USA > Maine > Gazetteer of the state of Maine > Part 73
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Winthrop, a thrifty agricultural town, lies in the south- western part of Kennebec County, 10 miles west by south-west from Augusta. It is bounded on the east by Manchester, and has West Gardiner at the south-east and Monmouth at the south, Wayne on the west and Readfield on the north. Winthrop has an area of 25,540 acres, a portion of which is water. The greater part of Cobbossee Contee Great Pond, of Annabessacook, Maranocook, Wilson's and several smaller ponds lie within the limits of the town. Maranocook Lake has now become a place of much resort in summer. It has a pretty steamer; and on the shores are convenient buildings for the regattas, musical and other entertainments held here. The lake is about 8 miles in length. The Maine Central Railroad, back route, has a station here. The numerous places where Indian relics are found show these ponds to have been favorite resorts of the aborigines. The surface is quite hilly, forming with the ponds much variety and beauty of scenery. From the town-house, which occupies an elevated position,
[* These haulers were dubbed " Israelites." for their early rising. Frequently 100 or more teams would be on the wharf for a load at one or two o'clock A. M. in the winter, and the late hours of the day would find the " early bird " of the morning back for a second load, so that he could get an early start on the next morning. The road to Bangor was, in good sledding, covered by one continual string of teams.'-Crocker and Howard's New England.]
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the hills of Dixmont, a little west of the Penobscot, and a section of the White Mountains, are plainly visible. A high hill called Mount Pisgah extends nearly across the western portion of the town. The soil is good, and agriculture is the leading pursuit, the farms generally being in high cultivation. Dr. Ezekiel Holmes, widely known in con- nection with the Maine Farmer, formerly resided in Winthrop; and chiefly from his influence, stock-raising has been made a speciality, so that the Winthrop Jersey cattle have attained a wide reputation. The town has also long been noted for its fine apple-orchards.
MUSSELLANCHARUSOM.SC
GRAMMAR SCHOOL HOUSE, WINTHROP, ME.
At the village, situated between Annabessacook and Maranocook ponds, which divide the town, considerable manufacturing is done. There are here a woolen factory, producing about $150,000 worth of goods per annum ; a grain-mill, grinding upwards of 12,000 bushels of grain of all kinds annually ; bark and fulling-mills, a saw-mill, manufac-
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WINTHROP.
turing about 200,000 feet of lumber every year ; a cotton-factory, which manufactures cotton yarn and lines; a foundry and machine-shop ; " Whitman's Agricultural Tool Manufactory," which makes cider-mills, horse and hand-rakes, planing, threshing and winnowing-machines, etc., to the amount of from $75,000 to $100,000 yearly. In other localities are several small mills and a tannery ; and at Baileyville, in the eastern part of the town is a large manufactory of oil-cloths. The other village is East Winthrop, situated in the north-eastern part of the town, near the northern extremity of Cobossee Contee Pond. The National Bank of Winthrop has a capital stock of $100,000. The ter- ritory of Winthrop was a part of the Plymouth Patent. The first settler was Timothy Foster, who, in 1765, located his habitation by the great pond. A hunter named Scott was then occupying a hut on the same lot. The next settler was Squire Bishop, who came in 1767. The families of Foster, Fairbanks, Stanley, and Pullen, soon after set- tled near. These being accustomed only to cultivated farms, suffered many hardships from their inexperience in subduing the wilderness, and must have perished, had it not been for the abundance of game and wild fruits. Three brothers, Nathaniel, William and Thomas Whittier, came in soon after ; and felling at once some twenty acres of timber, burned over the ground, and planted their corn without plough- ing, obtaining a wonderful crop. The other settlers, profiting by observation of the Whittiers, as well as by their own experience, soon began to thrive. The first saw-mill was built by John Chandler, in 1768, and a grist-mill soon after, on the site now occupied by the cotton- factory. It is said that it required the whole strength of the settlement for nearly a week to get the mill-stones from the Kennebec to their place in the mill. For building these mills Mr. Chandler was granted by the proprietors of the township 400 acres of land. The first road was cut through to the " Hook," now Hallowell. The first tax levied in town was in 1784 and the first payment was by Benjamin Fairbanks ; the money used being the sum received for bounty on the head of a wolf.
As a plantation, Winthrop was called Pondtown. It was incor- porated in 1771, being named for John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts. It included Readfield until 1791. Winthrop was first represented in the General Court in 1783, the representative in that year being Jonathan Whiting. A post-office was first established in town in 1800. The Winthrop Woollen Company was incorporated in 1809 and went into operation in 1814. Among those who received grants of land in the early years of the settlement, were Samuel and John Needham, Abraham Wyman, Nathaniel Stanley, Peter Hopkins, Amos Boynton, Jonathan Whiting, John and Joseph Chandler, Samuel and Amos Stevens, Joseph Baker and Elisha Smith. The first town- officers were John Chandler, Timothy Foster, Robert Waugh, Jonathan Whiting, Stephen Pullen, and Gideon Lambert.
The first ministers resident in Winthrop were Messrs. Thurston Whiting and Jeremiah Shaw. Rev. David Jewett was settled in 1782, and died the next year, when the town was divided into two parishes. Mr. Jonathan Belden was ordained in 1800, and was succeeded by Rev. David Thurston, in 1807. At present the Congregationalists, Methodists, Universalists, Baptists and Friends have cach a society and church edifice in the town. Winthrop has ten public schoolhouses,
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valued at $16,000. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $1,122,839. In 1880 it was $1,125,317. The population in 1870 was 2,229. By the census of 1880, it is placed at 2,146.
Wiscasset is situated on the Sheepscot River, in the south- eastern part of Lincoln county. Wiscasset Bay, an enlargement of Sheepscot River, occupies about one-third of the castern side of the town, and is one of the best harbors on our eastern coast, being tho- roughly protected, capacious, deep, and open even when Boston harbor is closed as far as the Castle. A United States Surveying Commission, in 1813, strongly recommended to the navy department the propriety of establishing a navy yard in Wiscasset. One hundred vessels of the largest size can anchor here at once in from 12 to 20 fathoms of water. A high bridge has been thrown across the river to Edgecomb, directly above the harbor, which has a draw of 34 feet, through which vessels of 1000 tons pass without difficulty. The surface of the town is of variable altitude, having many gorges, through which flow brooks, or inlets from the sea. The usual variety of forest trees are found in various parts of the town, some of them of old growth ; and old and young are often in naturally picturesque arrangement. The town is about 10 miles in length from north to south, its southern extremity resting on Monsweag Bay. It is bounded on the west by Woolwich and Dresden, on the north by Alna; the island town of Westport, in the river, and beyond, Edgecomb, with the southern part of Newcastle, on the east. A stream, the site of early settlement, crosses the midst of the town to the Sheepscot.
On Monsweag Stream, which forms the dividing line between Wis- casset and Woolwich, are eight water-powers, all of which have been in time past improved, but all, except one, have now been washed away or burned, or are in ruins. On a tidal cove, in the north-eastern part of the town, are the picturesque ruins of a mill and dam. Clarke's Point and Hill beyond are prominent objects. The view from the Hill is extensive and beautiful, embracing numerous hills, forests, dales, foaming streams and shining arms of the sea. The hill was formerly a station of the United States coast survey. South of the village is a picturesque cemetery, and below it a grassy glen succeeded by a lofty hill called Cushman's Mountain, that looks down upon the river and Monsweag Bay. Away to south-west of this hill is Jewonke Neck, full of varied, picturesque scenery, including both sea and shore. The drives either up or down the river, or over the Monsweag road to Woolwich are very pleasing. The village has several fine residences,- one in full view from the cars as they approach from the west being par- ticularly striking and elegant. The village park, shaded by old elms and surrounded by the Congregational church, the court-house, and pleasant residences, is an attractive spot. The Episcopal church and the rectory adjoining, afford a contrast of old and new styles of architecture.
The principal mills in operation are near the village on the south side. They are run by steam-power; and vessels of large size load at the wharves beside them. Of these, the first, on Hobson's Island, pro- duces lumber and box shooks. In connection with it is a grist-mill. The second and more distant mill, is situated on Birch Point, and is
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WISCASSET.
devoted mainly to long and short lumber. The principal other man- ufactures are sails and bricks.
The first settlement of Wiscasset was made by George Davie, who is said to have lived about half a mile north of the point where the jail now stands. He purchased of the Indians a tract of several hundred acres, embracing within its limits the present village of Wis- casset. During the summer of the year mentioned, he with his as- sistants erected several buildings, and made improvements of various kinds, as well as encouraged the location of other settlers. On the breaking out of King Philip's war, in 1675, the people were obliged to flee from their homes ; and for nearly sixty years afterward the town was entirely depopulated. Robert Hooper came in with his family of four persons in 1730, and was thus the pioneer of the re-settlement. He erected his house by the side of a large rock on the eastern side of where Water street now runs. He had brought with him a small stock of cattle, and a number of fruit trees. In 1734, Michael Seavey, Robert Groves, Sheribiah Lambert, and a man by the name of Foye came in from Rye, N. H. Josiah Bradbury, Nathaniel Rundlett, Richard and Benjamin Holbrook, and Colonel Kingsbury arrived about the same time. A few years later, John Young and Messrs. Taylor, Boynton and Chapman settled on Cross River about two miles south of Wiscasset Point, the site of the village. Numbers increased yearly from this time, until in 1740 there was a plantation of 30 families, numbering 150 persons.
On a hill south-west of the village was erected, in 1743, a fortifica- tion, some relics of which are yet to be seen. It is related that in the latter part of September, 1744, a party of 20 Indians arrived before it, in a dense fog, for the purpose of an attack. The only persons in it at the time were two women and a girl, the men being at work in the fields at some distance. A little clearing away of the mist re- vealed to the women their approaching enemies. They quickly barricaded the doors ; and disguising their voices, called to a number of imaginary persons to put the place in a state of defense. The In- dians, believing that there was a large force within the fort, became alarmed and abandoned their design. In the summer of 1745, a man returning from the Seavey farm to the garrison, and while yet about 60 rods distant, from it was shot by an Indian concealed in the forest. Soon after this, two block-houses were built, one on what is now called. Fort Hill, the other on Seavey's Hill. This settle- ment was included, together with Alna, Dresden and Perkins, in the town of Pownalborough, and incorporated in 1760, the name being adopted in honor of Thomas Pownal,-at this date, governor of Mas- sachusetts. It was incorporated under its present name in 1802.
During the Revolution, the British sloop-of-war Rainbow came up the river, and, anchoring in the harbor, laid the town under contribu tion for supplies. The inhabitants were threatened with the halter and the town with destruction unless they complied with the requisi- tions ; and having no defenses, they were obliged to yield up their provisions.
Immediately on the conclusion of peace, an extensive business grew up between Wiscasset and foreign parts; and it was also the chief mart of trade for the home region. These were her palmy days. Most of her inhabitants were more or less interested in navigation,
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and her ships were found on every sea. But the embargo of 1807 on shipping was laid at an unfortunate time, and dealt a destructive blow to her business and prosperity ; and the war of 1812 completed the mischief, so that the town has never to this day retrieved its fallen for. tunes. Should the railroad projected to connect Wiscasset with Quebec by way of Point Levi be built, the commodions harbor and land-locked waters of the Sheepscot must become an entrepot between England and the Canadas, by a shorter route than would be afforded by any other port.
Judges Bailey, Orchard Cook, Hons. J. D. McCrate and Abiel Wood, of this town, have been representatives in Congress ; and Hon. Samuel E. Smith, another citizen, was for three years governor of Maine. Judge Lee, a citizen of the Revolutionary period, and Rev. Dr. Packard, a worthy Congregational minister of the same day, are the subjects of pleasing reminiscence.
Wiscasset has, since the Revolution, been the seat of a custom house for the river and contiguous portions of the sea. The number of vessels now owned in the district is 161, having a tonnage of 9,894 tons. The products of fisheries in this district in 1879 was $366,445. The Knox and Lincoln railroad passes through the town, having a.station at the village, 10 miles from Bath. As Pownalborough and Wiscasset, this has been the shire town of the county since 1794.
The Episcopalians, Congregationalists and Methodists each have a church in the village. Wiscasset has seven public schoolhouses; and these, with other school property, are valued at $4,250. The village has a system of graded schools. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $689,554. In 1880 it was $319,773. The population in 1870 was 1,977. In 1880 it was 1,832.
Woodford's Corner,-a village and post-office in Deer ing, Cumberland County.
Woodland, in Aroostook County, is a new town situated in the third range from the border, and just north of the Aroostook River. It is bounded on the north by New Sweden, east by Caribou, south by Washburn and west by Perham Plantation. The water-courses are Caribou Stream, its West Branch, and the East Branch of Salmon Brook. The surface is rolling but without hills, the highest being about 50 feet and having the name of Bear Mountain. Maple, birch, beech, spruce, fir and cedar abound in the woods. The largest sheet of water is Nelson Lake, having an area of about two acres. Limestone rock un- derlies the whole town, as well as the country about ; but it is not often found sufficiently pure to make good lime. The soil is very fertile. The yield of wheat is usually about 40 bushels to the acre, and of potatoes about 400 bushels. Proportionate quantities of all crops are raised. Agriculture is the almost exclusive occupation of the people. The few frame houses in the town are in good repair, but the log- houses have a decayed look. There is one shingle-mill capable of man- ufacturing about 20,000 shingles per day. A stave-mill here has a capacity of 2,000 staves per day. The nearest railway station is in Caribou, six miles from the centre of Woodland.
This town was incorporated March 5, 1880. It sent about a dozen
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WOODSTOCK.
men into the Union army during the war of the Rebellion, of whom two were lost. Woodland has five public schoolhouses, and the value of the school-property is estimated at $1,000. The population in 1870 was 174. In 1880 it was 679. The valuation in 1880 was $77,539. The rate of taxation was 7} mills on the dollar.
Woodstock lies at the centre of the broad, middle section of Oxford County. Bethel, and Milton and Franklin plantations bound it on the north, Sumner bounds it on the east, Paris and Greenwood bound it on the south and west. A group of not less than 14 high hills occupy the centre, of which are Mount Blue and Perham Moun- tain. In the south-western part are Whitman and Curtis mountains, and in the south-eastern is Molly Ocket Mountain. The Lone Star Gold Mine is situated near the base of a mountain on the north- eastern side of the middle group. Bryant's Pond is a fine sheet of water in the western part of the town, named for an early settler. From its southern extremity issues Little Androscoggin River. In the north-western corner is North Pond; and in the north-eastern part lie Great Concord and Little Concord ponds, the latter two, the the sources of the East Branch of Concord River. South of these just within the border is Shagg Pond. The largest of these beautiful sheets is North Pond, and Bryant's Pond is next, being three miles long by one wide.
All the eminences in the town seem to be composed in the main of granitic rocks. The soil is loamy and fertile, especially in the alluvial lands that skirts the ponds and streams. Potatoes is the chief cul- tivated crop. The scenery of this town is varied and beautiful, and the roads are in general very good. Beech, birch, maple, poplar, spruce and fir deck the hill-sides and valleys inextensive tracts or scattered groups.
The principal village is named Bryant's Pond, and is situated on the pond of that name and on the Grand Trunk railway, on which it is a station. In this town there are four saw-mills, one sash and door factory, one grist-mill, and the others smaller and usually found in villages. The Lone Star Mine Co., operating for gold and silver at the point before mentioned, is a corporation of this town.
Woodstock comprises two half townships, one of which was granted by Massachusetts, June 14, 1800, to Dummer Academy, and the other on February 7, 1807, to Gorham Academy. It was incorporated Feb. 7, 1815. Hamlin's Grant, a gore of 1,270 acres, granted to Cyrus Hamlin in 1816, was annexed to Woodstock in 1872. The first set- tlement was made in 1798, by Christopher and Solomon Bryant, sons of Solomon Bryant of Paris. Settlements were begun in other parts of the town soon after. Lemuel Perham, an early settler, was the grandfather of ex-Governor Perham, who was born in this town, and in his youth cultivated one of these hill-side farms.
The religious societies in the town are the Methodist, Baptist and Universalist. Of the first there are three; of the second two. There are four church edifices. The public schoohouses of Woodstock num- bor'eleven, and are valued at $2,000. The population in 1870 was 995. In 1880 it was 952. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $204,907. In 1880 it was $196,035. The rate of taxation in the latter year was 36 mills on the dollar.
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Woodville,-a post-office in Penobscot County.
Woodville Plantation, in Penobscot County, lies at the south-western angle of Aroostook County, on the west bank of Penobscot River. It is bounded on the north by Medway, east by Mattawamkeag and south by Chester. The principal streams in the town are Pattagumpus, emptying into the Penobscot at the northern part of the township, and the East Branch of the Ebhops Stream in the south. The county road from Lincoln Centre to Medway passes through the midst of the town, and the principal settlements are on this road.
This was formerly Indian township No. 2, but was organized as a plantation under its present name in 1854. It has two public school- houses, valued at $150. The valuation in 1870 was $30,196. In 1880 it was $31,937. The population in 1870 was 293. In 1880 it was 223.
Woolwich is situated in the eastern part of Sagadahoc County, adjoining Lincoln County, whose towns of Westport and Wiscasset bound it on the east, and Dresden on the north. It is separated from Bath by the Kennebec River, from Arrowsic and Georgetown by Back River and Monsweag Bay, and by Monsweag River from Wiscasset on the east. The extreme length of the town from north to south is about 8} miles, and the width from east to west is near 5} miles. The area is 20,000 acres. The surface is much broken by low hills and projecting ledges, but has no great extent of low or marshy land. The soil is well adapted to the growth of every kind of produce for which the state is noted. Originally there was a heavy growth of timber in the town. The trees common to the region flourish, especially the oak. Nequasset Pond, situated a little south of the centre of the town, is a beautiful sheet of water. Its length is about two miles, and its width varies from half to three-fourths of a mile. Its principal feeder, coming down from Dresden at the north, is marked by a line of low hills; as is also its outlet, which runs southward, discharging into Back River. A considerable bay makes up into the southern part of Woolwich at each side. At the extremity of the point between is Hockomock Head, a high bluff with precipitous walls of rock, -- which has a legend. During the Indian wars some Indians who had been committing depredations in Wiscasset were pursued, and one-said to have been a chief-was closely followed up this narrow bluff to its precipitous front. Discharging his gun, he flung it from him, cried "Hockomock ! Hockomock !" and leaped down into the water. Thus runs the legend. In confirmation of it, there was found a few years since in a crevice of the rocks near the top, a gun, silver mounted, and evidently of French workmanship, but so decayed as almost to fall in pieces at the touch. Eastward of Hockomock is Phips' Neck, forming the south-eastern portion of the town. Near the point a bridge connects with Westport across a narrow part of the bay.
Woolwich has four small villages,-one, Montsweag post-office on the falls of the stream bearing that name ; Nequosset railroad station on the outlet of Nequosset Pond; Woolwich at the lower ferry, post- office and railroad station, and Woolwich village at the upper ferry,
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opposite the upper end of the city proper of Bath. The manufactures are at Nequosset and Montsweag, and consist of lumber, bricks and leather. There is also a grist-mill on a branch of the Montsweag in the north-eastern part of the town.
The early name of Woolwich was Nequasset, from the Indian name of the pond. John Bateman and Edward Brown were the first settlers. They became resident in 1638, and the next year purchased from Robin Hood, an Indian chief, most of the territory now comprised by Woolwich. Messrs. Smith, Cole, Phips and White came in very soon after. Subsequently a portion of this tract was claimed by Thomas Clark and Thomas Lake, and by settlers under them, by whom mills were erected about 1658. The settlement of Bateman and Brown was made under the grant to John Mason of 10,000 acres of land on the east side of the Sagadahoc. The peninsula at the south-east part of the town (Phips' Neck) was owned and occupied by James Phips (or Phippes), where was born in 1651, the son, afterward dis- tinguished as Sir William Phips, and who in 1692, was made royal governor of Massachusetts and Maine. Direct tradition points out the place on this neck where young Phips built the vessel which in 1676, conveyed the settlers of the region out of the reach of the murderous savages. The fort of the Indian trader, Hammond, destroyed by the Indians in August, 1676, is said to have been in this town.
The Rev. Josiah Winship, a graduate of Harvard, was the first minister settled in Woolwich. He was ordained here in 1765, when there were only about twenty families and two framed houses in the town. He was the first Congregational paster ordained over a church in Kennebec valley. There is a still a flourishing church of this deno- mination here ; and its pastor is Rev. Henry O. Thayer, the historian of the region. The Baptists, Free Baptists and Methodists also have each a church in the town. Woolwich has seven public schoolhouses, and the total school property has a value of $3,400. The valuation of estates in 1870 was $597,650. In 1880 it was $532,639. The popu- lation in 1870 was 1,168. In 1880. it was 1,154.
Wytopitlock .- a post-office and railroad station on the European and North American Railway, in Reed plantation, Aroostook County.
Yarmouth is a seaport town on Casco Bay, and is situated near the middle of the sea-coast line of Cumberland County. The stations of the Grand Trunk and Maine Central railroads, near the middle of the town, are about 11 miles from Portland. The two roads form a junction about half a mile from the village. In the area of land, this is the smallest town in the county, except, possibly, Deering. It is nearly square in form, and is divided through the midst by Royal's River. Cousin's River separates it from Freeport on the north-east, and the latter with Pownal bound it on the east, North Yarmouth on the north, Cumberland on the west and Casco Bay on the south. In- cluded in the corporation are also Cousin's Island, Lane's Island, Great and Little Moges, Little John's and Crab islands. The first island is the largest, having a fish-oil factory, a schoolhouse, and fifteen or twen- ty families. Little John's Island has four dwellings, and Great Moges, one. The surface of the town is not greatly variable in its elevation.
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