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

OTISFIELD.    419

Ossipee Mills,—a post-office in York County.

Otis is situated on the western side of Hancock County, being
bounded on the north by Penobscot County, and on the South by Ells-
worth. It is on the stage line from Bangor to Manaville, which adjoins
it on the east. The principal sheets of water are Beech Hill, Flood,
Springy and Mountain ponds, emptying into Union River, or some of
its branches. Of these, Flood’s Pond covers one square mile; Beech
Hill Pond, 1.85 square miles; and Mountain Pond, 1.25 square miles.
At Remick’s Falls, at the foot of Flood’s Pond, and also at the south
part of the town, are saw-mills. The prevailing rock is mica-schist
interstratified by an impure limestone. On the side next Mariaville
the rock is a hard talcose slate and a kind of sandstone in alternate
layers, placed perpendicularly. There is a cave in Oak Hill on the
west side of Beech Hill Pond, which is 12 ieet under ground, with
rooms 7 feet by 10 feet. Ice and snow have been found in it on the
4th of July,-by which it has gotten its name of the “ Cold Cellar.” The
soil, as a whole, is productive when cultivated ; but much attention is
given to lumbering.

Otis was first occupied in 1805. It was incorporated m 1835, being
named in honor of a proprietor. The first settlers were Isaac Frazier,
N. M. Jellison, James Gilpatrick, and Allen Milliken. Otis furnished
85 men to the Union cause in the war of the Rebellion.

The Free Baptists have a church, and a settled minister m the
town. Otis has three public schoolhouses, valued at $400. The valu-
ation of estates in 1870 was $26,407. In 1880 it was $34,725.
The population in 1870 was 246. In 1880 it was 304.

Otisfield is the most easterly of the northern towns of Cum-
berland County.- Thompson’s Pond separates it from Poland in An-
droscoggin County and from the southern part of the town of Oxford in
Oxford County. Norway in the same county bounds it on the north,
on the west is Harrison in Cumberland County; and Naples and Casco
bound it on the south. Crooked River forms the boundary line for tbe
entire length of the town on the western side. The ponds are Little,
Moose, Saturday and Pleasant, beginning at the north of the town and
increasing in size southward, the last containing two and a quarter
square miles of surface. Thompson’s Pond, which washes the eastern
side of the town, has an area of eight square miles. The surface of the
town is uneven, the highest eminences being Scribner Hill and Meet-
ing House Hill. The soil is gravelly, but strong and productive ; and
there are many fine farms in town. Cora, potatoes and hay are the
principal crops. At Bolster’s Mills, Centre and East Otisfield are
small saw-mills, and at Spurr’s Corner is a large clothing manufactory.
Otisfield lies 36 miles N.N.W. of Portland, being on the stage-line from
that city to Bolster’s Mills. It is also on the stage-line from the
Oxford Station of the Grand Trunk Railway to Naples. The town-
ship was granted to Hon. James Otis, Nathaniel Gorham, and the rest
of the heirs and assigns of Captain John Gorham, for services against
Canada in 1770. The first plantation meeting was held in the house
of Stephen Phinney, in 1787. David Ray w^ras moderator, Joseph
Wight, jr., clerk, David Ray, Benjamin Patch, and Noah Reed, as-