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Whitefield

Whitefield is a town in Lincoln County, incorporated on June 19, 1809 from the part of Ballstown Plantation remaining after the western portion became the town of Jefferson in 1807.

The town was named for a well-known itinerant minister, George Whitefield, who visited Maine in 1745.

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John Ball, and a substantial number of Irish Roman Catholics, settled the area in 1770, attracted by the lumbering opportunities and the ability to ship logs down the Sheepscot River, which also provided power for the associated mills.

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In 1818 the Reverend Denis Ryan, the first Catholic priest ordained in New England, arrived and witnessed the building of the first church (a log structure) in 1822, followed by a brick church in 1833. The bricks were made by hand on the church grounds.

As do many Maine towns with scattered villages, Whitefield has several volunteer fire departments: Coopers Mills, Kings Mills, and North Whitefield.

Although predominately an agricultural settlement, Kings Mills, along with North Whitefield and Coopers Mills, developed around three waterpowers on the Sheepscot River. Formed into the Town of Whitefield in 1809, each of the villages retained its separate identity, and functioned essentially as self-sufficient entities well into the 20th century.*

Coopers Mills is a small community in the far northeastern corner of the town, through which the West Branch of the Sheepscot River flows.  The remains of an old mill dam includes a modern fish ladder to assist Atlantic Salmon in their travels upstream.

Whitefield Town Office

 

Balltown Lane

2nd left on Townhouse Road - South off Grand Army Road (Route 126)

36 Townhouse Road

Whitefield, ME 04353-0058

Phone: 549-5175 

Fax   549-3231

https://townofwhitefield.com/

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