in carry-out policy. Maine Coast Heritage Trust is the owner and steward.…
Guy P. Gannett (1881-1954) was born in Augusta and was a successful entrepreneur. He assisted his father, William H. Gannett, in publishing Comfort magazine. William H. Gannett was a major force in the mail-order and publishing business during the late 19th and early 20th century. Based in Augusta, his Comfort was the first magazine in…
This citizen volunteer program was intended to fill a gap in the country’s air defenses. Begun during World War II, it ended its mission on January 31, 1959. In the mid-1950s, 350,000 volunteers from 16,010 observations posts reported to forty-nine “filter centers” across the country. In a letter to the New York Times dated January…
Grindstone is north of East Millinocket on Route 11 in Penobscot County. Route 11, which follows the East Branch of the Penobscot River north to south, is the principal improved road. A short portion of the Madden Road in the south along a section of Dolby Pond is the only other improved surface. A tiny…
Yes, the Gray Catbird sounds like a cat in “normal” mode. But, being a relative of mockingbirds, it often imitates others or combines sounds of several species to create its own music. The one pictured here is typical in its preference for thick growth among the lilacs and its frequent visits to a bird feeder.…
The town of Aurora is home to two geologic features created by ancient glaciers. Silsby Plain This feature is an example of geologic deltas, which are formed where streams produced by melting ice enter a body of water. The Silsby Plain was a delta deposited into a narrow marine inlet when the sea was at…
This bird’s year round home is along the southeast coast of the United States and islands in the Caribbean. But the Glossy Ibis is an occasional visitor during the summer mating season. These two, on the right, were observed at the Scarborough Marsh in 2010, along with apparent summer vacation friends in the feather of…
The Gulf of Maine extends from Cape Cod in Massachusetts, to the coasts of New Hampshire, Maine, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, and to Cape Sable, Nova Scotia. An important part of the Gulf is Casco Bay, which supports substantial varieties of marine life, but is in the midst of the highest concentration…
Why “Grange“? Its origin is likely from the British English. The Oxford English Dictionary notes “British: a country house with farm buildings attached. Historical an outlying farm with tithe barns belonging to a monastery or feudal lord. Archaic: a barn. From Latin granum “grain”. by Stanley R. Howe* The National Grange came into being in 1867…
The Golden Road, privately owned and mostly unpaved, extends from Millinocket west over 100 miles to the Quebec border at township T5 R20 WELS, a four hour trip. It was established in the 1970’s as a transportation conduit for raw wood to feed the hungry Great Northern Paper Company mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket.…
Samuel Wadsworth Gould (1852-1935) a U.S. Representative, was born in Porter on January 1, 1852. He moved with his parents to Hiram, attended the public schools and North Parsonsfield Seminary, was graduated from the University of Maine in 1877. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and began his practice in Skowhegan in 1879.…
Selected works . . . Pre-Natal Care for Fathers(1941) The House That Jacob Built(1947), in which Gould rebuilds the house his grandfather built and tells about the family that’s lived there And One to Grow on: Recollections of a Maine Boyhood (1949): About his boyhood in Lisbon Falls, where his family has lived for generations…
Glenwood contains most of Wytopitlock Lake (the balance is in T2 R4 WELS) and Orcutt Brook, which empties into it. In 2004 only a few camps were scattered along the rocky shore. The Bureau of State Parks and Public Lands owns and maintains a boat launch in the shallow outlet cove, located in Glenwood. Wytopitlock Stream is the outlet and the start of a popular canoe trip. Glenwood is subject to the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, which has identified critical natural areas in the plantation.
Gymnastics experienced several changes before its demise as a high school sport beginning in 2005. Boy classes were discontinued in 1973. BOYS Year No Classes 1966 South Portland 1967 South Portland 1968 South Portland 1969 South Portland 1970 South Portland 1971 Biddeford 1972 Biddeford 1973 Oxford Hills GIRLS Year No Classes & A Class B…
Frank Edward Guernsey (1866-1927) a U.S. Representative was born in Dover on October 15, 1866. He attended the common schools, Foxcroft Academy, Eastern Maine Conference Seminary in Bucksport, Wesleyan Seminary, Kents Hill and Eastman’s College, Poughkeepsie, New York. He studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1890 and began his practice in Dover. Treasurer…
The Piscataquis River flows through the main village with neighboring Sangerville, formed with some land from Guilford, on the southern shore. The town was long a center for textile production. The late 20th century was marked by fires, floods, and economic instability, but the early 21st century opened with efforts at renewal with a river festival and downtown revtlalization.