Amity

Welcome To Historic, Friendly Amity, Maine!

The Story

Amity Maine, a town in southern Aroostook County with a population of 199 in 2000 has grown to 238 souls today.

The high for population was 1880’s 432 head count. Bordering New Brunswick Canada on the east, Amity Maine has 102 households, 65 families. Often you will hear of North Amity and at one time, there was this and South Amity for villages. The town office on the east side of US Rt 1 is a small modern ranch style building. US Rt 1 cuts the township in half north to south. The original settlers bought their land for 20 cents per acre with half down in cash, the other half work in kind on building the roadways to open up Town 10 Range 01 or Amity Maine. For a time in the early years this location was called Township 10. Aroostook County is a neat series of square townships because it developed later and more systematic orderly when surveyed. Jonathan Clifford, Jonathan Greenleaf, Columbus Dunn were some of the earliest town fathers or original settlers.

The Reed School, an original structure restored in red color is parked to the north west of the town office.

The one room Reed School built in 1870’s with original wainscoting was open yearly as long as the town could afford and used up until 1971. Then absorbed in consolidation with the MSAD 70 Hodgdon school system. In 2001 the Reed School was added to the registered list of National Historic Places.

Headed by a corner woodstove upfront with a long pipe running the ceiling lengh to a chimney in the back, Reed School had an attached bathroom that was simple and chilly. My secretary attended classes at the Reed School and Priscilla Farrar was the most memborable teacher during her first four years of Amity academics.

There was another South Amity one room school house long gone that her brother six years older went to growing up on the Estabrook Road. In 1880 at the peak of population there were three public schools in all.

The North Amity post office had a zip code of 04471 which applies to Amity and Orient.

And for years was located in a home on the north side of the Tracy Road and east side of US Rt 1 location. Clark Bubar was the driver of the local school bus Amity run and Verna Bubar was the postmistress. This same restored two story home was for a period a bed and breakfast run by Linwood and Beveral Bubar. This fine residence and large gambrel garage is now owned by a US Border Patrol office and his family. Their daughter was Little Alice in the Hodgdon school’s Alice In Wonderland production last year.

The early settlers of Amity cleared the wooded land by hand and using horses. March 18, 1836 Amity Maine became an incorporated town. It was nip and tuck in the early years and the exact location of the US-Canadian border on the East of Amity caused much friction.

It took several treaties to define the border and now Monument Stream, thanks to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, is the major boundary with Canada. Here is a map of Amity showing terrain. There is protected conservation land in Amity, the northern end of the East Grand Lake headwaters / watershed.

Margaret Frye is the Amity Maine town manager. You can see Mt Katahdin at Baster State Park from certain areas in your drive around this six by six mile Aroostook County township. There are large fertile farm fields around the location of the town office and thousands of acres of wooded land.

The Plantation of Cary, township 11 to the north is now trying to disband and become unde the control of the unorganized territories of Maine and Aroostook County. Besides Cary Plantation to the north, Amity is bordered on the south by Orient, on the west by both TA R 2 (affectionately called “Letter A”) and also T3 R2 which is the unorganized territory of Forkstown Maine. Canada is the International boundary partner all along the eastern borderline.

How To Get Here

Small towns don’t have airports, train stations, super highway exits. Like most Maine towns, Amity is one of those kind of communities. You can head north on Interstate 95 and take the Lincoln exit and cut across Chester to hit US RT 2A to Haynesville to cross on the Ferry Road or Danforth Road to hit US Rt 1. Lincoln to Springfield on Rt 169 will get you to Danforth for the left to get on US Rt 1. You will pass through the gorgeous East Grand Lake chain of waterways and enjoy the Million Dollar View in Weston if you do on the way to Amity located just above Orient.

Heading south from Houlton Maine on US Rt 1, you will pass Hodgdon, Cary Plantation and hit Amity. It’s that easy. The snow sled and ATV four wheeler trails are another way to access the Aroostook County town. I would not suggest coming in from the Canadian side which has lots of manpower and technology protecting the International border from both sides!

Things To Do For Fun

Everyone has a different definition of what they find relaxing or stimulating for fun. When you live in Maine, the majority of the merriment happens outside. All four seasons folks living in Amity or visiting there can enjoy the snow sled and ATV four wheeler trails. The woods paths to hike and hunt in the fall enjoying the brilliant leaf colors. Spring and summers, the streams to kayak and canoe, to wet a fishing line are ready when you are. It is all about fresh air, clean water and no people but lots of wildlife. Low population towns in Maine promise you peace and quiet. Help you be able to hear yourself think.

In Amity, the many lakes in proximity always call your name. Sailing on or swimming in East Grand Lake, water skiing or tubing on Deering or Brackett Lake is family fun. So is fishing for brook trout in Skagrock, Jimmy Brook, Daggettt or Meadow Brook, Monument Stream for a memorable recreational option. Hunting for white tail deer, moose, black bear or game birds in season may be what to do today if you find yourself in Amity Maine.

The peacefulness of being warm, well fed in your small woods cabin. Or planning your next day outing for the sportsmen is one big atraction in all this vast space of Amity. Wildlife, fresh air and no people has its solitude listing reward. Amity is a bedroom community for Houlton Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers your host and here to gratefully serve you.

Looking forward to providing the best insider local information from a native passionate about living here. Let me share what living here as a native I can offer you! Thank you for visiting our Maine real estate website and we will work hard to show you the ropes, the lay of the land. To give you the small town community online tour perspective the best way possible to educate and not waste your time.

You get involved living in small Maine towns. I do. You will too. You will fit in just perfectly. Proud member of the state and national REALTOR associations. Past president of the Aroostook REALTOR Council, Rotary Club, Chamber Of Commerce, the Southern Aroostook Growth Council and Drews Lake Property Owners Association. Past chairman of the Houlton Zoning Board.