The Pownal Cattle Pound is a historic stone
animal pound
An animal pound is a place where stray livestock were impounded. Animals were kept in a dedicated enclosure, until claimed by their owners, or sold to cover the costs of impounding.
Etymology
The terms "pinfold" and "pound" are Saxon in origi ...
in
Bradbury Mountain State Park,
Pownal, Maine
Pownal is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,566 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area. Pownal is home to Bradbury Mountain ...
. Built in 1818, it is one of a modest number of these once-common structures left in the state. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 2004.
Description and history
The Pownal Cattle Pound is located about northeast of the center of Pownal, on the northwest side of
Maine State Route 9
State Route 9 (SR 9) is a numbered state highway in Maine, running from the New Hampshire border at Berwick in the west to the Canada–US border with New Brunswick at Calais in the east. SR 9 runs a total of .
Route description
Sta ...
. It is located in
Bradbury Mountain State Park, which the road passes through, with the eponymous mountain rising north of the structure. The pound is a rectangular stone structure, built of dry-laid fieldstone, with an opening near the northeast corner. The walls currently vary between and in height, but were probably originally in height; the difference is due in part to collapse, and in part to use of some of the stone in local road projects in the 1950s. As built, the walls were thick at the base and thick at the top, and would have been topped by a timber beams. The opening was originally topped by a long granite lintel, which now lies on the ground inside the enclosure, and would have been closed off by an iron gate.
Since early colonial days, most New England communities used animal pounds as a means to pen in stray livestock until it could be recovered by its owner. The town of Pownal, incorporated in 1808, hired John Tyler to construct this pound for $50 in 1817; he completed it the following year. The land on which it was located belonged to the Cotton family, who owned Bradbury Mountain and the surrounding area, and whose house stood nearby until it burned down in 1929. Thomas Cotton was hired as the town's first
poundkeeper
A poundmaster, or poundkeeper, was a local government official responsible for the feeding and care of stray livestock such as domestic pigs, cattle, horses, sheep, and geese. This was common in colonial America and continued into the 19th century ...
. The pound was used until 1891, by which time changes in technology (mainly the advent of
barbed wire) and a reduction in farming had rendered it obsolete. At the time of its National Register listing in 2004, it was one of about twenty such structures left in the state.
[
]
See also
*
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Agricultural buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Buildings and structures completed in 1818
Buildings and structures in Cumberland County, Maine
Pownal, Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Cumberland County, Maine