Farmington

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From a trading center in the late 18th century, it saw rapid growth through the Civil War, largely with designation as the shire town of Franklin County, arrival of a few manufacturers, and founding of several educational institutions. It boasts a highly rated small college: the University of Maine at Farmington, near downtown. Originally the Farmington State Normal School, it was established in 1864. The town is the birthplace of renowned vocalist Lillian Nordica; the home of inventor Chester Greenwood and U.S. Representative Robert Goodenow.

Fairfield

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Fairfield Center, with its impressive church and grange hall, is at the crossroads of routes 23 & 104. The old Lawrence High School is near the veterans park with its gazebo and shade trees. See photos. In the fall, a popular destination for apples and pumpkins is The Apple Farm. Fairfield, incorporated in 1788 in Somerset County, now hosts Kennebec Valley Community College.

Coplin Plantation

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a plantation in Franklin County, organized in 1893, is just south of Flagstaff Lake on Maine Route 16. See photo. The South Branch of the Dead River flows through on its way to the lake. Two sections of Maine’s Public Reserved Lands, in the Flagstaff Region, lie within the plantation.

Clifton

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Parks Pond Bluff or Cliff (2013

in Penobscot County, incorporated 1848, settled in 1815, and recently growing in population, Clifton provides recreational opportunities, at the southeast end of Chemo Pond and Peaked Mountain, for the greater Bangor area. Fitts Pond in the southwest corner provides water access for Boy Scout Camp Roosevelt. See photos.

Casco

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Songo Lock in Casco (2003)

settled by Europeans in 1771, in Cumberland County, incorporated in 1841, is on the north shore of Sebago Lake. The Songo Lock, built about 1830, linked Long Pond and Brandy Pond with Sebago Lake, allowing boat passage from Harrison to Portland. Nathaniel Hawthorne, author and Bowdoin College graduate was its most prominent resident.

Bremen

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German Protestant Cemetery adjacent to a Meetinghouse in Bremen (2005)

Germans emigrated here in the mid-18th century misled into believing they would find a prosperous city in the wilderness. It has three nature preserves. Located on state Route 32 at the confluence of the Medomak River and Muscongus Bay, the main settlement is on Keene Neck. See photos.

Atkinson

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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.

Acton

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Historic 1884 Lincoln One-Room School Interior (2014)

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.

Winslow

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Winslow is on the east side of the Kennebec River, across from Waterville, on Routes U.S. 201 and Maine routes 32, 100, 100A, and 137. See photos. A reconstructed blockhouse of Fort Halifax, which incorporates many original timbers, stands on the fort’s original site.

Pittston

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Historical Marker: Headquarters of Benedict Arnold Expedition September 21-23, 1775 (2013)

The Reuben Colburn House in Pittston, Maine is the site of one of the original settlements in Maine. Built in 1765, it was one of the first on the east side of the Kennebec River in an area later known locally as Colburntown. See photos. The house and carriage house is now owned by the Arnold Expedition Society. The village of East Pittston is located on the Eastern River near the town line with Whitefield. Route 194 serves the village and the Pittston Fair Grounds nearby.