Dixfield

Before its incorporation in 1803, Dixfield was called Holmanstown, after its principal proprietor, Col. Jonathan Holman. Dixfield, the easternmost town in Oxford County, bordered two rivers, the Webb and the Androscoggin, which provided valuable waterpower and drained the town's rolling wooded hills and fertile valleys. The twin peaks of the Sugar Loaves form its most recognizable landmark. In the 1800s, Amos Trask purchased mills that had been built along the Webb River. Over time, his descendants, the Stanleys, Stowells, Eustises, and Harlows, steered Dixfield away from its agrarian roots towards becoming both the toothpick and spool manufacturing capital of the world. From the area's early homes, bridges, and streets to its pioneering toothpick mills and from lumber barons to antique dealers, Dixfield contains an array of photographs designed to present life as it was. The Dixfield community continues forging into the future, drawing on the sterling character of the people who have made it what it is today.

Peter R. Stowell has presented a wide array of images of Dixfield’s people and places. Stowell is a direct descendant of Dixfield Village founder Amos Trask through his youngest daughter Susan Trask Stanley and her daughter Sophronia Stanley Stowell.