THE MAYVILLE STORY

 

Mayville is a village within the town of Bethel, Maine.  When the first white settlers arrived in Sudbury Canada Plantation, Bethel’s name from 1768 to 1796, those who occupied land north of the Androscoggin River were referred to as living “north of the river”. Mayville as a name for the village residents in this area first appeared in print in an 1868 Oxford County Newspaper and this name was connected mostly with reports about the 2d Congregational Church which was formed in the village in 1848.

 

Mayville’s earliest settler, who came here in 1782, was Eli Twitchell.; he came to Sudbury Canada from Sherborn, Mass., (at the time Sudbury Canada was also part of Massachusetts). In fact the Twitchell family name dominated the Mayville area for over 75 years.  Two other early settlers were Rev. Eliphaz Chapman in 1789 from Methuen, Mass., and Moses Mason, Jr., in 1799 from Dublin, New Hampshire. 

 

Mayville had been a favorite corn growing area for local tribes of Abenaki Indians who continued to populate and visit the area until well into the 19th Century. Our Native Americans had sacred burial and  Powow sites along the Androscoggin River. Eli Twitchell became well known as a trader with Indians from the St. Francis River in Canada and those who made their home locally. 

 

Rich intervale farm lands along the Androscoggin River made the Mayville very attractive to white families coming into the area from the south. 

 

Early Mayville’s greatest disadvantage was its separation from the main, larger part of the town due to the river.  In the early days, scholars had to cross the river by boat to attend school. In 1803, Bethel voted ferry privileges to Samuel Barker who operated a ferry connecting Bethel proper with Mayville for many years. A trestle type of bridge built in 1839 lasted only one year. A huge two lane covered bridge was built in 1869 supported by granite piers; it lasted until 1927 when a steel truss bridge replaced it. Mayville became the gateway for a  host of logging enterprises exploiting the virgin forests of the Sunday and Bear river valleys and the Rangeley Lakes to the north.

 

Mayville Stories will, hopefully, interestingly, fill  you the reader with absorbing historical  accounts ranging from 1782 until today.

Bethel’s two lane, three span covered bridge was an 1869 engineering marvel.  At last a reliable bridge would connect Bethel Hill and the village of  Mayville.  For over 60 years, northbound travelers had to use Barker’s Ferry to cross Maine’s third largest river where it divided the town of Bethel.

 

Two bridges are better than one. Besides the highway bridge the State of Maine constructed a new separate 400 foot span for snowmobiles and walkers in 2005.