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READFIELD — The first Readfield History Walk of 2019 will be held on Friday, April 26, when local historian and author Dale Potter-Clark will lead attendees on a walk and talk of Walker Road.
Potter-Clark will point out where the only four farms were once located on Walker Road and share some familial information. Some of the owners in the 18 and 19 centuries and the years their farms were either built or purchased include Joshua Johnson (1790), Elias Gove (1800), Thaddeus Richardson, Sr. (1802), Steven Bean (1823), Gilman Hawes (1841) and Henry O. White (1846). Several of those men passed part or all of their properties on to relatives. On the other hand, Bean’s 75-acre homestead had changed hands seven times by 1859, when the town of Readfield bought it and established the first (of three) town poor farms there. None of the buildings from any of these farms have survived.
Walker Road was once known as Hawes and Lewis Road. Both families lived in the neighborhood for decades in the 19 and 20 centuries. When road names were changed or made permanent during the development of the E911 system, it was renamed Walker. The original homesteads accumulatively held 275 acres, which were subdivided in the 1980s and now holds 17 homes as well as another road, Frost Lane.
Participants should gather by 10 a.m. at 41 Walker Road, where they will be directed to park. No fee or registration is necessary. Donations to Readfield Historical Society are welcome.
For more information, contact Potter-Clark at 207-441-9184 or crossings4u@gmail.com or visit readfieldhistorywalks.blogspot.com.
PHOTO: Sewall Hawes and his family owned a farm on Walker Road in Readfield that was established by his maternal great-grandfather Thaddeus Richardson in 1802. The farm remained in the Richardson-Hawes family until 1922 and their road was named in honor of the Hawes family for most of that time and well beyond. In this 1895 photo Sewall Hawes is pictured with his wife Carrie and their children. (Readfield Historical Society photo)
