New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-02-25
"'WAY DOWN IN MA1NE.'
ANCIENT ROMANCE AND MODERN INTER-
EST ON THE PICTURESQUE
SHEEPSCOT.
x,r,,op,rs or ARNOLD. BURR ADAMS. TALLEY
RAND AND wEBsTER-TIIE HoPED-foh i1-
,-.,ee,>,c1, ot, ANCIENT WISCASSET


NAIssANCE OF ANCIENT wIscAsSET
Wiscasset. Maine Feb. 2l.-The glamour Oh rny'"
romance and history richly invests all the Mann
coast. Popham, Damariscove' boo'hpas ~ 80
Pemaouid and Monhegan have become the Mecca -
= constan,lv increasing number of historians mover
lists and summer pilgrims. Perhaps less we"-h"O.,
than some Of these places but certahS NV 80
interesting is the old town or Wlscasse' On 49,
Sheepscot River Lying between the hfout" -,
Kennebec River on the west-over which -,
Light and Fort Popham stand guard-ahu noo,'
-, uarbor on the east with Pemaqud foih' anu
Jonheean Island beyond. is the broad Day u -,
Sheepscot studded the immediate east me-
ands whose names become each year i ,1,,,so
- the many visitors to the coast OF Name a. t,s
Squirrel and Capitol Islands; Sou'hpoi.' poston
,aroous Cane Nevagen, and further nor'n 49,
Island Savers and Barters islanos' an, los
Isle of Springs. On the west OF inc 81 h,rns Of
the little group of five islands, the russ 49, long
IIockamock ripe with Indian leseh's, an" ronun as
,arrou, island of Westport. formerly h"o" ,v,
I.o,tso,on extending from the narrowSS d varied
cessn, nearly down 10 the sea tpo ic az have
shores of the Sheepscot end charm Every quiet
inlet has history eyery i treasire Here is the
,omS Of an early settler there an olI LESS with
sort McCarthys. Towleis t Rmm Cove. the In
di VerrIl's Ledges-all these places n1 ha,ond
tories long for the 5Tn If its remarkable har
Dor is the beautiful, aristoeratc' unio' '"""'''
teresing old town OF Wiscassett runs in this wise
q sbe representatves of the original Kennenec
M 'Sast side of the Kennebec River In I,o r mu,
Der OF Germans. and with theh ~ the Edct of
Nantes went Germany arrived IN Bos.on; , as
Germans. with their trench-GeFfHah nne Kindred
acres Of land free to each family 70 drness
n boD of Of sfi the German ri ne city they
i ni called their plantation Frankfort Here s ihay
ersc' ibe lOT pasade Of which stood old court
house. The plantation bounced on nr ne now COW
sreS by the towns Of Dresden Ana Perkins and
Wscasset and it throve as vel as sucm n c6niend
against The last official act of Governor n%id1 :;
Pownall-whom Charles sumner mes IN and ablest Gov
ernors of Massachusetts, and the IeaS, leo h act
haps,was to approve, on eeersI court Of Massa-
chnsetts made of Frankfort Plantation the town OF
sgmv befTended the struggling settle
ment Lincoln County of when t9 ,d oG IN o ia
snd Was named from the city of Lincoln England
the birthplace and home of Governor PownaN.
A FAMOUS COURTHOUSE.
The Pownalborough courthouse, erected III i'Oi'
Is still standing in what is now the town OF Dies
don If is a square wooden house two and half
stories in height, with heavy tmbers proao' sha'
,ov stairs bullet-ma rked walls and huge frepiaces'
and il is a well-preserved, valued relic OF oiueh
DAYS Many events have conspred 10 mare ''''
old house famous II is claimed that 'he MS. Ep'
copa services in the State or Name were hoiu HV'
nv the Rev. Jacob Bailey who was graduated from
Harvard College in l55, and was c.assma'e Oh 'o'
Adams In 1860 the story is told-BaIey went
TO London received holy orders, dined Win 'ne
Bishop of London. and called upon be"Jan'n
Franklin Of whom he remarked that ne ""D
passed away the flower Of his youth III TOO many
extrayagances" In the Revolutionary days De
causa ~ his firm adherence to the royal cause Mr..
BAILEY was Obliged 10 flee from Pownaboroush' ne
vent to Nova Scotia IN 1919 and served as rector Oh
St Luke's parish in Annapolis Tor twenty INV
years. Taeyrand when upon v nbt 10 Al the old
courthouse on his way from Wiscasset 70 riaa.o -
sSat T Tan ai Was accompanied ~ young
Frenchman supposed to De the yGuns hSa here i,
leans, afterward King Louis fhhppe' 'u' '"e'0
Stories manifold might be told OF old PownanDpr
oueh days but of special interest is the foilowihs
ssle in Which history and romance are BLENDED
letter to GongTes 5aS Sa'e Setsebed Colonel Ar
mold with a thousand men, 10 penetrate Cahaud Wy Ny
rom 9! on September 49, @
rsSt day reached the mouth OF me
troceeded up the river and. according TO tradition
anchored opposite Do the
Rev samuel spTng its eha2s 1&t a aso Henry
Dearborn afterpard General Dearborn, OF ChicasS
FAM, and the brilliant unprincp.ed aaron pun ~.
Kennebec tribe of Indians and the home OF tneii
chief Kennels. Tradition says that on nm -
dillon Burr married after the Indian iasnion Ono
FrancoIndan maiden. Jacata9ua whom M NJ e onG
alluded to toast as the Queen or Ply, tne hi
the convent in 9ueoec wnsre horn ana later IN
mother followed Burr to Long Island, and browne
herself in Hell Gate after his downia.I. nc u5us
ncated there she married well. and removed u
New York with her husband afterward sie D'C o,r
paraIyzed despised politically dead after his Que
with Hamilton was teniery oarea l,ndan 0 made
of Swan Island This story Is iai1 10 d g
thor!ty OF General Dearborn, VINO INeu III "aIu''e
of. he
Jobn Adams then young attorney thirty year
of age. visited Pownalborough in r65-thrty-tw
Years before he became second president OF IN
United States. To quote his own words, 20 c mi
zson and was Win the greatest dsgl,y tina
able 10 resch IT, Besides Jae0e Tesed Il
Pownalborough- Bridge. the Puritan "n no,
w s,ssoe vel known in the early days Of the Inde
pendence In his nineteth year the venerable Sc
G o Jp phhfsd hTg asa ~ y h age and nrm
Adams compared himself to an old tenement, mouse
ehn @ the the "a landlord does not put
Bridge Bowman. Gardiner. Gushing. Rice. Bailey
Williamson. Young Holbrook, Payson Lee. 81,
berongb and Of wider fame are yet to be foun
among The people VINO MAKE up 1nf n ditIed
THE GENESIS or WISCAssET.
In 1902 the southernmos; portion of Pownalbor
ourb long known as Wscas5et Point, was set o.
from the original town, and Wlscassets own histor
beean. As early as 1913 Wiscassei had become tn
centre Of an extensive ana lucrative lumber trad'
and in 1890 was the most easter.y postoihce in u
country the mail being brought from Portan
twice a week on horseback In 1913 the popuiato
numbered about 1900 and thirty square-risged YES
cole were owned here. .Wiscasset has seen man
vicssiiudes in its long history Great wealth ma
abounded within It's borders and in turn circun
stances have arisen more than once when cause
that wealth to take unto Itself wings. The ole
est inhabitants love to tell OF the towns great con
al m
nations Law AZ Ats wharves And 1t is true that a
about the beginning Of the present century Wisca'
set was the most mportan. seaport In me star
Great cargoes of rum and molasses were unoade
here from vessels engaged In the European an
West Indian trade and reshpped to other parts {