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

402    GAZETTEER    OF MAINE.

without much unevenness. Walnut Hill, in the western part of the
town, is the greatest elevation, and Little Walnut, about a mile to the
east, is the next in height. The village called Walnut Hill begins
between them, extending southward. Royals River runs through the
town nearly north and south. On the eastern side of tbe river the
Grand Trunk Railway and on the west the Maine Central Railway
cross the town in the same general direction. The latter has a station
at Walnut Hill, where is the largest collection of houses in town; and
the Grand Trunk has a station at East-North Yarmouth, whence stages
run daily to Pownall and Durham.

The principal manufactures of the town are lumber, carriages, flour
and meal. The land is of good quality, and agriculture is the almost
exclusive business of the people. The region of Royal’s River was
called Wescustego by the Indians, this being also their name for the
river itself. The territory of the present town was included in a grant
made to Joseph Phippon and others in 1680, which extended from the
sea five miles up the river, and seven and a half miles on each side.
In the same year, the waste land between this grant and Falmouth,
and also Damariseove Island, were included in the act of incorporation
under the name of North Yarmouth. A large part of Harpswell Neck
with Mare Point and intervening land was held to be within the cor-
porated limits many years. Four towns have since been taken
from this territory, viz. : Freeport in 1789, Pownal in 1808, Cumber-
land in 1821, and Yarmouth in 1849. John Mare, mentioned as an
early settler of North Yarmouth, located on the point which has since
borne his name, now included in Brunswick. William Royal came
over from England about 1630, and in 1643 purchased of Gorges a
tract on the Wescustego River, subsequently called Royal’s River.
The history of Yarmouth includes that of North Yarmouth until the
separation in 1849.

The town has a Congregationalist and a Methodist church. There
are seven public schoolhouses in the town, valued at $3,300. The
valuation of estates for 1870 was $523,086; in 1880, $372,510. The
population in 1870 was 940. In the census of 1880 it was 828.

Norway is one of the south-eastern towns of Oxford County.
Paris bounds it on the north-east, Oxford on the south-east, Waterford
on the south-west, Albany and Greenwood on the north-west. The
area is by estimate, about 25,000 acres. The town has numerous but
not high hills. The most notable of these are Holt Hill, a little north-
west of the centre of the town, Frost Hill, at the south-west, and Pike
Hill at the south-east. The number of ponds is also large. Great
Pennesseewassee Pond extends its length of 4^ miles just east of the
middle of the town, finding outlet to the Little Androscoggin River, at
Norway Village, in the south-east corner of the town. Tributary to
this is North Pond, in the north-east, and Little Pennesseewassee, on
the west. Somewhat south-west of the centre of the town is Sand
Pond, with its tributaries, Mud and Round, sending its own outlet into
Thompson Pond, at the south-east. At the extreme north is Furlong
Pond. Crooked River forms a part of the western boundary, and Bird
Brook skirts the town on the east. The soil is fertile and the farmers
thrifty. There are eleven water-powers in the town, of which Pennes-
seewassee Falls, at Norway Village, constitute six. Five of these