Gazetteer of the State of Maine With Numerous Illustrations, by Geo. J. Varney

BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY B. B. RUSSELL, 57 CORNHILL. 1882. Public domain image from

CHESTERVILLE.    173

The first meeting-house was built on the east side of the river, near the
Campbell mill. Cherryfield Academy was incorporated in 1829, and
the present Academy building was erected in 1850. Union Hall, in
this building, is a credit to the town. The Academy has done much
good work, but it has now an excellent substitute in Cherryfield High
School. The town has ten public schoolhouses. The entire school
property is valued at $5,800. The valuation of estates in 1870 was
$484,488. In 1880 it was $404,576. The population in 1870 was
1,764. In 1880 it was 1,743.

Chester is situated on the west bank of the Penobscot River>
near the middle of Penobscot County, and 56 miles N.N.E. of Bangor*
The town is triangular in form, its base extending about 10 miles along
the river. Opposite, on the eastern side of the river, are Winn and
Lincoln,—the latter having a station of the European and North Ameri-
can Railway. Other sides are hounded by unnamed townships.
Katahdin Horseback, about 200 feet in height, is the most notable
eminence. A large stream runs through this, cutting a notch down to
its base. The principal streams are Medunkeunk and Eber Horse
Stream, tbe latter a tributary of the first. Medunkeunk has a pretty
cataract of 12 feet, and both streams afford water-powers which have
been improved, in time past, by several mills. The underlying rock
is slate. The soil is a clayey loam, and quite fertile. Potatoes are the
crop chiefly cultivated. The forests are composed mainly of poplar
and white birch. Along some of the highways grow rock maple, elm
and English willow, from a dozen to forty years old.

Chester was incorporated in 1834. It has nine residents who are
above eighty years of age. Of former residents, Samuel and Samuel

H. Chesley, David Bunker and Friend Brown have been highly
esteemed by their fellow-citizens. The towm sent 32 men to aid the
Union against the rebels,—of whom 11 were lost. The religious denom-
inations of the town are Baptist and Free Baptist. Chester has six
public schoolhouses, valued, with other school property, at $600. The
value of estates in 1870 was given in the State report as $47,103. In
1880 it was $42,760. The rate of taxation in the latter year was 21
mills on the dollar. The population in 1870 was 350. In 1880 it
was 362.

Chesterville, the south-eastern town of Franklin County,
is bounded north by Farmington, east by New Sharon, west by Jay,
and south by Fayette, in Kennebec County. The town is about 8
miles long, and nearly 6 in width at the northern end,—the area being
about 19,000 acres. In the centre of the town the land is mostly flat
and low. There is considerable swamp and bog as well as meadow
land. The hills are generally stony, and lie at each end of the town.
Moose Hill, in the south-west corner of the town, is about 800 feet
above sea-level, but its highest point is in East Livermore. A spur of
Blabon Hill is supposed to be tbe highest land in Chesterville. It is
composed almost wholly of granite, large quantities of which are
annually quarried and wrought, into building material. Another emi-
nence called “The Bluff” lies near Sand Pond, and is an almost per-
pendicular ledge, being about 100 feet high and 30 rods long. There is