FARMINGTON – Luann Yetter, who wrote a local history column for the Sun Journal for 10 years, has released a new book, “Remembering Franklin County: Stories from the Sandy River Valley.”
Snow swirled around the first Sandy River settlers in the winter of 1780, testing pioneering spirits; but the founders proved tough and able, incorporating Farmington in 1794. They soon established other towns, raising crops, building roads and institutions and bringing Franklin County to life.
In “Remembering Franklin County,” Yetter describes the early years, the rumored Indian attack that led to the discovery of Rangeley Lakes, the World War I sacrifices of Company K and the Weld baseball player who managed Babe Ruth’s Red Sox to two World Series Championships. She also notes the delinquent debt collected by Paul Revere, the murder suspect who made history by (unsuccessfully) defending himself and the near-total destruction wrought by the flood of 1869.
Describing war, wealth, industry and oddity, she reveals the richness of Franklin County’s past.
Yetter has published dozens of articles for regional publications, including Yankee and Down East magazines. A resident of Franklin County with a master’s degree from the University of New England, she teaches writing and journalism at the University of Maine-Farmington, and regularly involves her students in local history research.
A book signing and reading will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 21, at Devaney Doak & Garrett Booksellers.


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