The Moose Horn Sign in Abbot, Maine SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY Volume 2, page 194-201 -Note: Three pictures of the Moose Horn Sign have been uploaded to the Me US GenWeb Archives. The Old Moose Horn Sign Post can be found at The New Moose Horns Sign Post can be found at Scene at It's Restoration, 25 Aug 1914 _________ The Piscataquis Historical Society recently voted to replace the old moose horn sign post in the town of Abbot, on the old highway, leading from Bangor to Moose Head Lake, and appointed a committee to make proper arrangements for the affair. This committee consisted of Charles D. Shaw of Greenville; Henry Hudson of Guilford; 0. P. Martin of Foxcroft; H. E. Morrill of Monson and John F. Sprague of Dover. The time fixed for doing this was August 25, 1914. It was decided to make it a public event and it resulted in one of the most interesting historical occasions ever known in Piscataquis County. There was an attendance of several hundred people who came from the adjoining towns and villages in the county, and some from other parts of the state. The Universalist Male Quartet of Dover and Foxcroft were present and rendered pleasing and appropriate selections which were well appreciated by the audience. The meeting was called to order at 10 o'clock in the forenoon by Honorable John Francis Sprague of Dover, President of the Society and Editor of Sprague's journal of Maine History, who called upon Charles D. Shaw of Greenville, chairman of the committee of arrangements, to preside at this meeting. Mr. Shaw in opening the meeting spoke in part as follows: "Ladies and Gentlemen: We assemble here today in memory and in honor of an event which, as near as can be ascertained, took place at this spot 97 or 98 years ago. "in those days history and historical events were not looked upon in the light in which they are today, consequently no record can be found of what actually took place. Presumably there is no one here with us to-day who was present on that occasion to enlighten us. I am authorized and pleased to announce that it has been decided that the Piscataquis Historical Society now take the matter in hand, and in the future take it upon themselves, to maintain and protect the moose horns at this point, for time immemorial and to keep a record of this and all future events pertaining thereto. "And now Mr. Sprague, the donor my brother Albert H. Shaw, presents to the Piscataquis Historical Society these moose horns. His request to me was that I should see that they were properly prepared and set up to take the place of the fragments which were recently hanging to the cold pole. He, undoubtedly, as well as myself has listened to inquiry from people we have met from Moose Head Lake to the Pacific Coast as to whether or not the moose horns still exist, and in his behalf, I present them, through you its president, -to the Piscataquis Historical Society to. be in the future intrusted to its custody and care, so that the question may always be answered in the affirmative: 'The Moose Horns Still Exist.' The tablet attached to the pole is donated by Mr. George H. Wilkins of the Portland-Monson Slate Company in honor of this event." We will now listen to Mr. Sprague who will give you something of a history of the moose horns and its origin. Mr. Sprague then delivered the following address: Mr. Chairman and Members of the Piscataquis Historical Society: One of the objects of this Society is to preserve ancient and historic landmarks within our county. We meet here at this hour by the side of this old highway for the purpose of replacing a sign post which was first established at this place nearly a century ago. To be more accurate, it was in the year 1817 as near as it can be ascertained, from data now attainable. Abbot was first settled by Abraham Moore in 1805 who in 1806 raised a crop and built a log house and moved his family here in 1807. The first trees were felled in the adjoining town of Monson by Joseph Bearce of Hebron, Maine, in 1815, who made what was considered the first settlement there in either 1816 or 1817, Davison (1) fixes it in the former and Loring (2) in the latter year. When these first settlements were made in what was then a vast and unbroken wilderness the beginning of this old highway was a spotted trail over which the inhabitants walked or rode on horse back. This method of traveling continued for several years. Davison says that in 1819 James Stanchfield, Jr., used to go down through here to Sangerville to the grist mill with a horse (3) "carrying about three bushels of grain on the horse's back." 196 SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY As these settlements expanded the road improved and it soon became wide enough for use for teams during the winter seasons, and when the ground was not covered with snow, sleds drawn by oxen could haul loads of merchandise over it, Then later this highway, as we see it today, was laid out legally by these early pioneers, and it became a public way for the use of any and all in the whole world who might desire to pass this way. This became a part of a system of public ways reaching from the great lumbering region of Moose Head Lake to the city of Bangor, at the head of tide water on the Penobscot river. This old road represents days and generations of the past. The commerce of the entire lake country, the immense lumbering business of that region, used to pass over it. It was hauled over these hills and across these merry brooks and dancing s tre ams. It has known all kinds of vehicles, carrying humanity of every degree and condition. Carriages bearing the rich and the poor, the high and the low, the pure and the vicious; men and women with sorrows and men and women with joys, have passed here, and their horses have slaked their thirst at the old watering tubs along its course, fed by continually running streams from the rocky hill sides. The old time stage coach, that thing of grandeur in the early days, once made its proud journeys through the lights and shadows of this old highway, proudly carrying its loads of humanity and faithfully distributing the mails from every part of the world. The state driver was a personage of importance. He was fresh from the city of Bangor every morning and his appearance in the bar room, store and postoffice of every village and four corners along the old highway, was a noted event. During the political campaign he was in his utmost glory. "The village lawyer, the first deacon, the doctor, the leading politician and the solemn-faced parson even, would form an interested group around the Prince of the Whip for the latest news and the details and incidents which could not be gleaned from the weekly journals. Probably the old stage driver's most consequential days as a real oracle were during the exciting times of Kansas, John Brown, and the lurid years of the Civil War. He was a daily bulletin for all. He was good old Jerry McDonald and his long 'line of predecessors, associates and successors, not the least of whom was Henry Norcross and Lem Nichols. "But a change has taken place in the affairs of the old highway. It long ago parted company with the stage drivers and bade farewell to the tote teams laden with the products of every clime destined for the old fashioned stores such as were kept by the Eveleths and the Pullens. The old taverns with their creaking signs have gone too and the modern hotel with its finger bowls and electric lights have taken their place. "The iron way was its rival. The steam power now carries the freights of humanity of chattels andbarter. The shrill whistle from the rival road occasionally startles the passers on the old highway and disturbs the robin and whip-poor-will in their wild wayside homes. "This old highway has witnessed wonderful changes in the past, in the political, religious and social world. But few now are content to jog along over it in the old family carriage after the comfortable manner of our fathers; but the most of the travelers that it serves today are hurling through the land in high-power autornobiles, and each day during summer time it sees them from distant states and cities. "Joseph Bearce of Hebron, whom as we have seen, was the pioneer of Monson, sometime during the year 1817 at this spot where the old Blanchard road butts off from this highway, erected here a sign post bearing one moose horn as a guide pointing the way to Monson, Greenville and Moose Head Lake. Later, in either 1822 or 1823, Mr. Alden G. Kirk of Abbot, who is now living, says that William R. Weeks killed a Moose near the Ripogenus lake and placed these horns on the post which remained until recently when they crumbled from -exposure to the elements. From the time of Joseph Bearce to the present day this place has been known as the Moose Horns by every one having any knowledge of the geography of this part of Maine. "That renowned American philosopher, Henry David Thoreau of Concord, Massachusetts, in 1845-46-47 made three journeys into the wilderness -of Maine, his objective points being respectively Katahdin, Chesuncook and The Allagash and East Branch. His accounts -of these trips were published at the time in the Atlantic Monthly and afterwards compiled in a book entitled "The Maine Woods," which has probably done more to bestow upon the State of Maine a world wide fame as a delightful and enchanting place for summer homing than all else combined. In making his Chesuncoook trip, Thoreau traveled this old highway and made this spot and this old sign post, erected by Joseph Bearce in 1817 famous in American classics. On page 118 of this book, he says: "At a fork in the road between Abbot and Monson,, about twenty miles from Moose Head Lake, I saw a guide-post surmounted by a pair of Moose Horns, spreading four -or five feet, with the word Monson painted on one blade, and the name of some other town on the other." Scores of other lesser writers have since made mention of the moose horns in descriptive writings of this country. It is a true emblem of the early history of northern and eastern Maine; of its first settlers and rugged pioneers, for it represents the noblest of all of Maine's wild animals. The moose was the monarch of the great forestry which the first white men found here. The fears of scientific men and of naturalists, who are studying with care the vanishing wild life of our state, are that the rnoose may go the ghastly way of the buffalo of the western plains, and that long before these graceful antlers, which we place here today shall have decayed and fallen, this noble animal will live only as a memory or a tradition. It is well to, preserve this ancient land-mark and this representation of Maine's grandest wild animal, and the public should be grateful to Mr. Charles D. Shaw of Greenville and his brother, the Honorable Albert H. Shaw of Bath, for the interest they, have ,manifested in this matter. "The Piscataquis Historical Society receives this emblem from the Honorable Albert H. Shaw, understanding that it is the duty of this Society to act as trustee or custodian of it to the extent at least of seeing to it that in the future it is protected and preserved as long as may be, and that in the future it is protected and preserved as long as may be, and that a "recard" (sic) (N.B. must mean "record") of these doings and of all matters pertaining thereto shall be kept and preserved for all time. And now in behalf of the Piscataquis Historical society, I accept of this and thank these gentlemen for their generosity and the patriotic spirit which they have manifested in making this gift to the public. "This Society and the public are also under obligation to the Portland- Monson Slate Company and Mr. George H. Wilkins, its General Manager, for the slate tablet from their quarry in Monson which they have made and presented, that will give information to future generations of the date when this old sign post was first established and the date of our proceedings today; and this tablet will always here represent one of the most important industries in this region. "And thus today the Piscataquis Historical Society makes record of a token that Joseph Bearce bequeathed to the public ninety-seven years ago; of its intention to perpetuate the moose horns as the name of a place in this picturesque part of northern Maine; of its design to hand down this legacy to others who will pass and repass along this old highway after we shall have been forgotten and to whom we shall be unknown. Mrs. Sarah Lucas Martin of Foxcroft read the following original poem: THE MOOSE HORNS. Only a trail through the primal wood, A trail that branched to either hand, Winding and climbing, rough and rude, Through the dusky aisles of the forest land. But the hunter bold, -or the pioneer, Threading the depths of the forest maze, Wildered and worn, cried, "Good Cheer" When he reached the parting of the ways. For high above on the cedar shaft In the pale moonlight or the sun's warm glow, The moose-horns showed the winding path Nigh to a hundred years ago. 'Twas the kindly thought of that pioneer Who builded first in that olden day; Joseph Bearce, be his name revered, Who placed the horns to mark the way. The rough trail grew to a beaten path; The path to a road through a well tilled land; And the horns which clung to the cedar shaft Marked the road which branched to either hand. The suns of summer, the driving rain On the old moose-horns burned and beat; The fearful frosts of a Northern Maine, And the blinding storms of winter sleet. 'Twas nigh to a hundred years ago The pioneer 'heard the call "Well Done;" And the old moose-horns have worn away As all things vanish beneath the sun. So we come this day the work to renew Of the kindly thought of that pioneer; And we nail the horns to the shafting true. May they guide the traveler many a year. Henry Hudson, Esq of Guilford also spoke at some length in a very interesting and instructive manner relating to the early history of the towns of Abbot and Monson; of the early 1 and titles and many things of great interest on those lines. Speeches were also made by 0. P. Martin and H. L. Smith of Foxcroft; H. E. Morrill, Prof. W. S. Knowlton and J. D. Draper of Monson; Frank W. Bail of Dover; Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, the well known Maine author of Brewer; Arthur A. Crafts and H. A. Sanders of Greenville; Rev. E. M. Bartlett of Canton, Connecticut, who has made Monson his summer home for many years; E. P. Blanchard of Blanchard and J. H. Blanchard of Abbot. One of the most interesting incidents of the day was the presentation of a beautiful American Flag by Harry A. Sanders of Greenville, on the condition that it be hoisted on each succeeding anniversary -of this day and on each Memorial Day and the Fourth day of July. The town of Baldwin in 1735 was a wilderness, inhabited by the Pequaket tribe of Indians. It was in this year that Lieut. Benj. Ingalls settled on the farm later occupied by Simon Harding, now owned by Frank Milliken. Feb. 8, 1774, the original grant of the township, including most of Sebago, was made to Samuel Whittmore, Amos Lawrence and others. In 1780 this grant was renewed. Josiah Pierce soon after erected mills. Capt. John Flint, Eleazer, Ephraim, John Cummings Flint, Ephraim Abishai were among the Flints who came to this place prior to and after 178o and before 1800 They were all sturdy pioneers, men of means and were given the preference in naming the plantation "Flints-town." Another landed proprietor, Col. Laommia Baldwin of Massachusetts, though not a resident of the plantation, after disposing of nearly all his land gave the remainder to a friend who was instrumental in having the name changed to Baldwin, on its becoming an incorporated town in 1802. It comprised at that time Sebago, which was set off and incorporated a separate town in 1826. In 1795 the first school was taught by Jos. Richardson 'in his house. In 1805 six school districts were orgainized. In 1795 the earliest recorded marriage was -that on Dec. 15, Of Jona. Sanborn, Jr., to Elixabeth Thorne, by Josiah Pierce, Esq. ______________________________ 1) Monson Semi-Centennial, Address Rev. Charles Davison, Page 5. 2) Loring's History of Piscataquis County (1880) p. 181. 3) Davison, p. 26. -Note: Three pictures of the Moose Horn Sign have been uploaded to the Me US GenWeb Archives. The Old Moose Horn Sign Post can be found at The New Moose Horns Sign Post can be found at Scene at It's Restoration, 25 Aug 1914 (c) 1998 Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society ************************************************* NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. It is always best to consult the original material for verification.