Until We All Got Older And Realized It Was Stupid!
Stream between the towns of Steuben and Gouldsboro Maine
I think I’ve mentioned before that Bud is full of stories from growing up in Downeast Maine. I could write a whole book on his childhood!!
One of the places Bud mentions often in his stories is a place called Whitney Parrish Stream. Story after story, whenever he mentioned this stream I began to see the place as the Downeast Maine equivalent to the Mason Dixon Line. Bud grew up in the town of Steuben. The western most town in Washington County. The adjoining county, known as Hancock County, started to the west of Steuben, in the town next door, Gouldsboro. This meant that Whitney Parrish Stream not only divided the two towns of Steuben and Gouldsboro, but it also divided two counties, Hancock and Washington.
For some reason, known only to the adults of the time, Bud, his siblings and his friends, all living in Steuben in Washington County, had to be bussed to a consolidated high school two towns over to the west in Hancock County. In doing a little digging (ok I asked Bud’s cousin Myrna) I learned that in 1953 there were only 17 students left in the Steuben High School and that’s when the decision was made to close the school and bus the students to the new consolidated school, Sumner High School, in Sullivan. What makes no sense to any of us now is why? See there was another consolidated high school, Narraguagus High School, just to the east of Steuben in the town of Milbridge right next door and in Washington county! When I quizzed Bud as to why the kids were sent to Hancock County to attend Sumner when there was a perfectly good school in Washington County he didn’t seem to know. Whatever the reason was, the students from Steuben had to cross Whitney Parrish Stream every day to go to school. Thus began Bud’s childhood memories of this make shift line in the sand.
From what I can gather the crossing of Whitney Parrish Stream only went one way. The kids from Steuben could cross it to go to school, but the kids in Gouldsboro, or any other town in Hancock County, could not cross it to interact with any of the Steuben kids outside of school. The power of this stream seems to have also carried into the high school culture itself. From what I have surmised from the stories is that the kids from Steuben, the only kids in Washington County who had to go to school in Hancock County, and thus had to cross the stream to get to school, were never really accepted by the kids from Hancock County at the consolidated school. You know the old phrase being from the wrong side of the tracks? This was similar only it was being from the other side of the stream. At least that’s the way Bud remembers it and because of that, his stories of his teenage years are colorful, full of night time raids through the forest, and frequent mentions of Whitney Parrish Stream as the boundary of their world.
With my love of history, coupled with my fascination of human behavior, I began to wonder if Whitney Parrish Stream had always carried this mystical demarcation between Hancock and Washington Counties. Was it really as important in the local culture as Bud remembered? Did everyone in that area use the stream as the defining point of where their boundaries were? And if it was, who was Whitney Parrish whom the stream was named after? The research hunt was on!
First thing I learned was that it was NOT Whitney Parrish Stream. When located on Google Maps it clearly shows it as Whitten Parritt Stream. When I pointed this out to Bud he looked at me oddly. “That’s what I said.” I rolled my eyes. For the record I’m still struggling to learn the Downeast Maine version of English. If you don’t believe me go back and read my blog “They call it a Haith” it will help you understand my struggle. So quickly my research switched from looking for someone named Whitney Parrish to someone named Whitten Parritt!
There is no one named Whitten Parritt. So the stream is not named after any one individual. So that blew my imaginings of a crusty old Downeaster chasing the kids from Hancock County off his land, in the 1970’s, hence the reason why it became the dividing line in Bud’s memory. So I dug deeper. That’s when I found a mention of Whitten Parritt in a 1790 report to the Massachusetts Court of General Sessions of the Peace. This report was filed with a petition to improve a road. I was thrilled! This meant that there was a long history here and not just something recent. I love history!!!
The report to the General Court stated that the road, which was thought to have been originally built in 1783 by Loyalists escaping to Canada after the Revolutionary War, was approximately 18 miles long and ran from Steuben in the west to Addison in the east. The report gave the road various names along its course. Known as Whitten Parritt road it was also known as Baker, Downes, Townsley, Tracey, Oakes, Guptil, Campbell, Fickett and Damon Road. I found that piece really interesting, those were all surnames. The report also stated that there were settlers living along this road so I surmise that there must have been 10 - 12 homes along the road and depending on who’s house you were in proximity to is the name the road was known by at that place. All of these surnames must have been the settlers along the road. 10-12 homes in an 18 mile stretch of road meant no one was close to their neighbors!
The report stated that the road started on the western boundary of Washington County in the town of Steuben at “what is called Parritt’s Mill Stream.” That’s the stream!!! I found it!!! But in 1790 it was known only as Parritt’s Mill Stream, no Whitten. So now I knew I was looking for two individuals with the surnames Parritt and Whitten. My research rabbit hole got deeper and Bud’s amusement with my quest grew.
Thomas Parritt arrived in Steuben in 1770, twenty years before the request for road improvements. He came before the Revolutionary War even started. He was from Scotland and came to the area of Downeast Maine by way of “Canada” is what I found. Not New Brunswick, which is the Canadian province that borders Maine, but from Canada. I then found references that he had been a residence of Nova Scotia in 1770, so he must have came from there straight to Steuben. He and his wife Lydia had nine children, although I haven’t been able to learn how many of them were born in Steuben or if they came from Nova Scotia or Scotland has a family unit. What is known is that Thomas purchased the land on the western edge of Washington County and built a mill on the stream that would eventually carry his name. Well his name and that of someone else. The mysterious Whitten.
Hours, I literally spent hours trying to find a Whitten in Steuben that could have been a business partner of Thomas Parritt’s, or at the least owned land near the stream. Zero. I kept coming up empty handed. Until it dawned on me that the stream divided two towns, two counties! Maybe the Whitten I was looking for wasn’t in Steuben, or even in Washington County, maybe he was next door, on the other side of this line, in Hancock County! Sure enough I found him easily! Phineas B. Whitten, the same age as Thomas Parritt, born in York Maine, married in Kennebunkport Maine on Christmas Day 1770 to Hannah Joy, and their first child was born in Gouldsboro in 1772.
From what I can gather, at least the road, where it crossed the stream, has always been known as the Whitten Parritt Road, probably since the 1770’s, because these were the two families that lived along the road in that section. They had done so 10 years before the Loyalists even used the road as a means of escape, 20 years before the request for improvements. The stream we know was known only as Parritt’s Mill Stream in the 1790 report to the Massachusetts General Court. So when did the name change there to match the road? That’s harder to say.
I have a copy of the 1881 map of Steuben. This is a great map because it shows the names of all of the town’s residents and where they lived. If I look at the names written near the stream I find no Parritts at all. Lots of Smiths! A Tracey, a Bunson and a Perry, but no Parritts on what would have originally been known as Parritt’s Mill Stream. There are three mills listed on the stream, but the names are generic, “Steam Mill”, Saw & Stave Mill” and also a “Spool & Stave Mill”. Near these mills there are two households though, “A. T. Whitten and O. E. Whitten.” So 90 years after we know the stream was known as Parritt’s Mill Stream there are no Parritts living there but there are two Whittens. I think it’s safe to say somewhere during those intervening 90 years the Parritts sold their mill interests or possibly even removed from the area, as there are only 2 Parritt households in the entire town of Steuben on the 1881 map. When one or both of those things happened the stream assumed the name that the road had always been known as. Whitten Parritt Stream is named after the road that was known as Whitten Parritt Road in the area where Steuben and Gouldsboro adjoin each other and where the counties of Hancock and Washington meet.
When I showed all of this to Bud he was impressed. “You found all of that?” he asked me. I nodded, pretty satisfied with myself. Goal accomplished, I had found the origin of the name of the stream. “Still doesn’t explain why the stream held so much significance to all of you kids though.” I said. “I was hoping I could find some tale of a family feud or something, you know like the Hatfields and the McCoys, to explain why the stream was so important to your boundaries. What I really wanted to find was a historical reason behind it being a boundary marker.” He shrugged his shoulders, “Ya well, we all thought it was important at the time, until we got older and realized it was stupid!” That made me laugh!
If you’d like to see the stream for yourself, you can, just take a drive up Route 1 through the town of Gouldsboro and into Steuben. The picture above is the actual stream. There’s a small turnout and you can walk down through the forest a bit to access the stream. Bud and I stopped there a few weeks ago. I figured after all of my research I wanted to see the place for myself. I took the picture below of the trees around the stream. None of the trees in there look much older then me, so I imagine that 200 years ago there were less trees and more mills! At least we know the Parritts had a mill there!
The road, now modern day Route 1, pretty much follows what would have been the original road. The road the Whittens and Parritts built in order to settle in that area in 1770. The road that the Loyalists used and expanded upon in 1783 to escape to Canada after the War for America’s Independence. The road that in 1790 needed improving as it became a major thoroughfare between Steuben and Addison. History comes alive when you realize it still lives all around you!
This is my last blog for a bit as Bud & I take some much needed time off. If you are not already following me on social media please do so. You can find me @mshoreswriter on Facebook, Instagram and X. I’ll try to post there as often as I can about what we are up to! I’ll resume writing my weekly blog when we return to working more instead of relaxing!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!