Contributed by Penobscot Marine Museum
Description
Parker Head was on the main road to Popham Beach in the early 1900s. However, its location on the west bank of the Kennebec River meant that travel and commercial activity had long taken place on the water as well. Sawmills and ice harvesting were once active businesses.
The pier pilings were where lumber, ice, cordwood, and granite were loaded on shipping vessels. The Mill Pond, on the right, powered four sawmills with two saws each. All were under one roof until destroyed by fire on a September night in 1867. In 1870 John G. Morse I and a Bath partner purchased the old mill pond and dam for cutting and shipping ice, starting a business that continued until the late 1890s. Ice sold for $1 to $2 a ton, and often 30,000 tons of ice were cut and sold annually.
The first building on the village end of the Mill Pond dam, on the right, was a store owned by W. A. Oliver from 1901 to1906. It later became Harrington’s store. The tower was on the Baptist church. The bell was in remembrance of three people who drowned in the river off Parker Head. In 1972 the church was torn down, with the bell going to the Phippsburg Historical Society.
About This Item
- Title: View of Parker Head, Phippsburg, ca. 1910
- Creator: Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co.
- Creation Date: circa 1910
- Subject Date: circa 1910
- Location: Parker Head, Phippsburg, Sagadahoc County, ME
- Media: Glass Plate Negative
- Dimensions: 12.7 cm x 17.8 cm
- Local Code: LB2008.19.116691
- Collection: Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Co.
- Object Type: Image
Cross Reference Searches
Standardized Subject Headings
People
Other Keywords
- Church buildings
- Drownings
- Fires
- Granite
- Historical societies
- Ice harvesting
- Shipping
- Shipping vessels
- Stores
For more information about this item, contact:
Penobscot Marine MuseumPO Box 498, 5 Church Street, Searsport, ME 04974
(207) 548-2529
Website
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