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The Sunday River...

The Sunday River received its name from a surveying party who spent a Sunday on its banks and the Bear River being so named due to there having been a bear in or near this stream when discovered by this same surveying party.

In 1869 there was a huge flood on the Sunday River which was called the "pumpkin flood" because the intervales were covered with ripe pumpkins which floated down the river.

The Sunday River Area has a very colorful history dating back to 1774 when Bethel was founded as Sudbury Canada. This area was originally part of Sudbury, Massachusetts.

The American Revolution slowed settlement of the area. The first settlement in Newry was in 1781 by Benjamin Barber and Ithiel Smith of Cape Elizabeth, Maine. In August of 1781, the last raid by hostile Indians in the State of Maine took place when a small war party from Canada left their canoes at Lake Umbagog and canoed down the Bear River to the Sunday River. They then took three captive up the Androscoggin to Canada.

The town was originally known as the Sunday River Plantation. Early inhabitants spent considerable time hunting, trapping and fishing. Some of the wild animals provided meat for the tables and trappers of bear, fox, beaver and mink found a good market in the fur industry. Fishing supplied the table with the ever-popular brook trout.

The rocks of Newry are mainly granites and gneisses. As these granites cooled and contracted, cracks appeared and were filled with mineral rich material from the interior of the magma. This coarsely crystallized granites are called pegmatite and are very noticeable in the Bear River. At the summit of Hall's ridge lies the world famous Newry Tourmaline Mine. This quarry is visited by hundreds of mineral collectors searching for watermelon tourmaline, rose quarts crystals, amblygonite, and rare alkali and phosphate minerals. Beryl is also found at a nearby location as are feldspar, spodumene, mica and columbite. Gold has also been panned in small quantities from both rivers.

Visitors to the area should be sure to plan a trip to visit the Bethel Historical Society and tour the Dr. Moses Mason (1789 - 1866) house [Story about "Dr. Moses Mason and His House"], a restored 1813 Federal style residence. Dr. Mason was a physician and businessman and one of Bethel's most prominent citizens during the first half of the 19th century. The front portion of the Dr. Mason house serves as a period house museum containing 18th and 19th century furnishings, as well as wall murals painted during the mid-1830s and attributed to the itinerant artist Rufus Porter. A large barn, connected to rear of the house, currently houses the Bethel Historical Society's office, a meeting room, research area, and exhibit space. While there you will be able to view a large collection of period articles, photographs and other area literature on display.

The Bethel Historical Society is currently developing plans for expanding their location and their displays to the historic Foster-Straw House, an impressive Italianate style residence, next door to the Dr. Moses Mason House. This property, along with the Moses Mason House and grounds, will eventually become the Historical Society's "Center for Local and Regional History."

You can find more information about the Bethel Historical Society and their Current and Upcoming Exhibits at: http://orion.bdc.bethel.me.us/~history.

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