Name/Title
Schoodoc PondDescription
Old Accession Number: 1601
Credit / Gift Of: Christopher Monkhouse, 2013
From Machias Valley News, August 17, 2022:
Looking Back at History
by Ronie Strout
Found in a pamphlet dated 1888,
Schoodoc [sic] Pond, Inland
Summer Resort and Game Park of
Maine For Sale 1888.
Ten miles from the Seacoast, in
the western part of Washington
County, is situated a “Table land”
that is elevated about five hundred
feet above the level of the Sea. The
approach to this table land from the
villages of Cherryfield, Milbridge,
Harrington and Addison, is by
numerous roads running North by
gradual and easy ascent until you
arrive near the top, when the ascent
is sharp and steep until you reach
the summit.
The view from this elevated
position is grand: - To the South the
Church Spires indicate the location
of the Villages, while beyond the
Ocean is spread out before you.
To the left lies Loon Point, Nash’s
Island, The Old Head and other
islands at the entrance of Machias
bay. In front of you is Petit Manan,
Bois Bubert and Pond Island,
while to the right is Mt. Desert
with the Tip-top House crowning
its summit. To the Westward is
Tunk mountains. North of you
lies Old Humpback, Spruce, and
Pleasant River Mountains, while
to the East is Pleasant River with
its meadows and the great heath,
with its hundreds of little ponds the
home of the Black Duck.
The road from Harrington strikes
this table land at the Eastern end
of the base line-a road built by
the government in the year 1857,
under the supervision of Jeff Davis
to make a base line for the coast
survey. It runs about northwest
five miles as straight as you can
draw a line. He built a monument
at each end, but they decayed and
tumbled over with his Southern
confederacy.
A stranger traveling on this road
would pronounce this tract of land
a barren waste, producing nothing
but a few scraggy pines and scrubby
birch, with now and then a tuft
of withered grass struggling for
existence. But upon investigation
he finds he has made a mistake. This
is the great Blueberry Vineyard of
Maine. A few years ago, this
berry crop was comparatively
worthless. A few were shipped to
Boston in crates but only a small
fraction of the crop was gathered.
But somebody discovered that they
made good sauce put up in tin cans.
About ten years ago the first were
put up I this way and found a ready
market. Since then, the business has
steadily increased, until now it is
one of the best paying industries of
Eastern Maine. The berries grow
spontaneously without cultivation.
When the vines are five or six years
old the production diminishes,
when it becomes necessary to set
them on fire in the early spring
and burn them up. In a few days
they spring up again from the old
root, and on the second year yield
a good crop.
The picking season commences
about July 20th and continues about
two months. The pickers come
from the villages and farms in the
vicinity. They make good wages
and get their cash every day. The
average pick for the last five years
was about one thousand bushels
per day