Abandoned Riceville Tannery in Maine

[@pattylevasseur4041]

wow.talk about errie!!!!! i always heard over the yrs that if sasquatches are in a territory EVERYTHING GOES DEAD QUIET..... your braver then i am no way would i go there... id be concerned something phyical/spirtual would follow me back....

[@crawl207]

it was very errie walking through there!

[@h0plite996]

In another video, one man says that the same owner of the Riceville Tannery had another tannery on the Tannery Loop Rd in Amherst, ME, and that that one also burned down, too. Both were covered by fire insurance. Would you have any info or photos of that Amherst tannery? Just curious, I used to take a canoe down that drop, and it also is a local swimming hole today.

[@crawl207]

I don't have any photos of the tannery. It seemed as though Amherst was a large town, with a college, looking at historical photos. Unfortunately, there are no photos of the tannery. I have also heard that both tanneries were an insurance job, once the industry started to die down.

[@SteveB-ht3fe]

The tannery business in Maine and other NE states collapsed around 1900. The big player, Shaw and Bros of Boston, went bankrupt and their many tanneries were sold off. In any event, the advent of chemical tanning of leather made it unnecessary to site tanneries in forests where there was access to Hemlock trees, the bark of which was stripped to make a kind of tea used in tanning leather. Many of the tanneries did burn down around this time. In addition, tanneries didn't last more than 25-30 years because the supply of Hemlock trees became exhausted. Then the tannery would have to relocate. Crews worked in the woods stripping bark and delivering it to the tannery.

[@downeastdetectingandprospe1281]

Ive been wanting to go there and metal detect for a few years now. Maybe this year. Be a cool place to camp for a couple nights and recover some history.

[@crawl207]

if you do metal detect, just do it for the enjoyment....don't take anything from Riceville. I know a lot of folks that have and had very bad things happen to them soon after leaving there with something.......

[@Nicky_Pin_It]

I hear there is a small grave yard close to the town too?

[@Brraptor]

There is a grave yard, but I've been told it is under water now. It's on the other side of the river from the town.

[@ExploringME]

@@Brraptor The graveyard is not under water, however, it is very difficult to get to. The stream is usually very high and if you go in a different direction the beavers have it dammed up. The graveyard sits up on a hill. BTW, I really enjoyed your video. Great job and great editing!!