The Forgotten Village of Punkintown

Nestled deep within the woods of Eliot Maine once lived a community of 30-40 people, existing self-sufficiently and separate from the surrounding cities of Eliot and South Berwick. This was known as Punkintown Village. At its height in the 1800's it included anywhere from 7 to 10 families, at least one quarry where they cut stone for their house foundations, and their own grist mill for processing grain. This village survived into the early 1900's until a series of fires and illnesses led to its demise. The woods overtook what remained of the village, and today not a single signpost or marker stands that would point you to where it once stood.

Internet research hasn't been much more productive, with the most entertaining piece of information being the legend of cross-eyed Emma Jane, one of the last inhabitants who would walk into neighboring South Berwick to steal food from gardens and try to sell it back to the townsfolk.

So off we went one Saturday afternoon to try and find the village for ourselves. Our hike began on a dirt road off Route 236, where a trail would supposedly lead us to a pair of lakes the village once sat between. Sure enough, an unmarked trail continued uphill at the end of this dirt road. There were several side paths along the way, but we stuck to the main trail as we believed this was the original horse & buggy "road" that led to Punkintown Village.

Perhaps half a mile into our walk we found this memorial stone, and although nothing about it indicated Punkintown we at least felt we were on the path to somewhere.

Next we came across 3 of these stone pillars, which we thought might be markers of some sort. But although we scoured the area pretty thoroughly we found nothing else of interest nearby.

After a mile of walking what finally suggested to us we had reached the village was this cellar hole. It was set back from the main path and you had to be looking to spot it amidst all the growth, but it was unmistakable once you did.

We reached the end of the main trail without any further discoveries, but many side paths still needed to be explored. The bugs were attacking pretty fiercely though, so we decided that Tina and Logan would return to the car while Barry and I each picked a trail to walk 5 minutes down. It was a last ditch effort to find anything else.

I was perhaps 60 seconds down my trail when I struck gold, coming across the remains of this old cemetery.

It was the Plaisted family cemetery, which I'd remembered reading to be one of the families that inhabited Punkintown Village. It was run down but wonderful, standing alone in the middle of the woods as it was. Like many family cemeteries this one has a large memorial in the center listing each family member,

And many smaller stones with brief descriptions of who was buried underneath, such as this one simply labeled "mother". I can only hope my kids give me something equally as loving when I die.

Finding this cemetery made the entire afternoon worthwhile, and has encouraged us to make subsequent trips back to explore more of the side trails. In three follow up visits we have found another house foundation, a quarry, this fully standing structure,

and this partially standing one.

And although information has been scarce, I did find a reference online that spoke about the remnants of the village, and of its cemeteries. Plural.

Which means there's still more treasure to be found in the woods of Punkintown.