EXCERPTS FROM THE BOOK
BETWEEN TWO RIVERS
by
ARLENE COLE
In 2002 the Town of Newcastle, Maine commissioned local historian and Newcastle Historical Society Museum Curator Arlene Cole to write a book about the history of the town for the 250th Anniversary of its incorporation on June 19, 1753. Below are compressed excerpts from the book entitled "Between Two Rivers" printed in 2003 by the Lincoln Publishing Company. She has graciously given us permission to use information from the book for the web site of the Newcastle Historical Society. If you wish to buy a copy of this book with much more information than listed below and with wonderful photographs, you may contact the Newcastle Historical Society.
INDIANS
The Abenakis Indians four hundred years ago, according to William B. Williamson in his History of The State of Maine inhabited what is now the Town of Newcastle. There were divided into 4 tribes. The Wawenock Indians were known to live in the Newcastle area. Their name is reported to signify "fearing none, very brave" but they were mild and gentle in disposition and less inclined to war than neighboring tribes. In 1615 or 1616 a devastating war broke out between the tribes and there was an epidemic in 1617. Between these afflictions, the Wawenocks were greatly reduced.
NEWCASTLE GARRISONS
The earliest settlement in Newcastle known was at Sheepscot called "Sheepscot Farms." Who started the settlement and in what year is not known precisely. In 1665 the Duke of York appointed a commission to settle land title disputes in the area. This meeting at John Mason's home in Sheepscot was the 1st organized civil government set up in Newcastle. Walter Phillips was clerk and recorder, who lived in what is now Pleasant Street on the Damariscotta River. Most of the people at that time resided in the Sheepscot area. There was a cart path between his home and Sheepscot. It was along the old Indian route where the Indians carried their canoes over the Carvesisex River (Dear Meadow Brook).
Hostilities between the settlers and the Indians started about 1675 with the outbreak of the King Phillips War. Sheepscot was destroyed in 1676 by the Indians and Walter Phillip's and his family were driven from their home on the east side of Newcastle.
Later troubles with the Indians were caused when Great Britain and France were at war in Europe and the fight was brought to the New World. The Indians were always allied with the French. Thus, fighting between the English and the Indians became what is termed the 5 Indian Wars that plagued the settlers until 1759 with the capture of Quebec.
To help protect themselves the settlers always had to be on alert. The men were at all times armed. When Indians were seen lurking around the alarm would be given and all the people would flee within the gates of 1 of 7 garrisons. There were 2 garrisons at Sheepscot. A garrison near "Captain Little's Place" on the east side of town was attacked several times. here was a garrison near where Joseph Perkins lived. There was a garrison, according to Rev. David Quimbly Cushman in his book The History of Ancient Sheepscot and Newcastle, in front of Farley's Mansion where Walter Phillips used to reside. Cushman also wrote that there was a garrison at Damariscotta Mills. The 7th garrison, according to Cushman was "in the center of town" but he does not state where it was located.
NEWCASTLE INCORPORATED
Newcastle was incorporated into a District on June 19, 1775. There is a framed copy at the historical society museum and at the town office. Newcastle could not send a Representative to the General Assembly and no one seemed to care. There were several such Districts. Then it was brought to the attention of the General Assembly and so on August 23, 1775 the matter was cleared up and Newcastle became a town. Some say Newcastle is the 12th town in Maine and others say Newcastle is the 30th town.
The Town of Newcastle was named for the Duke of Newcastle according to Ava Harriet Chadbourne in her book Maine Place Names. She writes that this was "in compliment to him as principle secretary to King George II." It is almost certain that the Duke of Newcastle never came to what became Newcastle but he was active in the Whig Party in England about the time of Newcastle's incorporation.
SHEEPSCOT & DAMARISCOTTA RIVERS
Newcastle is a town between two rivers - the Sheepscot and Damariscotta Rivers. The Sheepscot forms the west boundary of Newcastle and is 34 miles long. Fanny Eckstorm in her book entitled Indian Place - Names of Maine Coast, discusses the word "Sheepscot" as an Indian derivation and spells the word "Pahseapskok." She states "the word then is pahshe 'divided', apsk, 'rocks', ook 'water place - channels,' - a place where the river is split up into many rocky channels, which precisely describes the tortuous byways of the Sheepscot.
The northeast corner of Newcastle is the Damariscotta Lake which is 11.1 miles long. The lake was named for Colonel Vaughan (Vaughn) and was earlier known as Vaughan's Pond. The Damariscotta Lake and the river system was known for the spring alewife run and there were mounds of oyster shells left on the banks by early inhabitants. The river is 17 miles long from lake to ocean. It is tidal to the Salt Bay and is really an estuary. There are several theories as to where the name Damariscotta comes from.
BOAT BUILDING
By the late 1700s and early 1800s there were boatyards all along the Sheepscot and Damariscotta Rivers. Great wooden sailboats, schooners, pinkies and brigs were built including the "Ontario" and "Golden Rule." Then the Panic of 1857 changed the business of shipbuilding and the effects lasted until the Civil War which further injured it. After the Civil War there was a steady decline in Newcastle shipbuilding. Wooden sailing ships were no longer popular and the local people could no longer compete. There was still a scattering of ships along built on the shores of Newcastle in the late 1800s and early 1900s including the "Thomas Kennedy", "State of Maine" and "Virginia Dare." Today, the only remaining boatyard in Newcastle is the Riverside Boat Company off Pleasant Street on the Damariscotta River.
MILLS
When the settlers arrived on the shores of what became Maine there were trees frowing down to the water's edge in most places. Trees were a great asset to the people. In the 1600s there was a water powered sawmill and gristmill on what was called Allyn Falls (Deer Meadow Brook). David Shattuck established a tide mill at the mouth of Deer Meadow Brook and William Gary had a small tide mill between Deer Meadow Brook and Marsh River. At Winnisittico Falls there was a match factory owned by E.G. Baker.
In 1730 William Vaughn built a mill at the outlet of Damariscotta Lake. He made use of the water power there to erect sawmills and Gristmills. One was built above the other partly in Newcastle and partly in Nobleboro. At one time there was also a match factory and later a leather board factory in 1906.
The first sawmills were crude and inefficient, mechanically speaking. Sawdust fell all around and it is believed that the sawdust that clogged the Damariscotta River may have had a bearing on the decline of oysters. The owner often worked alongside the crew. Lumber was used in building houses, ships and wharfs. Clapboard, shingles, laths, fence pickets and barrel staves were in great demand.
With the development of small stationary steam engines the sawmills were no longer dependent on rivers. Portable sawmills became common. It was easier to move the sawmill to the lumber than haul or float the trees down rivers to the sawmills.
In the 1800s forest were declining and mills decreased. There was a mill owned by David Shattuck in the 1930s and 1940s in Sheepscot on the Indian Trail Road. The Hunt Brothers Lumber Company had a mill as did Willis Clark and Walter and Alvin Chickering. Lumber and pulp harvesting are still big business in Newcastle but there are no big commercial mills left.
ROADS
The earliest settlers built their homes near the rivers and used them for roads. As more settlers arrived they took up land farther back from the rivers. Roads were needed. Trails, at first were merely blazed. Many followed old Indian trails. People walked or rode horseback. Carriages were unknown. Cushman wrote that Walter Phillips had a cart path from Sheepscot to his home on the west side of the Damariscotta River in the mid 1600s. Gradually trees were felled and the worst trees and rocks were removed. Split logs were laid across the roads, side by side, with the round side up. Snow somewhat cushioned the roads in the winter time and the runners of the sleds traveled more easily. Country roads and town roads began to appear.
In her book, Wiscasset in Pownalborough, Fannie Chase tells that the stage crossed the Sheepscot River at Sheepscot, first by ferry, then over the bridge. The stage swung east along the old cart path of Phillips to the town house in the center of town. It then swung left to Robinson's Corner, through Newcastle village and into Damariscotta. On May 16, 1889 The Lincoln News had an article by Henry Dennis on an interview with John Marshall, an old stage driver. He drove the stage from 1850 to 1872.
People watched the town build roads. According to Cushman, in 1755 it was required that every man in town work 4 days on the highways. If a man worked on the road in 1767, he was allowed 3 shillings per day. His yoke of oxen would earn 1 shilling six pence with 9 pence for a cart.
Fifty years ago, Academy Hill Road was graveled much of the way. No mail and no school bus used it. The snowplow would turn around at the end of the tarred section, in front of John Grant's driveway and not plow until a storm was over.
U.S. Route 1, known as the Atlantic Highway, runs through the eastern section of Newcastle. In 1930 the road was widened and improved. In the early 1950s it was updated again. Five houses in the center of the village were either torn down or moved. Trees were cut down and the watering trough disappeared. In the early 1960s the Maine Department of Transportation decided the village of Damariscotta should be by-passed. More house in Newcastle were torn down or moved to new locations and streets were rearranged and more old shade trees cut down. The part of Route 1 in front of the present day town office and fire station was renamed River Road.
BRIDGES
The same rivers, the Sheepscot and Damariscotta, which served as highways for the early settlers began to cause problems for the people of the area as they became land-oriented. Cushman wrote that in 1761 James Stewart was licensed to keep a ferry over the Sheepscot River "on the great Country Road." The ferry did not seem to last long for in 1762 Job Averill was licensed to keep a ferry, also, over the Sheepscot River. In 1793 the General Court of Massachusetts passed an act incorporating certain persons for the building a bridge over the Sheepscot River to parallel Averill's Ferry. Cushman noted that the bridge was to have a draw that was to be opened for the use of vessels during the daylight. There was a toll cost. In 1809 the bridge was rebuilt for $2,686.70. In 1884 it became a free bridge. In 1896 the ice took out a goodly part of the bridge on the Alna side. In 1919/1920 the bridge was totally rebuilt at a cost of $9,4000 to the Town of Newcastle. By 1944 the bridge planks were loose and floppy and the cars that traveled upon it made a great deal of noise and so the towns of Newcastle and Alna petitioned the State Highway Commission to reconstruct the bridge. In 1948 a new bridge was constructed. In July, 2006 a new bridge was dedicated.
Across the town from the Sheepscot River the people on the Damariscotta watershed were also in need of bridges. Mrs. Cole could find no record of a ferry being used to cross the stream. In 1793 the town voted to choose a committee of 3 men to take care of building Newcastle's part of the bridge over the "Damariscotta Mills Stream." Cushman implied that this was not the first bridge. The lower bridge in Damariscotta Mills was built about 1849, and was called the "Fish Stream Bridge."
There were 5 bridges that spanned the Salt Water Falls (lower falls). In 1761 Cushman wrote that William Jones of Walpole was licensed to keeps a ferry over the Damariscotta River between Ring's Point and Jone's Point. In 1763 James Brown was licensed to keep a ferry at the same place but it was John Turnbull (Turmbull or Tournbull) who is best known for his ferry service located where the bridge is now. He came to Newcastle from Scotland and built his home in what became the middle of the road to the ferry. He married Hilda Glidden. In 1790 James Kavanagh and Matthew Cottrill applied to the General Court of Massachusetts for permission to build a private bridge and charge a toll for 70 years to get their money back. It was built within a year and a toll of 3 cents for passengers and 8 cents for horse and passenger was collected by John Turnbull, the toll keeper. In 1843 the toll was reduced and in 1851 the bridge was repaired and made free. The second bridge was built in 1869. In 1880 the draw, while still being closed, fell into the river. In 1888 a new bridge was built with no draw but with a walk. The government decided that the head of navigation should be there at the bridge. A fine of $3 was charged for riding or driving across the bridge faster than a walk. This was bridge number three. In early 1905 the Damariscotta end of the bridge was badly damaged by fire. It was repaired but it was decided that the wooden bridge should be replaced by a steel structure. Bridge number four was completed in late 1905 and was known as the American Bridge Company Bridge. Ellis Nash, while it was being built got a scow and attached a steel cable across the river and maintained a ferry service for 10 cents a trip. The bridge that now spans the Damariscotta River was dedicated in June, 1953 at the Bicentennial celebration of Newcastle's incorporation. It was wider and constructed of concrete. While being built a temporary bridge was built from Glidden Street, past the Episcopal Church, across the river from the Page Memorial lot.
In the 1920s another bridge was built across the Damariscotta River form Newcastle to Damriscotta. This is now Route 1 bridge. The new Route 1 bypass crosses over the Mills Road (Route 215) and then swings east over the end of Glidden Point.
CHURCHES
In the summer of 2002 six churches were listed in the Lincoln County News in the Town of Newcastle.
Saint Patrick's Church appears to be the oldest church building in town. James Kavanagh and Matthew Cottrill came from Boston to what is now Damariscotta Mills. They were Catholics. They had a wooden chapel built on Cottrill's property, which was called "St. Mary in the Woods." The church that now stands was built at the end of Academy Hill in 1807. It was made form local bricks. In 1818 St. Patrick's Church was given a gift from Matthew Cottrill of one of the last bells cast by Paul Revere. The church is the oldest Catholic Church in New England still in continuous use. A new religious center was constructed in 1987 behind the current church and a new parking lot was added. In 2005, a new parish hall was completed directly in back and attached to the old church.
The story of the Congregationalist is very confusing. Churches were started; churches were discontinued. The problem was the two villages were at opposite ends of the town. The two sides could not agree on whether to have one parish or two. A church was built at the center of town but it was not successful. The building was given to the town and was later sold and moved. By 1824 it was finally decided to form a church at Sheepscot and one in Newcastle Village. According to Donnell, the Sheepscot Church was built in 1825 from private funds as a Union Meeting House. It was situated on Garrison Hill on the Sheepscot Road. According to Cushman, the Congregationalist owned 3/6th of the building, the Methodist 2/3s and the Baptist 1/6th. This continued until 1868 when the Congregationalist Parish purchased the shares of the other congregations where they continue to hold services.
The church has united with the Methodist Church on King's Highway. The Methodist Church was built in 1868. The Sheepscot Community Church uses the building for regular church services form October to May. The community worships in the "hill" church during the summer months.
When the two Congregational Parishes were formed in 1824, the east side of town church became the Second Congregational Church. The first church was a wooden structure on Hopkins Hill near the present Pine Knoll Cemetery. In 1848 the present church was built in Gothic Revival style on Main Street on the bank of the Damariscotta River. In 1994 an addition was added to the rear in the existing style.
Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church was built in 1883. William T. and Catherine Glidden donated the land on Glidden Street for the church on the Damariscotta River. Henry Vaughn designed the church. The basic style is a modern adaptation of the "half-timber" work, which was used in England in the 15th and 16th centuries. The church was given the name of Saint Andrew because of its consecration occurred near St. Andrew's Day. Sixty years later it was sold and the money realized was put toward the construction of the present under croft.
The Faith Baptist Church has been holding its services at 128 Mills Road (Route 215) since acquiring the building in 1997. They added a steeple to the present building.
The Water of Life Lutheran Church acquired in 1999 a place for services on Route 1 near O.W. Holmes.
Not listed in the Lincoln County News is the Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witness, Newcastle Congregation, on the southern edge of Newcastle.
RAILROADS
The first train arrived in Newcastle on July 17, 1871, according to a Brief History Together with Pictures of the Knox & Lincoln Railroad by the Lincoln County News, in 1959 when Maine Central passenger service ended. After the Civil War interest in the railroad picked up. Trains ran from Portland to Bangor, but a short branch from Brunswick to Bath was stopped short by the wide Kennebec River. A group of financiers, bankers and investors, seeking the need of a train in the coastal area, came up with a plan to build a railroad from Bath to Rockland. The town of Newcastle, along with other towns and cities, bought railroad bonds. Work was started in 18678 but it was more costly than expected and was not a financial success. Several groups owned the line. In 1883 it was voted by most of the towns to sell the rail line if a purchaser could be found. by 1891, it had become the Knox and Lincoln Railway. In 1901 it was merged into the Maine Central.
There were two railroad stations in Newcastle. One was at South Newcastle. It was a flag station which meant the train only stopped if there was a signal for it to stop or the train had passengers and/or items to unload. Castner wrote that at exactly 4:10 p.m. on July 17, 1871 the train pulled in the Newcastle station for the first time. People gathered to see this historic event.
The Maine Central Railroad served the mid-coast for 70 years. After World War II times changed and automobiles became more common. On April 4, 1959 the last Maine Central passenger train came through Newcastle. In 1987 the Maine State Department of Transportation purchased 51.76 mile section of the Brunswick to Rockland railroad line. New railroad beds were laid and new ties were put in place. Today a passenger train runs in the summer months form Bath to Rockland, passing through Newcastle.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
In 1792 money was voted for schools in Newcastle and every year thereafter. In 1799 the town voted that all persons between the ages of 4 to 21 should be considered scholars by the selectmen. The first known schoolhouse was built at Garrison Hill in Sheepscot. In 1803 James Cargill and others asked permission to build the first school.
In 1821 the town was divided into 11 school districts and it was voted that 3 districts choose their own agents. As the number of students grew, more districts were formed. Each had its own agent and each agent decided the number of weeks of school, the teachers and their training and what subjects were taught. The Village School, which became known as the Franklin Grammar School, replaced districts Number 2, 13, 14 and 15 and later in the 1940s and 1950s North Newcastle and Pond Road Schools.
The Edison School was the last rural school to close. The state found this system inefficient. Many teachers were poor, school sessions were short and there was petty feuds between neighboring districts. In 1870, fifty years after Maine became a state, the first real movement began toward the abolition of the district school system and Newcastle began to take over.
Franklin School became the major school and one by one, the children were bused there. It was eventually enlarged from 2 rooms to 6 rooms but it was overcrowded. In 1969 two temporary classrooms were installed on the front playground. By 1970, an agreement had been made between Newcastle and Damariscotta to combine their schools. Grades 1 - 4 were housed at Franklin Grammar School and grades 5 - 8 were educated at the Castner School in Damriscotta. By 1977 the towns were seeking a new school. The citizens voted to build a new school with Damriscotta on Route 1 on the easterly side of Old Route 1 north, formerly part of Round Top Farms Company. This was passed and the school was named Great Salt Bay Community School. In 1977 it was voted to include Breman in the school district and in 1998 an addition to the school was built.
LINCOLN ACADEMY
Lincoln Academy servesas the high schools for the majority of Newcastle's young people. In 1801 a petition accepted by the General Court of Massachusetts to create an "academy" in Newcastle and that it be called Lincoln Academy. In 1803 the academy was built on land donated on River Road. In 1828 the building was completely destroyed by fire, including all records. A new school made of brick was completed by 1829 on the old country road to Damariscotta Mills. An old map shows the road was called Stag Hill Road but today it is called Academy Hill Road. From the very beginning boys and girls attended. According to Castner, for some years no girls attended but after 1845 girls returned, never to leave again.
Lincoln Academy charged a few to attend and many students were not able to any them. The High School Act of 1873 was passed to induce as many towns and districts as possible to establish their own free high schools with state aid. Newcastle had at least 14 school districts. Many of them provided up to 10 weeks of high school free of charge. In 1895 the town appropriated $200 for "Free High Schools" and received from the state $184.13. Newcastle phased out free high school classes in 1896 and paid tuition to send its high school students to Lincoln Academy. Although the town of Newcastle will pay tuition for students to attend other high schools, the majority living in Newcastle attend Lincoln Academy.
The first graduation, according to Castner, was held in 1878. Before this time. students finished their course and just left the school. The class of 2002 had 122 graduates.
POST OFFICES
The first postmaster of Newcastle was Major John Farley. The office was kept at his house at the corner of Route 1 and Hopkins Hill Road. Records prior to 1808 were destroyed in a fire in 1836 that burned the General Post Office Building in Washington, DC. It is probable that the Newcastle Post Office was opened in 1795.
Much of the information on early post offices in Newcastle comes from an article written by Miss. J. Gertrude Hatch at the time of her retirement as postmaster in Newcastle that was first published in the Lincoln County News in 1920 and preprinted in 1990. She wrote that the 2nd postmaster was John Glidden. Cushman gives his appointment date as 1808. He also kept the post office at his home where the flagpole of Lincoln Academy presently stands. The house that stood on the spot where the flagpole was erected burned in 1860.
Colonel John Glidden was the 3rd postmaster. He was appointed in 1830. He moved the office to the area of the bridge on the south side of the road. This building in later years was moved to Mills Road and used as a home. The mail was carried to Bath by stage, and postage was collected on letters received, rated according to distance they had traveled.
During the following years, the post office was moved to Union Hall and it moved to the Sproul Building before the Union Hall burned. The mail was brought to Newcastle by train after the completion of the Knox and Lincoln Railroad.
Newcastle had 5 post offices with the main post office in Newcastle Village. Sturges writes that the Sheepscot Past Office was opened in 1829; North Newcastle in 1857 and South Newcastle in 1872. It is around the later part of the 1800s that another post office in Newcastle is mentioned: East Newcastle. In 1897 Mr. Glidden became postmaster for the 2nd time. Mrs. Mary A. Dodge was postmaster at East Newcastle, but the office was eventually discontinued and merged into the Newcastle one.
In 1910, Miss J. Gertrude Hatch became the first woman postmaster under the civil service rules. Many changes took place in the post office services while the office was at the Sproul Building. Parcel post was started in 1913 and a stamp was 3 cents. Postal service started bringing mail and parcel post by truck. The post office became crowded and parking was limited. In 1989 a new post office was built on Mills Road. Wayne Benner was postmaster. In 2002 the postmaster was Norman St. Cyr. All Newcastle residents now have a Newcastle address.
OYSTER SHELL HEAPS
Archaeologists and historians have long studied the ancient oyster shell heaps on the Damriscotta River. There at least three different layers of shells made by the Indians. Many on the Damariscotta side have been carried away or used in various projects. William Taylor Glidden owned the great deposits on the Newcastle side of the river. He preferred to preserve them and today they are referred to as the "Glidden Middens." There is the Whaleback collections and some sites around the outlet of the Damariscotta Lake into Great Salt Bay. Some years ago George and Josephine Hart purchased the Glidden property and in 2002 donated a conservation easement to the Damriscotta River Association to protect forever 112 acres, including the Glidden Midden.
ALEWIVES
Cushman's first reference to alewives is concerning the Sheepscot and Dyer Rivers. In 1791 James Greely and Daniel Murray were appointed "fish keepers." This was to "ensure a free and easy passage up Sheepscot and Dyer's River from the first day of May to the first day of June." Today there is commercial alewife harvesting on the same two rivers, Cushman tells of an abundance of alewives on the Damariscotta River but after the mills and dam were put in place at the falls the fish could no longer get into the lake and the numbers dropped. In about 1807 Kavanagh saw what was happening and had his men dip the fish into nets and transport them into the lake above. He then had a passageway for the fish that they might be able to ascend and descend when they wished. The inhabitants petitioned the legislature to pass, and it was passed, an act protecting the fish.
Frank Waltz, who was employed by the Consolidated Hydro, Inc., grew up watching the alewives. He now makes sure everything is ready for the spring run. In an article written by Betsy Ensign in The Lincoln County News, Waltz discussed the history of the alewives. Three or four-year old fish start up the river in April. They gather and mill around until they are ready to ascend the fish ladder usually in mid-May. By June 1st the fish reach Dmariscotta Lake. Here the females spawn. They will lay up to 100,000 eggs. The fish grow in the lake during the summer, and then they leave the lake in a "tail first" descent, which usually lasts into November.
In early days when food was scare, local people ate the fresh fish. When Maine was still a part of Massachusetts, widows were alloted two-bushes by applying at the Nobleboro Town Office. However, today most of the fish are now used as fertilizer and lobster bait. Only the smoked fish are eaten in number by the locals.
The coming of the alewives is an occasion each year where people travel for miles to see the sight of alewives so thick, making their way up the fish ladder. The gulls and ospreys come in great numbers. Waltz noted that some gulls eat so much "they can't fly until the fish are digested."
Newcastle and Nobleboro share the duties involved with the alewives. The two towns regulate the fishing and keep the buildings and equipment in good order.
TANISCOT ENGINE HOUSE & FIRE COMPANY
The Taniscot Engine Company dates back about 125 years. According to Castner, the company was organized in 1875. A firehouse was built shortly after that. It was a two-story building that faced Pump Street. Castner writes that the building was moved to face Main Street and a tower was built to dry hose. Later the tower was shortened and a bell was added. In 1890 the land was formerly owned by Edwin Flye and sold to the town and fire company by his daughters. According to the deed, the fire house had already been built.The is much discussion on where the name "Taniscot" comes from.
The town's first crook-neck engine was purchased for $1,500 in 1877 by the town and the fire engine company. The pumper was stored at the fire engine house. The pumper had two sets of tongues, or draw bars, so the men might pull the pumper to a fire nearby or hitch it up with horses for it to be taken out of town. The Lincoln County News, in an article on the pumper, notes that the horses, which were rented for $3 a month, were also kept in the building with the pumper.
The pumper was sold sometimes in the 1950s. Motor-driven vehicles were now used for fire fighting equipment. With the use of the sirens, the bell was not used so it was removed and sold. It later found its way to Italy where today it hangs in the belfry of a church. The tower was taken down and the door was widened to allow two vehicles to exist side by side. Then the building became to small. In 1974 the town bought Reginald Hall's Garage on River Road. The fire company and town office were both moved to the building. Taniscot Engine House was leased to the Central Lincoln County Ambulance Service. They built onto the original building to make room for their needs.
The ambulance service outgrew the building and moved to Piper Road in Dmariscotta,.The fire company outgrew the garage and so the town voted to tear down the garage and build a new fire station where the garage had been and a community room was also built. In November, 2000 the fire department moved into its new building. The old Taniscot Building was empty at the end of 2000. By 2002 the old section had become a museum sponsored jointly by the historical society and the fire company. Its most cherished possession is the old Taniscot pumper that was found in Manchester, New Hampshire where it was being put up for auction. The fire company bought it back home and restored it. The building was shared for a period of time with the Teen Center.
CEMETERIES
The society published a book, "Cemeteries of Newcastle Maine, 1758 to 2004" in 2005 complied by Geraldine Hanley and Nancy Hartley, of all the cemeteries in Newcastle. The earliest cemetery is perhaps at Sheepscot. There are 36 cemeteries in Newcastle.
WAR VETERANS
Newcastle had veterans in the Revolutionary War, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War 1 and II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. A complete listing of veterans buried in Newcastle is listed in the book "Cemeteries of Newcastle, Maine 1758 to 2004." A memorial is erected in the park across for the old Taniscot Engine House on Main Street and Business Route 1.
ARCHAEOLOGY
Local Archaeologist Timothy Dinsmore has been excavating various sites for the history of Newcastle along the banks of the Damriscotta River in Newcastle. He located the 17th century site of Walter Phillips homestead and conducted and archaeological dig in the summer of 2005. There, he and his team of volunteers uncovered hundreds of artifacts including pipe stems, nails, pots, needles and pottery. He is continuing to excavate the Bryant-Barker Tavern (1765-1803) where he has discovered pottery shards, hinge nails, spoon handles, etc. His excavations are sponsored by the Newcastle Historical Society, Damriscotta River Association, foundations and local donations.
Archaeologist Bill Burgess conducted a dig near Austin Avenue in Damariscotta Mills during the summer of 2001, sponsored by the Maine Preservation Commission. He and his team located a cellar hole, arrowheads dating back 3,800 years and a half penny dating from 1690.
PURCHASE BOOK
To purchase a copy of "Between Two Rivers" by Arlene Cole, contact the Newcastle Historical Society via email at newcastlehistoricalsociety@hotmail.com or via mail at P.O. Box 482, Newcastle Maine 04553. The cost is $15 + postage. It includes wonderful photographs and a much more detailed history of Newcastle.
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