The Bethel Journals

The Bethel Journals

Where are we? Mayville News Trails Snowmobiling Poplar Tavern Today’s Heating Oil

The Bethel Journals are compiled by

Donald G. Bennett

P.O. Box 763

Bethel, Maine 04217

207-824-2094

These journals are intended to be a research source. Peruse what interests you and send me your comments or questions. Collecting information for these journals has been as fascinating as it is educational. Much appreciation goes from me to the people who have contributed and commented already—to them I offer a very big Thank You.

The journals were

made possible by resources of the

Bethel Historical Society.

Contributions to the Society enable others to study Bethel’s regional, local and family history. Interested in Bethel’s origins and early history? Check the Society’s website.

Click here for a look at research tools available.

The Bethel Journals is a collection of local history journals about events and life in Bethel, Maine and its surrounding communities beginning with 1886

Reading the journals reveals a story of development and slow, methodical change as our ancestors made the transition from our past to our present. Life all around them and us was changing. Trains gave way to automobiles. Electricity crept in along with telephones and even radio.

An economy of commodity exports: the Androscoggin River valley was originally settled as an extension of New England’s colonial expansion into areas of untouched natural resources. The valley was home to a thriving export economy of logs, lumber, wood manufactures, sweet corn, potatoes, apples, hay, and livestock. By 1886, virtually every commodity mentioned left the valley farms and mills for regional, national and world markets by rail.

There was a thriving summer vacation industry of hotels, inns boarding houses and farm-inns. The winters were times of getting by. But active social and cultural life was to be found in every village with their lyceums, drama clubs, choral groups, debate clubs, and church circles. Bethel hosted circuses, wild west shows and musical productions that attracted crowds who often came to them by passenger trains and benefitted from special rates for the occasion.

Reading the weekly newspapers paints a picture of how life was and how life changed. A single year’s news can be as interesting and as entertaining as enjoying a crackerjack stage performance of “Our Town” or taking a stage coach ride to a lake side inn.

It all starts with 1886.

Table of Contents

1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1931