![Fryeburgh [Fryeburg], ME: population, rivers, lakes, mountains, resorts, hotels, motels, inns, and landmarks.](https://newenglandtowns.org/new-england-towns.jpg)
Fryeburgh [Fryeburg], Maine
Oxford county. This interesting and pleasant town lies on both sides of Saco river, on the line of New Hampshire. The uplands are not remarkable for their fertility but the intervales of the Saco are of the choicest kind. Fryeburgh is only 6 miles square, yet the Saco here is so fantastic in its course that it winds itself between 30 and 40 miles within its limits. This town, the Indian Pequawket [Pigwacket], lies 75 miles W.N.W. from Augusta, 47 N.W. from Portland, and 28 S.W. from Paris.—Population, 1837, 1,444. Incorporated, 1777. The principal village is situated on a plain, surrounded by lofty hills, and watered by the Saco: it bears evident marks of antiquity, and has an academy "with a cabinet of rare curiosities, collected with much dilligence."—Lovewell's pond lies a short distance from the village. This beautiful sheet of water, now the resort for innocent amusements, was once the scene of bloody combat, and of the overthrow of a powerful Indian tribe.
The story of Lovewell's Fight has been told thousands of times, but as it is identified with the town of which we treat, we quote a brief notice of the event from the North American Review.
"It was on the 18th of April, 1725, that Capt. John Lovewell, of Dunstable, Massachusetts, with 34 men, fought a famous Indian chief, named Paugus, at the head of about 80 savages, near the shores of a pond in Pequawket. Lovewell's men were determined to conquer of die, although out-numbered by the Indians more than one half. They fought till Lovewell and Paugus were killed, and all Lovewell's men but nine were either killed or wounded dangerously. The savages having lost, as was supposed, 60 of their number out of 80, and being convinced of the fierce and determined resolution of their foes, at length retreated and left them masters of the ground. The scene of this desperate and bloody action, which took place in the town which is now called Fryeburgh, is often visited to this day, and the names of those who fell, and those who survived, are yet repeated with emotions of grateful exultation."
