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

246    GAZETTEER    OF    MAINE.

its south-west corner, when the dividing line between Maine and New
Hampshire was run; and a tract was subsequently annexed to the
north part, and another on the south—the latter taken from Brownfield.
That on the north was known as Fryeburg Addition. It included tbe
valley of Cold River, and in 1833 was set off and incorporated as
Stowe. The extreme length of the town, north and south, is 12 miles,
and the extreme width, east and west, about 7 miles. The surface is
much varied with hills, plains, ponds and streams. The Saco River
forms in the town an immense bow with its curve toward the north,
absorbing 31 miles of its length. There is a connection with the sides
of this bow through the middle of the town by means of a canal, pond
and bog. The river receives the outlets of four large ponds and seve-
ral small ones, lying wholly or partially within the town. Of these,
the largest are Lovell’s (area, 2 square miles), Kezar and Kimball
ponds, the first in the southern, the second in the eastern, and the
latter in tbe north-western part of the town. Other ponds bear tbe
names of Pleasant, Bog, Charles, Clay, Horseshoe, Cat, Round, Black,
Haley and Davis. Kezar River is a considerable stream that comes
in on the north-east—the outlet of ponds in Waterford and Sweden.
Bog Pond lies in the centre of the town ; and between the south-eastern
part and Saco River stands the solitary “ Mount Zion.” Between
the head of Lovell Pond and Saco River, on the west, lies Fryeburg
Village; and on the river, west of the village, is Pine Hill. The Port-
land and Ogdensburg Railroad approaches the village from the south-
east and turns aw^ay toward tbe south-west, passing between a southern
bend of the Saco and Stark’s Hill on the south. Stark’s Hill is 500
feet in height, and is succeeded southward by Long Hill and Bald
Peak. Three-fourths of a mile north-east of the village is Jockey Cap
cliff, and a mile and a half north of this, on the eastern bank of the
west side of the Saco bow, is Martha’s Grove Camp Ground. In the
western part of the town, on the south-eastern shore of Kimball’s Pond,
is Birch Hill. On the north end of Lovell’s Pond, on the eastern side,
comes in Fight Brook, upon the meadow, at the mouth of which oc-
curred the famous Lovewell’s Fight, from which the pond and brook
take their names. North Fryeburg and Fryeburg Centre are small
villagesj and these, with Fryeburg Village (Fryeburg post-office), and
East Fryeburg, are the post-offices. The principal water-powers of
this town are on Kezar River, Ballard and Evans brooks, and at
the beautiful Swan’s Falls on the Saco River, within a mile of
Fryeburg Village. The manufactures of the town consist of leather,
harnesses, carriages, lumber in its various forms, tinware, cheese,
canned vegetables, etc. There are four water-mills and two steam-
mills.

The Fryeburg intervals are noted for their richness and beauty,
containing nearly 10,000 acres which are frequently overflowed and
fertilized by the Saco. There is the usual variety of trees, with large
tracts of pine and oak. Fryeburg, the principal centre of business in
the town, is a pretty village on a broad level plain, slightly elevated
above the intervals of the Saco. Many from the cities every summer
find rest in its pleasant hotels and boarding-houses. The views to the
west are very mountainous.

This town is celebrated for the fight to which allusion has already
been made. Capt. John Love well, the son of an ensign in Cromwell’s