Maine: The Pine Tree State from Prehistory to the Present (Judd, Churchill, and Eastman)
Chapter 11: Maine Agriculture, 1783-1861
James B. Vickery, Dr. Richard W. Judd, and Sheila McDonald first summarize the state of farming in Aroostook County, central Maine, and southern Maine before focusing on the period of subsistence farming between 1783-1820. That era was marked by tensions between settlers and landowners, evolving demographics and farming skills, and the various challenges associated with farming in northern New England.
The historians then focus on the time period between statehood and the Civil War, when the average farm was larger, more productive, and more diverse. It was also the time period when villages began sprouting up in rural communities, village country stores became both the social hub and commercial hub of farming communities throughout the state, and "log-cabin democracy" became the prevailing political culture in Maine's rural communities.
