The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1915-05-20
The Village of Gems.

Pearls, Amethysts, Garnets, Topaz, Beryls,
Tourmalines are Found In Profusion In
Maine Town Named Norway.
(By A. H. Verrill in Motor Print.)
Each season an increasing number of
motorists follow the way of the Ideal
Tour through New England. Some take
the tour because it is fashionable; others
because the roads are good; others mere
ly to make record" and to boast laterto
their daily mileage; while agoodly number
are in search of attractive landscapes,
fresh air, new scenes and new interests.
That in following the Ideal Tour they
find this cannot be denied and yet, In
touring to Portland and hence through
Poland Spring to Breton Woods or back
wards, they miss some of the most thrill
ling scenery and most interesting por-
tions of Maine and New Hampshire.
Few indeed are the tourists who realize
when they leave Poland Springs and turn
westward towards the White Mountains,
that they pass within twenty miles of
the most unique industry and most in
teresting natural resources of New Eng
land-the gem mines of Maine.
1t is probably no exaggeration to state
that not one person :. in ten thousand
knows that the Pine Tree State produces
gems and it is doubtful if one in one hum
dred thousand realize that Maine stands
first in its wealth of precious stones
among all the States, or that in its va
riety of e Ems it eXcels any locality in the
world.
Mines of any sort are interesting. and
gems or precious stones are invariably
attractive, and the tourists who visit the
gem-producing district of Maine will find
it the most fascinating feature of their
trip.
The gem mines of Maine are mostly
near the village of Norway and this little
hamlet has become such center of the
gem industry that it may we'll be called
the Village of Gems.
MAIN ROADS REACH NORWAY.
Norway is not an out-of- theworld viii
lage, for it is reached by excellent roads
(for Maine and there are two principal
routes which may be followed from Port
land. Moreover by turning aside at Port
land and visiting the Village of Gems
one is not going out of ones way nor is
the traveller obliged to retrace his tracks
and return to Portland to resume the
Ideal Tour. Instead, the tour may be
continued by another route which leads
through scenery far wilder and more at
tractive than can be found along the
Ideal Tour and which brings the traveller
into the heart of the White Mountains
through it's magnificent northern gate
way, the Pinkham Notch
There are two principal routes which
may be followed to Norway from Port
land. The first leads through Westbrook
to Sebago Lake and Naples to Bridgton,
Harrison and thence to Norway. This is
most beautiful and attractive trip and
for miles the excellent roads skirt the
shores of lovely Lake Sebago, affording
glimpses of whispering pine groves, roll
ling green pasture Lands, sparkling blue
water and distant mountains. From
Naples to Harrison the road follows the
shore of Long Lake, which for beauty
is rival of Sebago, and then wind
ing through hills and valleys among
resinous forests of pine, groves
of snowy birches and dark cedar
swamps it comes forth at the edge of
smiling Pennesseewassee Pond with Nor
way at its foot.
The second route leads through Poland
Spring by the Ideal Tour road; and
thence through Welchville to Norway,
and while this road is better than the
first the scenery is by no means as at
tractive. If the traveller desires, he
may follow the Ideal Tour through Po-
land Spring and Naples to Bridgton and
here turn north to Harrison and Norway,
a route which combines excellent high
ways with splendid scenery and is only
inferior to the first route mentioned in
asmuch as Sebago Lake is omitted.
Beyond Norway the road to Greenwood
should be taken. This leads for several
r,iloS a1onfr he o6o1 Of
wassee Pond, a beautiful sheet of water
surrounded by forest-clad hills, rolling
pastures and groves of spruce and balsam
fir and with the hazy outlines of Mts.
Washington and Kearsarge, soft and
phantasmal as wraiths upon the western
horizon. From Greenwood, now mere
crossroad, but once thriving and pros
porous town, oignifed by the name of
Greenwood City, the road leads onward
through glorious mountain scenery to
Locke Mills and thence to Bethel. Here
the road meets the Androscoggin River
and follows the winding, silvery stream
through valley and defile to Gorham, N.
H. Approaching the White Mountains
by this route the scenery is ineXpressibly
grand and picturesque At each turn
and twist of the road between the for
ested hills one catches glimpses of the
mountains ahead, each view revealing
new aspects and additional peaks until at
Gorham the tourist passes between the
precipitous sides of Mt. Surprise and
Pine Mountain and turning to the left
finds himself upon the main road that
leads southwark through Pinkham Notch
to Jackson, Bartlett and North Conway
via the famous glen and passing close to
Glen Ellis Falls and the carriage road to
fhok- Cf