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Litchfield Historical Trivia |
| What Kellogg
cereal was named after a Litchfield native?
answer There is only one known recipient of The Congressional Medal of Honor buried in Litchfield. Can you name him and the war in which he served? answer What prominent, post Civil War Litchfield resident may have arrived here via the Underground Railroad? answer Many know that Litchfield was once called Smithfield. Do you know a third name used in the 18th century? answer "Swingling" was a task performed in connection with what crop grown in early Litchfield? answer In pre Civil War Litchfield, many residents took the Washingtonian Pledge. What were they Pledging? answer Present day Buker, Sand, and Woodbury Ponds originally had the same name. What was it? answer Early Litchfield was much larger than today’s town. Can you name three towns which claimed pieces of the original Litchfield? answer Before bridges were built, ferries crossed Cobbossee Stream from three “landings”. Can you name the landings on the following roads: Dennis Hill, Lunt’s Hill, and Pond. answer Which of Litchfield’s several lakes and ponds was once known as, “Cabot’s Great Pond”? answer Litchfield has produced many heroes. Can you name the farm boy who did the following: Prepared himself for Bowdoin College, went to California as a ‘49er, earned degrees from Bowdoin and Harvard Divinity School, served in the Union army as both a chaplain and line officer, and gave his life at the battle of Cold Harbor? answer Hiram Elmer Shorey, one of the founders of Rotary International, is one of Litchfield’s most famous sons. What was his occupation? answer Before the Civil War, Litchfield was the home of two college preparatory boarding schools. Can you name them? answer
Eighty five years
ago, Litchfield was serviced by commuter rail which linked it with
Lewiston/Auburn, Augusta, and Waterville. What was the name of this
rail line? answer
When early Litchfield records referred to, “The Pond”, which of
Litchfield’s many ponds was it? answer Early settlers of Litchfield were required to mark their live stock for identification and have the mark recorded in the town records. How was this done? answer Water from all of Litchfield’s great ponds ends up in what common destination? answer Cobbosseecontee is derived from the Native American word for what fish? answer The earliest known map of Litchfield (then Smithfield) had but a single road. This road, then called the County Road, still exists. Can you name it? answer In 1803 the selectmen of Litchfield divided the town into three religious districts. The North Baptists, the Congregationalists, and the East Baptists. Which one never built a church? answer Which early settler of Litchfield seems to have fought on both sides in the Revolutionary War and was clever enough to be perhaps the first ‘double dipper’? (He got a pension from both sides.) answer The section of Litchfield known as “The Plains” had another name which derived from an early family who owned much of the land in that part of town. What was the name? answer Litchfield lost two thirds of its population in the century following the Civil War. Which 20th century Census records Litchfield's lowest modern population and what was that population? answer Few people know that Litchfield once had a gold mine. What was its location? answer The Patten Mill Bridge crossed what stream? answer Early Settlers of Litchfield used wood to heat their houses and cook their food. Which three available hardwoods provided the most BTU’s per cord. answer In the early days, the area north of Purgatory belonged to Litchfield (now shared with West Gardiner). What was this area commonly called? answer Litchfield once had water-powered carding and fulling mills. These were associated with the manufacture of what product? answer What is the current name of a stream once known as Jack stream? answer Most of the eastern shore of Upper Pleasant
Pond was taken from Litchfield and given to Richmond. Richmond
Corner, however, was formerly part of what town?
answer
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