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Pettengill Farm LbNA #11471

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Oct 10, 2004
Location:
City:Freeport
County:Cumberland
State:Maine
Boxes:1
Planted by:Giddy
Found by: The Doctor's Companions
Last found:Oct 18, 2016
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Oct 10, 2004
“For 200 years this historic house stood overlooking the Harraseeket River in Freeport, Maine. For 100 years Millie Pettingill called it home. When she was born, the house had no plumbing, no electricity, no furnace, and no telephone. In rural America in 1882 that was not unusual. When she left her farm in the early 1970s, she still had no indoor plumbing, no electricity, no furnace and no telephone. That was unusual.”
— from the Maine Historical Society website

The property is on Pettingill Road in Freeport, off of Bow Street which begins on Route One right in front of L.L. Bean. Tourist traffic may be avoided by those coming from the south by turning right at the light on West Street, left at the stop sign at South Street, and then right at the stop sign at Bow Street. Pettingill Road is on your right at the top of a rise, 0.8 miles past the crosswalk at Bow Street Market. If coming down Pleasant Hill Road from the direction of Brunswick, take a right on Bow Street; Pettingill Road is 0.25 miles down on your left. Park near the gate, and maybe place a donation in the bronze “farmhouse piggybank”. No dogs are allowed on the property.

The walk down the old farm road takes about fifteen minutes. You descend gently through a good mix of deciduous and evergreen trees, past exposed granite ledge, and along the obligatory old stone wall. The road takes a sharp left and aims for the old farmhouse. Stop where the trees on your left end, long before reaching the house. Nearby, an ancient apple tree grows near a stone lined well on the right of the path.

Take a u-turn to your left, walk upward toward another tumbled rock wall, with the road on your left through a few trees. Find the corner of the wall and count back downhill six stones. Look behind this one – wide, flat, and lower than the others.
It is a good idea to bring your own ink, just in case (blue, green, and gray or black if you have them.) Boots will make wandering around the fields easier. As always, enjoy.

5-1-05
NOTE:
The original stamp for this site was carved with the name spelled "Pettengill" as I was familiar with. In doing further research online, I carved a new stamp which used the spelling "Pettingill" as this spelling was used on the Freeport Historical Society website and mirrored on the Maine Historical Society website (the above description was cut and pasted directly.) This has since been changed on these sites to "Pettengill.” Many websites still use "Pettingill", and MSN Maps has the access road listed as "Pettengil Road"; I'm going to leave it as it is in case it ever changes back!
Happy Boxing, Giddy.