Kennebec Journal/Waterville Sentinel
Central Maine Newspapers
Thursday, July 1, 2004
Early Belgrade Names Still
Found in Town
by Susan Page Davis
(Paul Yeaton's arrival is included in this story)
Before this time, the land was part of a charter grant from the King of England to the colony of New Plymouth. The so-called Kennebec Patent was sold in the late 1600s. In 1753, a group of Boston businessmen incorporated as the Proprietors of the Kennebec Purchase from the late colony of New Plymouth. Some of these men owned property in the area that is now Belgrade, but no permanent settlers were known to have actually lived within the bounds of Belgrade until 1774.
Before incorporation and the more recent reconfigurations of the province and state of Maine, the Belgrade area was part of Washington Plantation, in Lincoln County. After it officially became the town of Belgrade (named for Belgrade, the capital of Serbia), parts of what now make up the town were added from Sidney and the now dissolved township of Dearborn.
The names of the first settlers of the area are well known in Belgrade. Philip Snow, believed to be the first white man to build a cabin within what is now the town, is still honored by the names of Mount Philip and Snow Pond, better known now as Messalonskee Lake.
It was this lake that Snow reportedly swam across from the Sidney side in 1774 to build a cabin for use while hunting. Although he sold his cabin a few years afterward, Snow later lived in Belgrade with his wife and children.
Also in 1774, Simeon Wyman of Woburn, Massachusetts, and his wife, Thankful, arrived in Belgrade with their six children. Wyman's farm was the first one cleared in the area and his son Simeon was the first white child born in Belgrade. The gravestones of Simeon and Thankful Wyman can be found in the Woodside Cemetery on Route 135.
Wyman's daughter, Sarah, married Joel Richarson in 1776. Richardson was a young man who came to Belgrade about the same time as the Wymans, walking up the Kennebec carrying his ax and his gun.
The Wymans are also recorded to have arrived on foot, perhaps because there were not yet any roads, although Augusta had by then had permanent settlers for 20 years.
Joel Richard's family was also long established in Woburn, Massachusetts, and was entwined with the Wymans in earlier generations.
These family names, as well as that of Paul Yeaton, who moved to Belgrade a few years later, have been carried down for many generations in the area. Yeaton received land in a grant from Congress as part of his compensation for serving in the Revolutionary War.
In those early years, the settlers were mostly farmers. There were several grist mills and sawmills. Later, Belgrade was known for its apple orchards, potatoes and other crops.
There are few working farms left in Belgrade. In their place, are local industries including two large lumber mills, Hammond Lumber and Tukey Lumber, and a concrete plant, Gagne & Sons Concrete Products. Most year-round residents are employed in the surrounding area, and Belgrade is now best know for accommodating the "summer people" who flock there each year.
Belgrade became popular as a tourist area more than a century ago, and summer cottages and tourist camps and accommodations proliferated along the lake shores. The area was popular for fishing and vacationing, and drew many wealthy people and celebrities in the warmer months.
The huge landmark Belgrade Hotel burned in 1955, and the guest cabin businesses have waned, but there are still several operating, and many bed and breakfasts are now active in Belgrade, mostly in restored old homes.
Famous past residents of Belgrade include the Morrill brothers, Lot and Anson, both of whom became governors of Maine, and cosmetic mogul Elizabeth Arden. Noted past summer residents include writers Ernest Seton Thompson ("On Golden Pond"), and E.B.White, and Judge Joseph F. Crater, a justice of the New York Supreme Court, who disappeared from Manhattan in 1930 while his wife waited for him at his Belgrade summer home.
While the town of Belgrade has grown and changed much over the years, the natural beauty of the area and the small-town charm are intact. Seasonal residents wtill double the town's population each summer.
Year-round residents stay because they love Belgrade in all its seasons.
