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

168    GAZETTEER    OF MAINE.

tative from 1845 to 1849. William Abbot, who settled in the town
in 1801, was a sound, able and honorable lawyer.. Dr. Joseph L.
Stevens was for many years the leading physician and a valued citizen.
Dr. G. A. Wheeler, author of the excellent history of Castine, has suc-
ceeded to his practice. Others highly esteemed are C. J. Abbot, Esq.,
Deacon Samuel Adams, William Witherle, a well-known merchant.
The town furnished 106 soldiers and 19 sailors for the Union in the
war of the Rebellion, of whom 18 soldiers were lost.

Rev. William Mason, the first minister of Castine, was ordained as
a Congregationalist, but became Unitarian ; and Castine has now one
of the two Unitarian churches in the county. There are now also
Congregationalist (Trinitarian) and Methodist churches in the village.
The church-edifices are fine buildings. A State Normal School was
opened here in 1873, with accommodations for 200 pupils. It is well
patronized. The schools of the village are graded, and a high-school
is sustained. The town has six schoolhouses, and the school property
is valued at $10,000. The valuation of real estates in 1870 was $461,-
343. In 1880 it was $362,754. The rate of taxation in the latter
year was $2.14 to $1,000. The population in 1870 was 1,303. In 1880
it was 1,215.

Castle Hill Plantation is situated near the middle of the
eastern part of Aroostook County, 55 miles north-west of Houlton.
It is on the stage-line from Presque Isle to Ashland. Its boundaries
are Wade Plantation on the north, Mapleton on the east, and Sheridan
Plantation on the west. On the south is the township containing
Haystack Mountain and Squawpan Lake. The township is without
high hills and large ponds. The highest land is near the middle of the
southern side. The surface is well drained ; the Aroostook River run-
ning eastward through the north-western part, receiving within the
town Well’s Brook and several other streams from the south. Sawyer
and Libby brooks empty into Presque Isle Stream, in the southern
part of Mapleton, and others drain the southern and eastern parts.

The Universalists and the Baptists have societies in the town, and
sustain ministers a portion of the time. The plantation has six public
schoolhouses ; and the total school property is valued at $2,500. There
are six lots reserved for school and other public purposes. The valu-
ation in 1870 was $20,053. In 1880 it was $27,636. The population
in 1870 was 237. In 1880 it was 419.

CaSWell Plantation lies at the north-eastern angle of Aroos-
took Connty and of Maine, having New Brunswick for its eastern
boundary. The eastern line of tbe town is but two or three miles distant
from Grand Falls, on the St. John, from which point a railroad is pro-
jected to pass through the plantation to Caribou. The surface of the
township is very level, with a few very small ponds. The soil is a
deep reddish loam. Wheat, buckwheat, oats and potatoes yield well.
Maple, birch, spruce and fir constitute the bulk of the forests. The
Plantation has a saw-mill manufacturing 2,000 feet of long lumber a
day.

This plantation was organized in 1878 as Pleasant Ridge Plan-
tation. In 1879 it was reorganized as Caswell Plantation, but it appears
on tbe maps under the former name. There is a Christian society in