Turner Cattle Pound facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Turner Cattle Pound
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 Location in Maine
Location in the United States
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| Location | SW corner of Gen. Turner Hill Rd. and Kennebec Trail, Turner, Maine |
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| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1816 |
| Built by | Merrill, Moses |
| NRHP reference No. | 09000592 |
| Added to NRHP | August 7, 2009 |
The Turner Cattle Pound is a special old building in Turner, Maine. It's like a stone pen that was built way back in 1816. This pound was used to hold stray animals, like cows or sheep, that wandered away from their farms. It's a great example of a type of building that was once very common in farming towns in New England. Because it's so old and well-preserved, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
Contents
What is the Turner Cattle Pound?
The Turner Cattle Pound is located in the middle of Turner, Maine. You can find it at the corner of General Turner Hill Road and Kennebec Trail. It's a stone structure that looks roughly like a square. Each side is about 36 to 37 feet long.
How it was built
The walls of the pound are made from fieldstones. These are stones found in fields, and they were stacked together without any cement. This building method is called "dry laid." Over time, some parts of the walls have fallen down. But originally, they were about 4 to 5.5 feet tall, which is taller than most people!
The entrance gate
The only way into the pound is through an entrance on its east side. This entrance has two tall granite posts. A long granite stone, called a lintel, sits across the top of these posts. It's held in place with metal pins. One of the posts still has metal parts called "pintles." These are what a gate would have swung on, just like hinges on a door. The other post has an "eyebolt," which is where the gate would have been latched shut.
A Look Back: History of the Pound
The town of Turner was first settled in 1772 and officially became a town in 1786. Towns like Turner needed a way to deal with animals that got lost or wandered off.
The first poundkeepers
Just two years after becoming a town, Turner elected its first "poundkeeper." A poundkeeper was the person in charge of the animal pound. Their job was to look after any stray animals brought in and make sure they were safe until their owners came to get them. We don't know exactly where the first stray animals were kept in Turner.
Building the current pound
The town decided to build a proper pound in 1795. However, the current stone structure was built later, in 1816. The town paid Moses Merrill to build it on land owned by Cushing Phillips. The location was chosen because it was central to the community. It was also at the meeting point of two roads, making it easy for people from all over town to access it. The town continued to elect a poundkeeper until 1918. After that, the pound was no longer used for its original purpose.
