Pittston Farm’s 100th: Activities set at state landmark

Pittston Farm, a settlement carved out of the North Woods a century ago to serve lumberjacks working for Great Northern Paper Co., will celebrate its 100th anniversary on July 14.

Owners Jen and Bob Mills have planned a full day of activities at the farm settlement, which was turned into a four-seasons resort after the paper company stopped using the property for wood harvesting.

“I think [Pittston Farm] is extremely important to the history of the state of Maine,” said Jen Mills. Located about 50 miles northwest of Greenville, the farm symbolizes the long-gone era of river drives and was a gathering spot for Indians who favored the location nestled at the confluence of the south and north branches of the Penobscot River.

In 1907, Great Northern first started carving out the settlement in the woods to serve as the point for supervision of the paper company lands in the region. The settlement also provided a place where work crews could find a good night’s rest in bunkhouses, eat hearty meals together in a dining room in the lodge, and get medical attention in a 30-bed hospital ward. Later, World War II prisoners of war were housed nearby and treated at the infirmary.

The self-sustaining settlement had vegetable gardens, farm animals, including several teams of horses used in wood harvesting, a water tower, a power plant, and a telephone system.

While the paper company constructed six such settlements in the North Maine Woods in those earlier years, Pittston Farm is the sole survivor.

Ken Twitchell, who bought the property in 1992 after serving as its caretaker, spent a lifetime renovating and adding to the property, which now includes a boarding house, an office building, a barn, a blacksmith shop, a restaurant, sporting camps and a campground. He also was responsible for having the buildings on the site listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“It’s a beautiful place,” said Mills, who along with her husband bought the farm and 44 acres in 2005 and operate it with the help of their son, Guy, and his family. Eagles soar overhead, hummingbirds seek out the nectar from the wildflowers and the feeders, and moose and deer are frequent visitors.

Because the logging history plays such a significant role in the settlement, the family has invited former GNP workers to join in on the anniversary celebration. They will be asked to share their memories of the farm in its heyday.

In addition to the memories, the public will get an idea of the flavor of what life was like in those years through several demonstrations.

Visitors will learn how to operate a cross-cut saw, how to make ice cream the old-fashioned way, and how to churn butter. There also will be demonstrations of the Lombard hauler, which is a steam log hauler, and tours of the farm, the barn and logging museum.

Maine humorist Gary Crocker will entertain visitors, and speakers will include Sen. Peter Mills, R-Skowhegan, and a representative of Sen. Olympia Snowe.

As has been tradition at 44-acre Pittston Farm that is surrounded by thousands of acres of state-owned land, the owners will offer the farm’s famous all-you-can eat buffet featuring bean hole beans and the fixings.

A country barn dance with Maine’s Fiddlin’ Tim Farrell and Danny Breau will precede fireworks at dusk.

The cost of the event is $24.95 for adults and $10 for children 10 and under.

If you go

Directions: Take Route 15 to Rockwood and follow signs at the end of the bridge at Moose River in Rockwood. Pittston Farm is about 20 miles out on the 20 Mile Road. Day visitors will be required to pay a gate fee of $1 per person.

Details: Call 280-0000. E-mail info@pittstonfarm.com.