Our Trip Around Bowdoin,
Maine
On April 10, 2001 the fourth graders of
Bowdoin Central School went on a field around their town to learn
more about it. Below are some of the points of interest they
saw.
We left Bowdoin Central School and headed
west on Main Street. Our first stop was Bowdoin Center where we came
to the town's busy intersection. The building above is the Sagadahoc
Grange Hall. People would come to the grange to learn about new
agricultural ideas, but most importantly, to socialize! In the early
1900's this would be the place where dances, box socials, or other
celebrations would be held. Notice on the side of the building where
there are signs pointing to Topsham, Lisbon, Litchfield, Bowdoinham
and the mileage.
Across the street from the Grange is where
we saw two monuments and a cannon! The large monument erected in
1907, is in memory of the Civil War veterans who fought from
1861-1865. Many of the students recognized the names of their
ancestors! The smaller monument just behind the cannon is in
recognition of the patriots who fought in the Revolutionary War. The
cannon comes from Fort Popham and used to be fired off during
celebrations.
Across from the monuments and the Grange
Hall is the Bowdoin Country Store. There has been a store here since
before the turn of the last century.
Behind the store used to be the town hall and
then across from that used to be one of the blacksmith shops where
people might bring their horses to be shod.
The two pictures above are of the old town
hall which used to sit behind the store on the Litchfield Road. This
tiny one room building is where people from town came to take care of
their registrations, licenses and any other town business until 1983.
In 1995 the building was moved to where the current town hall is
located on Cornish Road. Thanks to a local boy scout group, the
building now has a fresh look. The Bowdoin Historical Society is
working towards getting this building ready to use to display the
town's history.
This is the current town hall where
citizens come to pay their taxes, get licenses and registrations.
Many people have jobs at the town hall. For example, Melanie, who we
see standing here, is the town clerk. Her job is to record the town's
history. She keeps track of births, deaths and marriages. She also
can give you licenses such as hunting and fishing. We have three town
selectmen who sometimes hold meetings at this building. Their job is
to make sure the things that are voted on at town meeting get carried
out.
This grinding wheel came from the old grist
mill located in Tarrs Mill on Haigh Mountain. This used to be
considered the center of town because of all the water power. A grist
mill is where people bring their grains to have them ground into
flour. There was also a fulling mill where they pounded sheep's wool
into felt and at least one saw mill.
This is the vault located in the basement
of the town hall. Here you can see the old books which tell about the
history of Bowdoin. On top of the filing cabinet is an official
ballot box which has been used for years until the recent purchase of
the electric voting machine. In 1996, it took 16 people 8 hours to
count up the 1,215 votes. In 2000, it only took 20 minutes to count
the 2,036 votes with the new machine!
This is the oldest book on record at the town hall. The writing here
is a letter to call to order the first town meeting of Bowdoin on
April 15, 1788. From this book we learned that the first town clerk
was Benjamin Jacques.
This is the three bay fire station located
off of Cornish Drive. It was built in 1992-1993. It is totally
staffed by volunteers.
Here is a picture of the salt shed which
was constructed 2000 in order to meet the state's environmental laws.
Keeping the salt in the cement building helps to protect the local
ground water.
This is the recycling center which is
located right by the town hall. Recycling in Bowdoin started in 1994.
Bowdoin residents can take newspaper, cardboard, clean paper, clear
and green glass, number 2 plastic and clean cans. No junk mail,
please.
This is the old Kingdom School located on
Main Street. Actually, it used to be located on the other side of the
road where two homes now sit.
This is Alanzo Purington's house. Notice
that much of this house is constructed of bricks. The clay for the
bricks was scooped out of Walker's Pond directly behind the house.
The sand came from Kettlebottom located just under a mile down the
road. The Puringtons ran a store, post office and livery stable in a
house nearby. It was a busy place because the stage coach would stop
there.
This house is located across the street
from the Purington Farm. At one time it was an L attached to the old
homestead.
This is the West Bowdoin Baptist Church
which is just down the road from the Puringtons. It, too was made
with bricks using the clay from Walker's Pond and the sand from
Kettlebottom.
This building use to be the livery stable
from the old Purington Homestead. It is now part of the West Bowdoin
Baptist Church.
Continuing down the West Road we came
across the Old Red Schoolhouse. This sits at the entrance to
Kettlebottom.
There use to be many schools around the town because the only way to
school was on foot.
The two pictures above show Kettlebottom.
It's called that because the ground looks as if it was scooped out in
the shape of a kettle. This natural wonder happened back when a
glacier was crossing over Bowdoin, a chunk of pure ice broke away.
that heavy ice caused the indentation in the ground. Once it melted
and seeped into the ground, the shape of the kettle bottom was
left.
At the base of this row of trees you can
see the stone wall going on and on. This wall is known as the Norse
Line. Back in the 1750's James Bowdoin had sent surveyors to the land
he had purchased through deeds belonging to
