Dexter Abbott's Mountain Spa, 1848-1872
1848
Dexter D. W. Abbott, founder of the mineral spring business at Mt. Zircon, buys farm property at the foot of the mountain on Stickney (now “Zircon”) Brook. Mount Zircon is known as “Peaked Mountain” during this early period. The area is known as “Abbottsville” for many years after this.
Dexter Abbott’s 1848 deed for the farm at foot of Mount Zircon.
1852
Dexter Abbott buys the “Mt. Zircon Farm” property, containing the spring.
Gillette and Huntington’s 1858 wall Map of Oxford County, Maine, identifies Mount Zircon as “Peaked Mt.” and Little Mount Zircon as “Thornton Mt.” Named for Dexter D. W. Abbott, the founder of the mineral spring business on Mount Zircon, “Abbotsville” appears near the center of this map segment, which includes portions of Rumford, Milton Plantation, and Franklin Plantation. The Moon Tide Spring is indicated just below Thornton Mt.
A panoramic view of circa 1890 (composited from two photos) reveals the lush farmland that once existed on and around Mount Zircon, whose pyramid-shaped cone rises in the center of this composite photograph. On the left is the white steeple of the former Methodist Church at East Rumford village, while to the right of Mount Zircon, at the edge of the Androscoggin River, is the small hamlet known as “Abbottsville.” The photographer was standing near the top of Eaton Hill.
1857
Dexter Abbott begins marketing mineral spring water on Mt. Zircon.
July 5, 1859
Mt. Zircon Spring officially opened. The first “Mt. Zircon House” (hotel) is completed later this year, and a post office is located here.
Taken on July 5, 1859, this photograph documents the “official” opening of the Mount Zircon Moon Tide Spring to the public. The identities of the well-dressed people standing around the spring have not come down to us, with the exception of two individuals. The woman in the center of the photograph, standing at the edge of the spring and holding a darkly colored hat, is Drusilla Putnam Abbott. Her husband, Dexter D. W. Abbott, the originator of the spring water business on Mount Zircon is the man standing to her right.
1859
The Ricker family of Poland Spring (who are closely related to Dexter Abbott’s family) begins commercial shipment of mineral water there.
Dexter D. W. Abbott’s 1850s mineral spring and hotel venture on Mount Zircon may have been inspired by the more long-lasting efforts of the Ricker family of Poland, Maine, to whom Abbott was closely related. Hiram Ricker’s Poland Spring House, begun in 1876, was built to supplement that family’s rustic but charming “Mansion House,” erected in the 1790s.
1860s
Mt. Zircon water is shipped out in barrels. Many testimonials are published about the curative ability of the water here.
From the late 1850s until the early 1890s, spring water was hauled off Mount Zircon in large wooden barrels. Steep and often muddy, the road from the spring to the valley floor challenged even expert horse drivers.
October 13, 1872
The Mt. Zircon House (first hotel) is destroyed by fire.
