Place:Fryeburg, Oxford, Maine, United States

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NameFryeburg
TypeTown
Coordinates44.0°N 70.967°W
Located inOxford, Maine, United States
Contained Places
Cemetery
Pine Grove Cemetery
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Fryeburg is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,369 at the 2020 census. Fryeburg is home to Fryeburg Academy, a semi-private preparatory school, and the International Musical Arts Institute. The town is also site of the Fryeburg Fair, which each October attracts approximately 300,000 visitors.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

The area was once a major Abenaki Indigenous peoples of the Americas village known as Pequawket, meaning "crooked place," a reference to the large bend in the Saco River. It was inhabited by the Sokokis tribe, whose territory along the stream extended from what is now Saco on the coast, to Conway, New Hampshire in the White Mountains. In 1706, Chief Nescambious would be the only Native knighted by the French. For a while the tribe was not hostile to English settlements, even hiring British carpenters to build at Pequawket a high palisade fort as protection against their traditional enemy, the Mohawks. In 1713, Sokokis sachems signed the Treaty of Portsmouth to ensure peace with English colonists. Eventually, relations with the English soured. During Father Rale's War, Pequawket was attacked in the Battle at Pequawket on May 8, 1725, by John Lovewell and his militia. Lovewell was killed, as were Chief Paugus and others. The tribe subsequently abandoned the village and moved to Canada.

The township was granted on March 3, 1762, by the Massachusetts General Court to Colonel Joseph Frye of Andover, Massachusetts. Colonists called it Pigwacket, a corruption of its former name. The first permanent settlement was in 1763 by Nathaniel Smith and his family from Concord, New Hampshire, though it is said that John Stevens, Nathaniel Merrill and a slave named Limbo spent the winter of 1762 here. Many pioneers were veterans of the French and Native Wars. When a portion of the grant was discovered to lie in New Hampshire, replacement land was granted as Fryeburg Addition in what is now part of Stow. On the eve of American independence, the Province of Massachusetts Bay granted township privileges to Fryeburg. These were recognized and validated by the Continental Massachusetts government on January 11, 1777, when Fryeburg was incorporated.

It began as a strategic frontier outpost, and the earliest town in the White Mountain region. Excellent soil helped Fryeburg develop into a prosperous agricultural center, and the first gristmill was established using Saco River water power in 1766. Other mills and factories produced lumber, leather, , tinware, cheese and canned vegetables. After the Civil War, the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad passed through town, bringing tourists escaping the heat and pollution of cities. Inns, hotels and boarding houses were built. Tourists began arriving by automobile after designation of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway in 1919 (identified as United States Route 302 since 1935). Fryeburg is today a year-round resort area. It is also an academic town. Fryeburg Academy, a private preparatory school, was founded in 1792. Before his career as a , Daniel Webster taught for a year at the school, one of the oldest of its type in the nation. In 1924, Dr. Abraham Krasker founded Indian Acres Camp For Boys. Two years later, Dr. Krasker's wife Gertrude founded Forest Acres Camp For Girls. In 1997, the International Musical Arts Institute was founded at Fryeburg.

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