The Portland daily press., 1893-10-02

village, with mill. and several. fine
houses. Drawing rein, one of our party
| addressed citizen: "We admire your
village much; but are puzzled to know
why it is called Purgatory.n
oh" said the. citizen, "Purgatory is
called Litchfield."
Certain it is that in all the country
around the name Purgatory prevails, and
the ancient maps of Kennebec county
! give the same name to beautiful pond
near by.
In this village our attention was par
/ ticularly attracted to an Octagonal house.
This house was in reality large man
sion, with eight equal sides and eight
equal slopes to the roof The feminine
portion of our party expressed a great
desire to know how the rooms of this
old house could be arranged; but this
desire could not be gratified. On our
return journey we saw in the village. OF,
Oakland another, although smaller,
| octagonal dwelling.
1t is quite possible that these houses
may have been modelled after the famous
Taylor mansion in Washington, long the
resort of fashion and the abiding place
of President Madison after the White
House was burned in 1874 There was at
one time quite movement in favor OF
| octagonal houses, one of the arguments
being that the plan made great economy
of room.
| The route from Purgatory to Augusta
is through West Gardiner, Farmingdale
and Hallowell, a pretty farming country
| Hallowell is a beautiful "Reminiscences.
Once, in the old steam boat days, before
the railroads, it was the head of naviga-
| ton on the Kennebec and the most inn
portant place in the county. Its solid
mansions, built in that day but many OF
them still kept in elegance the HalloW-
nell House, fine old structure of brick,
now closed, tell what HallowwelI was in
| it's prime The bank of the Kennebec
rises rapidly and and high, enabling the
| streets and houses to be built on success
! i've terraces, from which most charming
views of the river are to be obtained. :,
! At Augusta we remain over night, and
ourselves in the morning with resources
| sufficient to continue the journey.
| Augusta is both beautiful and enterprls-
| ing, and certainly the second city OF
Maine in general interest.
| The road to Unity, about thirty miles
away, leads by the eyer- to- be-remem bered
| lake of China. For miles the road over.
| looks one of the most charming bodies OF
water in the world. :.
| In this region one begins to hear talk
of the new railroad, which is projected to
run through from Wiscasset to Burnham;
| George Crosby, Esq, Of Albion, and
Hon. Crosby Fowler. of Unity, represent
| this portion of the line on the board of
| directors, and from them it is learned
| that the preliminary surveys are being
| made
At Unity we visit Lake Winnecook,
| the farthest eastern point OF our journey.
Winnecook
=. ~. 49, II, . J,,o,,+if,,I BOG Of Mama.
and a local company have laid out on it's
most convenient and picturesque shore
a resort which is called Windemere. 1t
/ is already popular place for parties in
that portion of the State, and its pro-
| jectors expect that large colony of
cottagers will be located here perma-,
nently in few years. The small but
neat hotel is kept by Mr.. John A. Van
deets, who always, when he sees Port
land people inquiries affectionately for
General Fessenden. Mr.. Vandeets is a
native of the Cellibees Islands, but of
Dutch descent. He was boy in his
teens when our war was going on, so
light that the recruiting officers would
not take him. He relates that he finally
found friend in Col. Fessenden, who
permitted him to enlist.
From Winnecook we turn our faces
| homeward, HAVING decided that our route
shall be by way of the Sebasticook and
MaranocoOk.
A drive of two or three miles brings us
| to Unity..Plantation where the object of
present interest is gold mine, which
Fairfield syndicate is developing. They
| are proceeding in a conservative way to
ascertain if. the gold exists in paying
| quantities. The ore is found in a'quartz
I vein which comes up through slaty
| ledge. The mine is creating much interest
| in the region.
A drive of five miles from the gold
| mine leads to the village of Benton Falls,
on the Sebasticook OF old portion of
Clinton, Benton Falls has under all
names preserved its character as one of
| the most beautiful villages in Maine.
| Streets shaded by fine elms and naples,
| high hillsides overlooking smooth in
tervales through which the silvery river
makes it's way, and a height above the
village commanding wide and noun
famous horizon, are the characteristics
of this hamlet. In the old days it was
Sebasticook, and the distributing point
of merchandise sthus bought up from
Bath or Augusta. The river, too,
swarmed With. herring, and it was said
| that Sebasticook man eating herring
resem bled boy playing jewsharp, as
| he fed the fish into one side of his mouth
with one hand and rapidly pushed the
bones out the other side with the other
hand.
| The fiatboats and the herring are gone,
and the railroads have raised up other
emporiums in this region. Few of the
present generation remember the old
| days, but William K, Lunt, Esq, whose
store has been landmark heresfor fifty
years, remem bers. well the fat-boat cap
tains, considered in their time accom-
plished sailors.
Space is lacking to describe the beau
| ties of the return through Waterville,
Oakland, Belgrade, Read6eld, Winthrop,
| Monmouth, Wales, Webster, Lisbon and
| SO on to Portland The drive of ninety
miles may be made quite comfortably in
| two days. This route takes one through
| the lake portion of Kennebec county, a
region the beauties of which are slowly
becoming appreciated by. others than
those who live there. In the fifty miles
from the Sebasticook to the Androscog-
gin at Lisbon, the xroad passes by pond
| after pond, and lake after lake. Belgrade
| is largely devoted to lakes; and Winthrop