STRATTON – Each year, the founders of Stratton are celebrated at the Dead River Area Historical Society. On Sunday, Aug. 24, the founding Stevens Family of Eustis, will be honored at an event hosted by direct descendant Caleb and Lisa Stevens of Dryden. Caleb Stevens grew up in Stratton and his many friends are invited to drop in and say hello.
One hundred and ninety five years ago, Caleb Stevens (1776-1855) journeyed, with his wife Sally Thomas Stevens and nine children, from Kingfield to the intersection of Stratton Brook and the Dead River in the fall of 1818. They walked as far as Carrabassett the first day and arrived to their destination on the second day. This was not Caleb Stevens’ first trip.
His first trip in August 1818 was to scope out the new enterprise, build a cabin and barn and then return in the fall to get his family. Read the history of this brave family in the early wilderness of Maine as written by a family member in the Franklin Chronicle in the late 1800s
Route 27, between Kingfield and Stratton is now “The Caleb Dalton Stevens Memorial Highway,” to honor Stevens.
The Dead River Area Historical Society is open every weekend throughout July and August from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Displays include a collection of old carpentry and logging tools, china, glass, church organ, furniture from native families, a complete schoolroom, a memorial room to the “lost” towns of Flagstaff and Dead River, the lineage of several native families, and a host of memorabilia from native homesteads.
