Benedict Arnold and his troops passed through Maine’s Northwestern Mountains Region on October 19, 1775, on their way up the North Branch of the Dead River to fight in the ill-fated Battle of Quebec.
The first recorded visitors to the southern end part of Maine’s Northwestern Mountains Region were John W. Dutton and Nathaniel Kimball in 1805. They returned the following year with their families and began a settlement. In 1807, William King (later to be Maine’s first Governor), purchased the township as part of the Bingham Plantation. In 1816 Kingfield was incorporated as the 210th town in the Maine District of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Salomon Stanley was one of the earliest town settlers. His twin sons, Francis Edgar (F.E.) and Freelan Oscar (F.O.) became famous as manufacturers of the Stanley Dry Plate, bought in 1903 by Eastman Kodak, and the Stanley Steamer automobile, manufactured from 1902-1924. Their sister, Chansonetta, became a photographer renowned for her portraits of local rural life. The Stanley Museum celebrates the family and its accomplishments.
The first recorded residents to the northern part of Maine’s Northwestern Mountains Region (Eustis), Caleb Stevens, a native of New Hampshire and the first settler. He brought with him his wife and nine children, the eldest, a son being eighteen years of age. Abram Reed, of Kingfield, was the second settler and soon followed by Capt. Isaac Proctor, Frank Keen, Nathaniel Allen, and Reuben Bartlett from Hartford and Noah Staples from Dixfield.
Eustis village in the northernmost town in Franklin County. It is located on the North Branch of the Dead River and the smaller of the two villages. Stratton, the larger of the two villages is located on Stratton Book and Flagstaff Lake.
Carrabassett Valley is the youngest Town in the State of Maine. It was incorporated on Oct 26, 1971, and is the home to Sugarloaf Mountain. This area of Maine’s Northwestern Mountains Region was part of the William Bingham’s Kennebec Purchase, had been originally known as Jerusalem Township.
In the early 1950s, residents began developing Sugarloaf Mountain as a ski resort.
