The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1913-04-24
CHAPTER w. (18O5.)

CHAPTER Nv. $685.
For several years before 1905 the cows
had been laying out streets in different
directions through the village, but up to
that time only one of them had been for
mally accepted by their owners, namely,
Market street; the street, leading! from
Main street near the house of Mr.. Alden
D. Chase, passing the Phenix House and
down the hill to Puddle Dock. Its name
was derived, probably, from the fact
that it led to parcel of land in that To-
cality which was granted to the town for
the purpose of market: it was located
by the cows belonging to the people of
that neighborhood, probably, who in
making the location did not overlook the
fine spring that gushed from its side
near the foot of the hill.
There were but two roads passing
through the village; the road leading
from Little River to the Narrows,
portion of which had been laid out and
accepted as High street, and the road
leading from Sandy Beach to Greene
Plantation and thence to Davistown,
portion of which had been laid out and
accepted as Main street. They'were the
same roads now known as the Northport
and Belmont roads, save that the in
Vulnerable !"kinks" in them have been
taken out from time to time, and the
decidedly crooked made comparatively
straight.
For illustration take portion of the
Belmont road; it ran very nearly on Its
present course from the village until it
reached Hemlock Hill, where Mr.. John
Whitmore now lives; the hill derived its
name from the immense growth of hem
locks upon it. At the foot of the hill
the road diverged to the south and wound
around portion of the southern base of
hayford's Hill, then changing to a
northerly course crossed the road as
now travelled not far from the school
house. and thence winding around the
northerly portion of the hill returned
to the road as now travelled not far
from the place occupied by the late Ben
jamin Monroe. That such a circuitous
route was ever adopted, seems, at first
blush, inexplicable. The explanation is
this: the earliest settlers came in adj
vance of roads, they selected their loca-
lions according to their fancy, and built
their log houses and novels; roads fol-
lowed them. That was the golden age
when every man claimed the right to
have a road to his own barn door, a right
readily conceded, without any great
sacrifice on the part of the public, for
the construction of road involved no
expenditure of money or labor beyond
Telling the trees on narrow strip
through the forest, grubbing up the
largest stumps, and building here and
there in low swampy localities grid
iron BRIDGE; such bridge consisting
simply Of logs of suitable length laid
across the road; the size of them was a
secondary consideration. Beyond the
point now known as Belmont Corner,
the roads were but little more than
''bushed out" passable in the summer
for travellers on foot or horseback only,
but in the winter, after snow fell, for
slelghs-pungs, rather-and sleds.
On the easterly side of the river there
was a road from Halfway. creek, the
former dividing line between Belfast
and Prospect, extending as far west
wardly as the Wescott Stream, passing
Fish Cove on the way, the greater por-
tion of which came up to the statute re-
quirements; that is it was "safe and con-
venient for travellers" That the road
on the eastern side was in a more ad-
vanced stage than those on the western
will not seem strange when it is remem-
bered that it was on that side that the
large majority of the early settlers To-
Gated and made Improvements; there, in
their judgment, was the site of the city
then in embryo. Travellers from this
place to Bangor, as late as 1877. went
over this road as the most eligible route,
crossing the Ferry at Bucksport and
thence to Bangor on the eastern bank
of the Penobscot.
Having given the termini, as anciently
designated, of the two roads passing thro'
this village, it may not be amiss to add
few words in the way of Interpretation
or definition. Greene Plantation was the
name by which the territory embracing
the towns of Belmont, Morrill, and Sears
mont was known; Davistown is now
Montville. The Narrows was the name
by which the locality where the Upper
Bridge now crosses the river was known;
the first bridge was built there in 1901.
Sandy Beach is the low fiat of land at
the foot of Main street where the Rail-
road depots and buildings stand; known
at later date as Puddle Dock.
At the date of which we are now treat
ing there were several buildings on the
westerly side of the Beach. At the foot
of the hill, on Market street, stood and
still stands the Washington Webster
house; next to that small building con-