Impressive Display of Family Artifacts

Descendants of one of the founding families in New Gloucester are sharing insight into several generations of the Blake/Stinchfield family by displaying a multitude of ancestral artifacts at the New Gloucester History Barn.

New Gloucester has a long history of sawmills. A 5-foot circular saw blade was part of a portable sawmill owned by Oscar C. Stinchfield (1868-1940). He traveled throughout Maine and New Hampshire with his crew and teams of horses, operating his mill for weeks at a time at each stop.

A table full of cobbler’s tools tells the story of Cyrus Stinchfield (1839-1914) who left his family’s Penney Road farm as a young man to work in a shoe factory in Lowell, Mass. Eventually he returned home, skilled in his new trade and started a shoemaking business.

This display, along with many other historical items of interest, will be on exhibit for the next few New Gloucester History Barn Open Houses. The barn is located behind Town Hall, Route 231, and is open from 9 a.m. to noon during the first Saturday of each month. Dress warmly, as it is unheated. Admission is free.

Holiday observance

All town facilities will be closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 21.

License Your Dog before Jan. 31

2013 dog licenses are available at the New Gloucester town office. Spayed or neutered dogs are $6 and unaltered are $11. After Thursday, Jan. 31, there will be a state-mandated extra fee of $25 per dog.

Special Town Meeting

At the Special Town Meeting on Monday, Jan. 14, citizens will be asked to vote on financial assistance for the proposed Upper Village Public Water System, entering into an interlocal agreement with the New Gloucester Water District, enacting a Water District Ordinance, and conveying an easement to the New Gloucester Water District.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the Memorial School Gymnasium, 86 Intervale Road, New Gloucester. Town Planner Paul First is available at 926-4126 Ext. 4 or pfirst@newgloucester.com to address your questions. Additionally, more information can be found at the Water District sidebar of www.newgloucester.com.

Snowshoe Pisgah Hill

In December, the Royal River Conservation Trust applied for a major grant for federal funds to build a full trail head and small hiker/hunter/snowshoe parking lot at Pisgah Hill in New Gloucester. The project is slated for 2013 construction.

The trails are now open for people to snowshoe 0.6 mile to the summit, with a moderate climb aided by a new bridge across the stream. The trailhead is located one-half mile down Dougherty Road, on the left. Look for the blue “Pisgah Hill Preserve” sign.

Among the many relics belonging to the Blake/Stinchfield family on display at the New Gloucester History Barn is a sawmill tool made by Oscar Stinchfield for use in his portable sawmill business. The tool was donated by Stinchfield’s great-granddaughter, Betty Files McDermott.
Father and son Phil and Tom Blake, members of one of New Gloucester’s founding families, hold artifacts from the Blake/Stinchfield lineage at the Jan. 5 New Gloucester History Barn Open House. Phil rings the school bell used by his grandmother at the Gloucester Hill School a century ago, while Tom grips a billy club used by his great-great grandfather Herbert Blake. Herbert, who stood at an imposing 6 feet 5 inches tall, served as both a local constable and a Cumberland County deputy sheriff.