Around Ripley

Two hundred years ago, six tiny villages-Ripley, Corinna, Harmony, St. Albans, Dexter, and Cambridge-were established in the rolling hills of Central Maine, each no more than a few miles from the next. By 1810, the village populations were virtually identical. As waterpower technology advanced, the populations of the villages on bodies of water with sufficient fall increased as industry and commerce developed. However, electric power, the telephone, and the automobile were the great "eveners," and by the twentieth century, waterpower made little difference to the villages' economic growth. Despite fluctuations in population, these towns have remained rural hamlets and bedroom communities for nearby cities. Around Ripley attempts to capture the interesting history and everyday activities of these six towns through carefully selected photographs from each community.