ALEXANDER, MAINE PLACE NAMES
                                                        Prepared by John Dudley - 2013

Place names often tell a bit about local history; but sometimes lead to questions. This list will help readers of the web site orient themselves in their travels around town. If you have answers, or more questions, e-mail John Dudley at 216 Pokey Road “Tuf End” Alexander ME 04694

ADDISON PLACE: About ¼ mile north of the Airline and ¼ mile west of the South Princeton Road is a blueberry field with a cellar. That marked the home of James Addison, the 1870 resident. Addison rented from the original settler, Nathaniel Merserve.

AIRLINE ROAD: Often simple called the Airline, this name for Route 9 comes from the Airline Stage Company that ran a stage coach along this road between Bangor and Calais from 1857 to 1887. This is the major east – west highway in town and in this part of Maine. (See Blacks Road)

ALEXANDER: This town and our neighbor to the east were named for Alexander Baring of the Baring Brothers Bank in London. The name was applied to this township before incorporation 1825.

ARM ROAD: The source of this name is a mystery. At one time it ran from Tylers Corner on the Cooper Road to the Airline near the Church in Crawford. The eastern part was once the County Road and the western part in Alexander today is named the Crawford Road. Also the part in Crawford today is named Crawford Arm Road.

BAILEY HILL: Named for Civil War soldier Isaiah Bailey, this is the hill east of Four Corners and west of Meadow Brook.

BAILEY ROAD: Likely original name for ARM ROAD westerly from TYLER CORNER past the home of early settler Nathaniel Bailey [1773 – 1853] and his wife Mary Frost. Their home was on lot 77.

BARROWS LAKE: This lake is in the southwest corner of Alexander, Deeds, census records and other sources give no hint to the source of the name. Its area is 1.13 Square miles. This lake is in the East Machias watershed.

BEAR BROOK: There are twenty-seven brooks that bare this name listed in Stanley Attwood's Length and Breadth of Maine. The one in Alexander is not listed. Ours rises in a bog in Alexander, crosses under the South Princeton Road south of Taylor Hill, and dumps into Pocomoonshine Lake in Princeton southeast of Clark’s Landing.

BERRY ROAD: Named for Nellie Berry, this public road goes from the Flat Road east to the top of the hill where Nellie lived. As a private road it continues to camps on Meddybemps Lake.

BIG GOODHUE: A 1280-acre woodlot located north of the Airline, officially lot # 27. Likely this and LITTLE GOODHUE (lot 26 and 320 acres) were named for owners Stephen and Thomas Goodhue of Worcester and Lowell Massachusetts. Ebenezer Hanscom of Crawford sold the larger lot to Stephen Goodhue on August 6, 1835.

BLACKS ROAD: What we know call Route 9 or the Airline Road was named for a time in our history after William Bingham’s second land agent John Black.

BREAKNECK MOUNTAIN: No story exists of a man breaking his neck on this mountain. Was it an ox? Breakneck Hill on the Airline in Day Block is named for the stage driver who died there. The peak of this glacier made mountain is about 700 feet above sea level. The mountain was once home to a community of settlers, complete with school and cemetery. Now it is mostly blueberry land.

BREAKNECK ROAD: Today this road runs from Grange Hall Corner (Route 191) in Cooper to South Shore Road by Pleasant Lake in Alexander. It goes over the mountain of that name. Originally its Cooper end started at Frost Corner on the County Road and went to Sears Corner on the Arm Road in Alexander.

BURNT BARN HILL ROAD: This discontinued leaves the Cooper Road across from the Cedar Schoolhouse and runs west to Breakneck Road. It was at the top of the first hill that Seth Damon’s barn burned.

CARLOW FLAT: This is on Breakneck Mountain, west of the road over the mountain and near the north forested part. Named for the family that lived here ca 1900.

CEDAR: This name applied to a neighborhood from the top of Gooch Hill to the Cooper line, to the Post Office that served the area, and to the schoolhouse that still stands at 580 Cooper Road. Belle Carlow was the postmaster and the PO was at her house at 589 Cooper Road.

CHASE BROOK ROAD: Created by developer Robert Hazelwood, this is accessed via Meddybemps Shores Road and parallels the lakeshore.

COOPER ROAD: This road runs from the Airline by Lanes Brook south to the Cooper town line. In Cooper the road is called the North Union Road, a name that once was used in Alexander. The North Union was a school district that included scholars from both towns. (See County Road).

COUNTY ROAD: County roads connected the shiretown (Machias) to the parts of the county. The name County Road is found all around Maine and New Brunswick. Even today most Maine counties maintain county roads. Route 191 from East Machias to Grange Hall Corner in Cooper approximately follows the original County Road. At Grange Hall Corner the County Road followed the Breakneck Road up to Frosts Corner then down the where the North Union School once stood. From there the County Road followed the North Union Road and Cooper Road northerly to the Airline, hence up the McArthur Road with the plan to go on to Princeton. However the backside of Kendall Mountain was steep and a great bog was beyond that convinced the locals (who were building the road) and the County Commissioners that the route should be changed. Thus after the 1820s the County Road went westerly from Tylers Corner for almost a mile (on the Arm Road), north about 1 mile on the Old County Road and another 2 miles along the South Princeton Road then northeasterly on that same road to present day Route 1 in Princeton.

CRAWFORD ROAD: A new road was built ca 1990 by Carleton Davis between the south end of the Davis Road and the Arm Road at Sears Corner. That new road and the Arm Road westerly to Crawford was named Crawford Road.

DAMON SET OFF: A strip of land on either side of the Cooper Road just before the present Cooper/Alexander town line. The set off is one mile long (east to west0 and 50 rods wide. This was in Cooper until February 22, 1838. John K. Damon of Cooper wanted his farm set off into Alexander and the Maine Legislature approved the change.

DAVIS ROAD: named for its builder and first owner, Carleton E. Davis, this road runs south from the Airline about a mile west of the Four Corners to Pleasant Lake Camp Ground that Carleton developed on the west shore of Pleasant Lake. Carleton sold camp and house lots along the road, and eventually sold the road to the town.

DEAD STREAM: this stream rises in the valley between Burnt Barn Hill and Breakneck Mountain. When early settlers built a straight-line road between Gooch Hill settlement and Breakneck, they built an earthen dam upon which the road crossed. It appears that the dam also directs more water down Dead Stream, instead of down a steep brook to Pleasant Lake. Several mill sites are located along the stream before it dumps into the Dennys River in Cooper.

DILL HILL: Same as Hunnewell Hill, named for Dill family that married into the Hunnewell family about 1895.

DISTRICT 1: This term refers to School District 1 which was where pupils attended the Four Corners Schoolhouse located at 1719 Airline Road. These district numbers changed over time; these numbers are from 1910. Details about these schools are found on this web site under Community Life – Education – One Room Schools.

DISTRICT 2: This term refers to School District 2 which was where pupils attended Hale Schoolhouse located at 76 Cooper Road. This district and schoolhouse had several other names over the years. The building was built in 1840 for the NorthEast School District. It was called the Lower District being lower then Four Corners. It once carried the name Townsend School after Manly Townsend and family. The building was our fire hall and today id a storage garage for Roger Holst.

DISTRICT 3: This term refers to School District 3 which was where pupils attended the Loverin District Schoolhouse located on the east side of the Robb Hill Road. Two buildings were at the site at different times. Joseph Loverin pioneered a farm across the road. Alfred Perkins was the last to farm there, thus in the twentieth century; some used the name Alf. Perkins District

DISTRICT 4: This term refers to School District 4 which was where pupils attended Cedar School house located at 580 Cooper Road. This was built in the early Twentieth Century and after 1957 was used for religious purposes and more recently as a private home. Nineteenth century pupils of this neighborhood attended North Union School in Cooper or Districts #2, #5 or #6 in Alexander.

DISTRICT 5: This term refers to School District 5 that was where pupils attended a schoolhouse on the Breakneck Road. It is possible that school was held in private homes before and after the existence of the schoolhouse. Since school did not keep the same terms in the various districts, some scholars would attend school in a neighboring district. Yola Crosby, a Cooper resident of the North Union District, attended Cedar School (District 4) some winter terms when North Union school was closed. Being the last child in her family, and only one still at home, she wanted sociability.

DISTRICT 6: This term refers to School District 6 which was where pupils attended the schoolhouse where the Breakneck Road once left the old Arm Road, near Sears Corner. Like the Breakneck School, we have only a general idea of its location.

DWELLEYS LAKE: John W. Dwelley and his sons ran the mill at the foot of Pleasant Lake. For a time the lake carried their name.

FISH HOUSE LANE: This short private way serves three camps west of Pokey Road. From ca 1900 to ca 1935 Fred Harriman had a fish house on the shore of Pocomoonshine Lake where he processed fish to ship fresh to the Boston market. The fish were transported by wagon, then truck along this road and to Woodland where they were loaded onto the train.

FLAT ROAD: This public road runs southerly from the Airline across from the cemetery for just over a mile. From there it continues as a private road to and along the shore of Meddybemps Lake. See Gooseneck Road.

FOUR CORNERS: This names the neighborhood where the County Road intersects with the Airline. Today the name South Princeton Road is the north arm of this corner and an abandoned road is the south arm. The neighborhood has been the site of a schoolhouse, a church, four stores, a ball field, a sand/salt shed, a cemetery (now abandoned), a motel, a blacksmith shop and several homes.

FOWLER POINT: Judge Fowler of Calais had a camp on this point during the first quarter of the past century. It is on the gravel esker that runs from north of our cemetery, is the Sand Hill of the cemetery and is the flat land along the flat Road. A hole in this esker was washed away by Sixteenth Stream so the water could get into Meddybemps Lake. That action created Fowler Point. The esker appears south of this gut, only to be broken again by water from Fifteenth Stream.

GOOCH HILL: Located of the Cooper Road, this carries the family name of two of Eben Gooch’s sons, John and Joel who resided west of the road, having moved from their parents home on Breakneck Mountain. The steep part is just south of Pleasant Lake. Most glacier hills have a steep north slope.

GOOSENECK ROAD: This name was used for the southern part of the Flat Road, maybe the private part.

GREEN HILL ROAD: This road has a gravel start in Alexander, on the Cooper Road at the south edge of town. It serves two addresses in Alexander and two in Cooper before it becomes a trail through the woods and swamps until it reaches Green Hill in Meddybemps. That Green Hill, a huge blueberry field, was Northeast Ridge in Cooper until 1842. From Green Hill to Route 191 near the Village of Meddybemps the road today is gravel. The road was used commonly before automobiles.

HALE SCHOOL: This school was originally for the Northeast School District. The land and building was deeded to the town in 1841. After more than a century as a schoolhouse, it was our fire hall from 1956 to 1994 when the new fire station was occupied. It still stands at 76 Cooper Road as a privately owned garage. The Hale name has not otherwise appeared in Alexander records.

HARWOOD LAKE: Pleasant Lake with another name, this one was a mill owner in Machias. His name is on a Machias street and on the Masonic Hall there.

HENDERSON SWAMP: On the Cooper Road, just north of Spring Hill. This low place in the road is where Meadow Brook used to flood and close the road to traffic. This is named either for Levi Henderson who lived at the corner of the Cooper and Arm roads (Tyler Corner) or for his blacksmith son Walter whose home was the first going up Spring Hill on the east.

HUFF ROAD: Named for early settler John Huff or his son Claudius, this lot line road once ran from the Arm Road to north of the Airline. Today we see it as the north – south part of the Arm Road, as part of Frank Williams’ driveway, and along the edge of the blueberry fields on either side of the Airline, east of Mr. Ed’s Blueberry Shed.

HUNNEWELL HILL: The short but steep hill on the South Princeton Road about ¼ mile northeast of the Pokey Road intersection. Named for the family that lived in the area since the mid nineteenth century. The hill was so steep that cars and trucks in the old days had to back up the hill to get the gravity fed gasoline from the tank to the engine.

JOHNNY GATE: John and Margaret (Blaney) McLaughlin lived on the west side of Pokey Road from ca 1864 to ca 1900. After they left, the whole area was fenced as a pasture. The gate, or set of bars, is long gone but for the memory of a few old folks.

KENDALL MOUNTAIN: This remnant of the last glacier stands in the north central part of town. The top is about 600 feet above sea level.

LANES BROOK: This brook rises on Kendall Mountain, goes under the Airline by the intersection of the Cooper Road, under the Spearin Road and dumps into Sixteenth Stream. In the mid nineteenth century, Lanesbrook was the neighborhood near the brook and the name of a post office located there. The name must come from early resident Rufus Lane.

LANES HILL: The hill on the Airline between Lanes Brook and Meadow Brook.

LONG CROSSING: The corduroy road crossing a long swamp on the Airline Road near the eastern side of town. This section of road was bypassed when the road was rebuilt in 1991

LOVERING DISTRICT: This school district included the neighborhood east from the cemetery on the Airline and the homes along the Robb Hill Road. on both sides if the town line. The road also was once named for Joseph Lovering who lived up hill from the school, on the west side.

LYONS ROAD: This road, also called the Thistlewood Road, ran north from the Airline on the east side of Lanes Brook. The road today is named the McArthur Road, after that family. But a short private road that intersects with the McArthur road at the end carries the Lyons Road name because it passes by the old Greenwood Lyons house site.

MAINE RIVER: This river is about five miles long including the Mud Lakes. It flows from Pocomoonshine Lake to Crawford Lake.

MCARTHUR ROAD: Historically known as the Lyons Road or the Thistlewood Road, The selectmen chose to use the McArthur name in memory of early resident Fay McArthur and his family.

MEADOW BROOK: This brook flows off Kendall Mountain, under the Airline between Bailey Hill and Lanes Hill, under, and occasionally over, Cooper Road at a place called Henderson Swamp. Meadow Brook then continues southeasterly and dumps into Sixteenth Stream.

MEDDYBEMPS HEATH: Designated as a National Natural Area, it is in Alexander, Cooper and Meddybemps. The name Meddybemps comes from the Indian term for place of alewives.

MEDDYBEMPS LAKE: This lake, at 12.4 square miles, is the 19th largest lake in Maine. It lies in Alexander, Baileyville, Baring and Meddybemps. It is part of the Dennys River watershed.

MEDDYBEMPS SHORES: A development on the eastern side of town in lots 73, 74 and 128. It is reached off the Airline by MEDDYBEMPS SHORE ROAD that ends near the Baileyville town line.

MUD LAKE: Actually there two, Upper and Lower on the Maine River between Pocomoonshine and Crawford Lakes. They are each about ¼ square mile in size

NELLIE BERRY ROAD: (See Berry Road)

NORTH UNION ROAD: At a time the road south from the Airline to route 191 was all called by this name, Today we call the Alexander part Cooper Road and in Cooper they use this earlier name.

OLD COUNTY ROAD – OLD COOPER ROAD: These two names refer to an abandoned road that runs from the Four Corners on the Airline to the Arm Road. Several settlers lived along this road prior to 1830.

PINE RIDGE ROAD: Name given to the Flat Road as it runs along the gravel esker the to serve 19 camp lots developed in 1959. These 50-foot wide lots were for sale by Carl Peterson of Calais.

PINE TREE SHORE: This private lane runs easterly from the Pokey Road. It is named for the ca 1970s development it serves on Pocomoonshine Lake.

PLEASANT LAKE: An old name and again the name of the lake that is just west of the Cooper Road, north of Gooch Hill. This lake has had many names and today has many residences along its shores. It is ½ square mile in size. Water in this lake flows down Sixteenth Stream to Meddybemps Lake and on down the Dennys River to the ocean.

POCOMOONSHINE LAKE: Most of this lake is in Princeton. The name is not Passamaquoddy. Here is a name that is a good question. (See Shining Lake). Its area is 4.17 square miles. Pokey is the head waters of the East Machias River.

POKEY ROAD: This road runs north from the South Princeton Road and got its name from the lake at its north end.

ROBB HILL ROAD: This abandoned road runs north from the Airline to the top of Robb Hill. It roughly follows the town line between Alexander and Baileyville and once had a few homes in each town. The Robb family lived at the end of the road.

SAND HILL: The hill is on the Blacks Road (Airline) where the Alexander Cemetery is located. Part of a glacial esker that runs to Meddybemps Lake (see Pine Ridge Road).

SEARS CORNER: The Arm Road, after going westerly from the Cooper Road takes a ninety degree turn to the south where lots 76, 77, 85 and 86 meet. The original Arm Road went south for about ¾ of a mile and turned west. Where it turned west another road went east then southerly to Breakneck Mountain. This intersection is called Sears Corner after Civil War Soldier John Sears who lived on settler William Crockett’s farm. Crockett’s home site and the school site are on what we call the Crawford Road in 2012.

SHAY FIELD: Merle Knowles gave me this name years ago. It was up stream from the Cooper road, on both sides of Meadow Brook. Or should that be spelled Shea? Did someone leave an old one-horse shay there to rot away? The field is grown to woods, but the land has been leveled and stone piles throughout tell of hard work years ago. No family of either spelling had a recorded deed to land in Alexander.

SHINING LAKE: Name of Pocomoonshine Lake as found on maps in 1861 and 1881. This lake really shines in the afternoon when viewed from South Princeton and on the ridge of the South Princeton Road in Alexander.

SIXTEENTH STREAM: The outlet of Pleasant Lake. It flows about 3 miles to Meddybemps Lake. It drops about 58 feet, mostly near Pleasant Lake where a mill(s) once stood.

SKUNK HOLLOW: The valley where the Spearin Road crosses over Lanes Brook. Alberta, Ethel and Elbridge McArthur walked this road to and from Hale School. One day they met Mr. Skunk and thus the name.

SOUTH PRINCETON ROAD: This road goes from the Airline at Four Corners northerly into Princeton and the village of South Princeton. Children from Taylor Hill went to school in South Princeton and some former residents of that neighborhood are buried in the South Princeton Cemetery.

SPEARIN BROOK: This brook rises north of the Airline and flows northerly through lot 27 (Big Goodhue) and empties into Upper Mud Lake, about 3 miles long.

SPEARIN ROAD: Names for early settler Jeremiah Spearin who lived on this road that runs from the Cooper Road to the Flat Road. .

SPRAGUE BARS: This gate marked the drive to a house at 178 South Princeton Road. Sometime in the 1980s Hazel Dwelley told me that the cellar in the field across from her house was the Sprague Bars Place. Her remarks and the following testify to the value of oral history. Matthew Sprague was born on July 8, 1798 at St. Stephen, NB. Mary Brown, his wife, was born March 25, 1807 at Baring. They were married March 28 1829 and had the following children; twins Olive and Amanda, Ruth, Samuel, Almeda, Jane, Byron and Matthew. This family was living in Alexander according to the 1840 census and their deed is for the north part of lot 45, exactly where Hazel told me!.

SPRING HILL: Named for early settler William Spring, this hill is on the Cooper Road, running south from the Spearin Road to Meadow Brook

STEPHENSONS LAKE: Jesse Stephenson was the first to have a mill at the outlet of this lake, actually two mills, a sawmill and a gristmill. His daughter married John Dwelley whose name also is attached to what we call Pleasant Lake.

STEVENS STREAM: Name found in 1861 and 1881 maps of what we call Sixteenth Stream. Likely a corruption of Stephenson who first owned the mill.

TAYLOR HILL: The hill is on the South Princeton Road, partly in Alexander and the lower part in Princeton. Named for Jonathan Taylor who married Samuel “Bog” Brown’s daughter and lived in Brown’s home at the top of the hill. The farm is the only documented site of a fire lookout tower in Alexander. Moses Kneeland owned the Brown place then and some call the hill Mose Kneeland Hill.

THISTLEWOOD ROAD: See Lyons Road and McArthur Road.

TOMMY LONG ROAD: This road runs east from the Cooper Road and is named for the long time twentieth century resident who lived at the end of the road.

TOWNSEND HILL: Named for the Manley Townsend family, this hill is on the Cooper Road between the Airline and the top of the hill where the family lived.

TUF END: When Joe Hunnewell signed Lelia Crafts’ autograph book in 1893, he added his address, Tuf End. That was and likely still is the neighborhood at the north end of the Pokey Road. Was this section named for the people who lived here or for the poor soil that made it a “tuf” place to make a go of it?

TYLER CORNER: The intersection of the Arm Road with the Cooper Road carried the name of early resident of the corner, George Tyler. The Animal Pound was located across from his house.

WAPSACONHAGAN BROOK: This brook rises east of the Flat Road and flows northerly under the Airline, west of the cemetery, northeasterly near Robb Hill and on into Baileyville where it joins the St. Croix River in Woodland. It had huge hay meadows along its banks near Robb Hill.

WAPSACONHAGAN HILL: The steep hill on the Airline just west from our cemetery.

WAPSACONHAGAN ROAD: A private gravel pit road and forestry access road that leaves the Airline just west of the Cemetery. It runs to the north. From this road it is possible to access the wooded area on most of Kendall Mountain on the west and Robb Hill on the east.

WEYMOUTH PLACE: Area south of Tommy Long Road on lot 88 where Kit and Carol Pollock now live. Named for Calais investor Alexander Weymouth.