Before routes 4 and 17, before the railroads, before the stage road or even the two ruts from the buckboard was the Indian trail leading north from the Kennebec and Sandy Rivers to a chain of lakes that characterize the place now called the Rangeley Lakes Region.

Until 1796 the area belonged to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. That year four men - including James Rangeley Sr. of Philadelphia - purchased nearly 31,000 acres between the Kennebec River and New Hampshire for timber and mineral rights. The area was inhabited by five different Indian tribes at the time - the St. Francis and the Abnacki, thought to be the most predominant. The lakes, known as the Androscoggin Lakes, included Aquassuc (which was later changed to Rangeley), Mooselookmeguntic, Mollychunkamunk and Welokennebacook (the Richardsons), Umbagog, Cupsuptic and Kennebago Lake.

Although privately owned, the Indians had the land exclusively to themselves until 1810. It was not until a few years later that Rangeley Lake would see any permanent "white man" settlement. The first family was from Avon - Luther Hoar, his wife, Eunice, and eight children, including 7 week-old baby Eunice. In late March of 1817, they...more >>