Friday, November 16, 2012

Readfield History Walk #4 ~ Fogg Farm Conservation Area

Fogg descendants (at front of the line) Bonnie Lash and
Joanne Fogg-Fournier joined us for this History Walk.

 
History Walkers hiked the Fogg Farm Conservation Area on Fogg Road. This 15-acre gem was part of the Fogg Farm for nearly two centuries. In the early 1990s, after the farm was subdivided, the land was donated to Readfield with a conservation easement to the Kennebec Land Trust. An easy loop trail winds through mixed forest uplands for 0.4 mile.  Following this we watched the "FOGG Farm video"  made in 1989. In the video Barbara Fogg (wife of Sam Fogg, Jr.) led us through a tour, room by room, while sharing history and showing historical items that were collected by members of the Fogg family for nearly 200 years. A year later the property was sold, the land subdivided, and most of its contents auctioned. The barn was torn down but the original house still stands and is occupied. Walkers also learned about the nearby Gove homestead, Marston Cemetery and the Theodore
Fogg homestead in 2012.
Marston Homestead.

Friday, November 2, 2012

Readfield History Walk # 3 ~ Torsey Pond Nature Preserve

Annette Donaghy at our destination in
Torsey Pond Nature Preserve.

Milt Wright, Dale Potter Clark, Bonnie Gilman-Parlin
Eileen Gilman-Lord, Annette Donaghy and Brenda Boutlier-
Deojay. Barbara Clark-Gilman took the photo.
History Walk #3 was Torsey Pond Nature Preserve. This series of trails wanders through 92 acres of woods, over and alongside a curvy, babbling brook and ultimately comes to a wildlife observatory at a marsh on Torsey Pond. The serene trails are very well marked and skillfully maintained.  The historical background on this walk was the Goucher farm, of which this preserve was once a part, and the transitions of Torsey Pond in name, use and appearance over the past 250 years.