Radio Script #1045

Little Talks on Common Things
March 30, 1975

Those of us who are interested in the days of long ago often get inquiries about old cemeteries. Every issue of the Maine Register, the most valuable current reference book on Maine, gives a list of cemeteries in all Maine towns, but apparently that list includes only cemeteries still in use, or at least well cared for, even if burials are no longer permitted. But entirely omitted are abandoned cemeteries, though they may contain the graves of important persons, even soldiers of the Revolution.

The current issue of the Maine Register lists only two cemeteries in Waterville, Pine Grove and St. Francis, which are side by side on Grove Street. We could not expect a listing of sites of former cemeteries Where not even a grave stone remains.

Although we know about Waterville’s first cemetery, where were buried such pioneers as John McKechnie and Obadiah Williams, we do not know the exact location of that burying ground. We do know that it was off Western Avenue near the bridge, but whether it was on the lower ground near the mattress shop or higher up the slope to the north, we cannot be sure. When it was in use, Western Avenue was not down where it now runs, but higher along the ridge to the north. We are led to believe that the cemetery was on comparatively high ground near the south end of Burleigh Street, because the lower land, even where the Avenue now runs, was often under water in the spring.

That first Waterville cemetery was abandoned in 1803, the year after Waterville separated from Winslow, and the new town of Waterville then opened the cemetery on Elm Street, where is now Monument Park. That cemetery was closed to further burials in 1851, when the town opened the present Pine Grove Cemetery on Grove Street. During the following 20 years, most of the bodies in the Elm Street cemetery were moved to Pine Grove, but a few unmarked graves are there to this day.

Another local burying ground not mentioned in the Maine Register is the old Catholic cemetery in the north end of the city near the end of Colonial Street. An old, not entirely overgrown footpath also leads to it from behind the Pillsbury Farm Implement place on College Avenue. That cemetery deserves better care, for in it are the remains of some of our city’s early Catholics. Probably there are family cemeteries in this area that are forgotten today, but they are likely to be located in Oakland rather than Waterville. When the west part of Waterville became a separate town, first called West Waterville,
then Oakland, Waterville’s area was so reduced that it became one of Maine’s smallest towns in acreage. If there are any old cemeteries within its limits besides those I have mentioned, they would probably be in the area between the First and Second Rangeways. Does anyone know whether there was any family burying ground in the vicinity of Mayflower Hill?

For Winslow, the Maine Register lists six cemeteries: The Fort Halifax cemetery at the top of the hill on Halifax Street, the Drummond Cemetery, between the Augusta Road and the river, not far from the old tin mine; the Eames cemetery

in the northern part of the town near the Benton line; and two other burial grounds

called Howard’s and Wilson’s.

There are, of course, graves in the Fort Halifax cemetery that date well

back into the 18th century, because deaths were occurring in the settlement around

the fort at least a dozen years b~fore the Revolution, and some burials were made

in the Drummond Cemetery before 1800. And I have no doubt, scattered over the

large area of Winslow are a number of unlisted family cemeteries.

According to the Maine Register, Vassalboro is especially rich in cemeteries

still open, or at least well cared for. The Register says there are 14 such

burial grounds in the town. I was surprised to learn that one is called the

Marriner Cemetery, doubtless having the name of the ancestors of Willard Marriner,

who long kept a store at North Vassalboro.

Familiar to many of my listeners, is the ancient Quaker burying ground at

Oak Grove, and the Vassalboro Center Baptist cemetery is well known. There are

persons who also know the Brown cemetery at Riverside, but not so widely known

are the burial places’called Nichols, Warren, Whitehouse, Small, Bragg, Priest

and Pray. Of course Vassalboro has had for nearly two centuries three widely

separated villages: Getchell’s Corner, North Vassalboro, and East Vassalboro,

while other parts of the town, such as Riverside and South Vassalboro, were also

once well populated. That partly accounts for the town’s many cemeteries.

The Register lists 12 cemeteries in the town of Sidney. Besides the town

cemetery, there are the Springer, the Sibley and the Reynold’s Hill; the Barton,

the Sawtelle, and the Longley; the Lovejoy, the Cottle, the Lincoln, and the

Friends.

There are four still listed cemeteries in Benton: the Brown, the Ames,

the Reed, and the Falls. Oakland also has four: Lake View, Lewis, Middle and

Upper.

Besides the large, beautifully kept Maplewood Cemetery in the village,

Fairfield has six others, two of which it has been my experience to explore,

when I sought the graves of certain Fairfield pioneers. Those two are the burying

ground at Nye’s Corner and the Friend’s Cemetery beside the Quaker church at North

Fairfield. The others in that town are Barrett’s, Covell and Emery Hill. Is the

relatively large cemetery on the Green Road near Fairfield Center one of those

three, or does it have a different name?

The Maine Old Cemetery Association is a very active group with more than a

thousand members scattered allover the state. It is very active in encouraging

local groups to clean up and care for abandoned cemeteries, and as a project

connected with the nation’s Bicentennial, it is attempting to locate the grave of

every Revolutionary veteran who was buried in Maine.

Between 1835 and 1850 the Maine Legislature granted charters to numerous

railroad companies. Several of those companies laid track and ran trains, and

all of these early lines were later consolidated into the Maine Central system.

However, many of the chartered companies never fulfilled their charter rights.

Their intention was good, but their execution poor. Today I want to tell you

about one of the most ambitious of those railroad projects that never came to

fruition.

In the 1830’s, because the St. Lawrence river was frozen over in winter,

there was considerable agitation for a railroad, either from Quebec or Montreal,

to some open harbor on the Atlantic. Col. Stephen Long, a U.S. Army engineer,

conducted a preliminary survey and started agitation for a railroad to run from

Quebec to one of three Maine ports: Portland, Wiscasset, or Belfast. The most

interest was aroused at Belfast, because that port was, of the.three places, the

shortest distance from Quebec. Leaders in shipping and trading at Belfast were

especially stirred. Visions of huge mercantile profits became a beckoning rainbow.

Only twice, since the place was settled early in the 18th century, had

Belfast harbor been known to freeze over, in 1780 and again in 1816, the notorious

year without a summer, often referred to as eighteen hundred and froze to death.

Surely Belfast had just the port the Canadians needed.

A commission from Belfast petitioned the U.S. Congress for a charter, because

the plan went beyond either state or national boundaries, and involved cooperation

with a foreign country, Canada. In fact the petition asked for more than a railroad

from Belfast to Quebec. It called for another from Belfast to some point on the

Kennebec, preferably Waterville. The long line would serve the Quebec trade; the

shorter would give access to the rich farmland of the interior.

In April, 1836, the Belfast and Quebec Railroad Co. got its charter.

Communication with Quebec interests was already under way, and a Belfast merchant,

A. o. Alden, began making regular trips to the Canadian city. On one such visit

he addressed a meeting of 200 Quebeckers on the railroad plan. He boldly told

the Canadians that not only would Belfast be the best outlet for their goods, but

that merchandise from the whole Penobscot region would flow through Quebec to the

Great West. It would be easier, he said, to send goods to the Mississippi port

towns by way of Quebec than over the long sea route via New Orleans.

The Belfast and Quebec RR Co. hired Col. Long to promote their plan. He

advertised in Maine papers for men and supplies on a survey expedition, to map in

detail the line for which he had personally already made a tentative survey.

Long seemed to be making progress, When the whole nation was severely hit

by the Panic of 1837. Banks allover the country closed, ruining thousands of

depositors. Business was at a standstill. Not until the 1930’s would the U.S.

see such another serious depression. When the 1837 Panic was over, the railroad

from Belfast to Quebec was forgotten. Instead, the most dynamic railroad promoter

ever to operate in Maine, John Poor, proposed a railroad from Montreal to Portland.

By unceasing effort, including a sleigh journey from the Maine to the Canadian

city, on the wake of a devastating blizzard, John Poor won out, and the result

was the Grand Trunk R.R.

But even then Belfast people did not give up. In 1853 Albert Jewett proposed

a line from Belfast to Moosehead Lake. He insisted that even such a shorter

railroad would bring to Belfast some of the Quebec trade. Jewett’s plan was never

completed, but it did result in a railroad from Belfast to connect with the Penobscot

and Kennebec at Burnham Junction, a line that is in freight operation to this day,

and is one of the few American railroads owned by a municipality, because the City

of Belfast owns that line to Burnham Junction. Enterprising and devoted Belfast

citizens determinedly took it over when the Maine Central proposed to abandon it

for scrap.

And with that bow to what finally became of the ambitious plan to build a

railroad from Belfast to Quebec, we must say goodby until next week.