Editing Hebron, Maine (section)

==History==
It was granted on March 8, 1777, by the [[Massachusetts General Court]] to Alexander Shepard, Jr. of [[Newton, Massachusetts]] as payment for a survey chart of the Maine coast that he had assisted making. It was named [[Shepardsfield Plantation]], although early inhabitants called it Bog Brook Plantation. There was a farm settled in 1764 on what is now Sodom Road in Hebron before the Revolution and the grant to Alexander Shepard Jr.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Whitman |first1=Mildred I. |title=Along the roads to Sodom |date=1991 |publisher=Mildred I. Whitman |location=Buckfield, Maine |page=[[File:Moses Snell Homestead.jpg|thumb|Moses Snell Homestead]]
 |edition=2nd printing |url=https://bethelhistorical.org/catalog/item/L0673 |access-date=December 2, 2018}}</ref> The first settlers of Shepardsfield Plantation were Captain Daniel Buckman and his family in 1778. Others followed, many fresh from the battlefields of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]. On February 27, 1829, Hebron's southwestern half was set off and incorporated as the town of [[Oxford, Maine|Oxford]].<ref name=Coolidge>{{Cite book  | last = Coolidge  | first = Austin J.|author2=John B. Mansfield  | title = A History and Description of New England| publisher = A.J. Coolidge  | year = 1859| location = Boston, Massachusetts| pages = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ/page/n189 155]–156| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ| quote = coolidge mansfield history description new england 1859.  }}</ref>

[[Agriculture]] was the principal occupation, with [[hay]] the chief crop. In addition, the town had fine [[orchard]]s. The outlet of Marshall Pond, the largest body of water, provided [[water power|power]] for [[watermill|mills]]. There was a [[sawmill]], [[roof shingle|shingle]] mill, [[Bucket|pail]] factory, [[blacksmith]] shop and [[shoemaking|shoe]] shop. In 1804, Deacon William Barrows, Jr. was instrumental in founding [[Hebron Academy]]. The town would be crossed by the [[Rumford Falls and Buckfield Railroad]].<ref>{{Citation
  | last = Varney
  | first = George J.
  | title = Gazetteer of the state of Maine. Hebron
  | place = Boston
  | publisher = Russell
  | year = 1886
  | url = http://history.rays-place.com/me/hebron-me.htm
  | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130201011157/http://history.rays-place.com/me/hebron-me.htm
  | url-status = dead
  | archive-date = February 1, 2013
  }}</ref> The Western Maine Sanatorium opened at Hebron in 1904, the first of its kind in the state. It treated [[tuberculosis]] patients with rest, fresh air and a healthy diet. Taken over by the state in 1915, it closed in 1959.