TIMES RECORD • October 22, 2026
Stone walls in Midcoast Maine are as ubiquitous to our forests as lobster boats are to our harbors. You don’t have to search far to find one. I cross the street that runs by my house on Youngs Point in Wiscasset, step into the woods, and there it is. This is but one of several stone walls located on the 200-acre Eaton Farm Preserve. The land was once used for growing hay and grazing sheep and cows. Given its proximity to the Back River and its mudflats, it was and still is used for clamming and worm digging. At the time when many of these stone walls were built, it was common for them to be part of a complete fence that included wood. When the property was later abandoned as a working farm, the wood would eventually rot away leaving just the stone walls. ~ Patrick Sandefur, Wiscasset