The year 1811 was fruitful of town meetings. The second town meeting was held at the residence of Isaac Wheeler, Esq., on April 22, 1811. Edward Fifield was chosen moderator. The main purpose of this meeting was to consider and act on the question of roads.

To the inhabitants of the new town this was a question of serious difficulty on account of the long stretch of road demanded for the public convenience. If the forty-five families of the town had been located on contigous lots in some particular section, the burden of making roads would have been greatly diminished, but they were scattered over a large part of its surface. There were families on the eastern border of the town and on the western. There were families in the extreme northwest corner, and in the southwest corner, as well as in the central part of the town. All of theses families must be accommodated.

There was one favorable condition. There could be no dispute about routes. These had been predetermined by the original proprietors of the township, who had caused it to be surveyed into squares whose sides were one mile long, by range ways running through it from north to south and from east to west. These range ways constituted the routes for roads. Nothing remained to be done but determine distances, and to indicate here and there a deviation from the direct route to avoid natural obstacles.

At this meeting the selectmen submitted their report on the subject of roads. The first route described in the report, extended from the west line of the town through its center, to its east line, and the road is now known as the east and west center road. Within one and one half miles of the east line of the town, some deviations from the range line were indicated desirable, but some years later, the route was restored to the range line. And still later a curve to the north was made near the old Bartlett place to avoid the steep part of the hill at that point.

The second route described in the report of the selectmen and accepted by the town, followed the range line between the eighth and ninth ranges, from the west line of the town to the southeast corner of lot four in the ninth range lots. This route was a mile north of the east and west center route and parallel to it. The width of this road was fixed at three rods. A section of road upon this route, reaching from the west line if the town to the Sangerville county road, was built; also a shorter section, reaching from the recent site of the schoolhouse in district number five, one half mile east, and passing the Horace Davis and Emerson places. The part of the route between these town sections of road was discontinued by the vote of the town. The families, now residing on the westerly section are those of George Arnold, Charles Carr, and Robert McComb.

The third route described in the report, extended from the west line of the town at a point near the present residence of Mark Jennings, easterly between the fourth and fifth ranges of lots, to the corner a few rods east of the site of the Congregational church.

The fourth was a short route in the southwest part of the town.

The fifth route began on the range way at the top of the hill, a few rods north of the residence then of the Rev. John Sawyer, but now owned by D. F. Patten, and ran southerly over the site of the present village to Exeter line. The larger part of this route became, a few years later, a section of the road leading into Piscataquis County. It was to be four rods wide.

The sixth route described in the report, extended northerly from the southeast corner of land now owned and occupied by Alfred Patterson, to the point of intersection with the county road now leading to Sangerville. One mile of the southern section of this route had never been built, the starting point having been changed to a point near the Maple Grove Cemetery, running thence in a northwesterly direction and intersecting the original route near the site of the present residence of Charles Greeley.

The town voted to accept the report of selectmen relating to routes, and to establish roads in accordance therewith. It voted also to establish roads in accordance therewith. It voted also to establish a road from the northwest corner of J. BartlettÕs land to the southwest corner of J. McClureÕs land, thence to the will. This vote embraced the existing road, leading from the northwest corner of the farm now owned by Calvin Campbell, to the southwest corner of the cemetery near the schoolhouse in district number seven.

From the cemetery the line of the road ran westerly to a point near the site of the present residence of James Rideout, where it bore to the south and intersected the route of the road running to the south, where it is now intersected by the road from HoltÕs Mills. A few years later the route from the present Rideout place was changed so as to run in a pretty direct course to the crest of the hill, a few rods north of the present gristmill. In 1855, the road was again changed to avoid the dangerous turn at the point of intersection with the north and south road. This change was from the Preble Brook to L. OakÕs store.

At this second meeting the town had voted to make twenty miles of road. This was a necessity of the time, but it proved a troublesome necessity. Eighteen mile of road embraced in this action of the town are now in use. Many years passed before any of these roads became passable for the modern carriage.

At this meeting the town voted to raise five hundred dollars to make and repair highways. Although the second town meeting was devoted mainly to the consideration of roads, the question of schools received some attention. So closely connected in the New England mind of those early days were roads and schools that an appropriation for one was immediately followed by an appropriation for the other.

At the meeting the town voted to raise one hundred dollars for the support of schools, and that the school money should be paid in corn at five shillings, rye at seven shillings and wheat at eight shillings per bushel. This, with similar votes from year to year in the earlier days of the townÕs history, shows that corn, rye, and wheat were an important element in the currency of the inhabitants, which, with all its disadvantages, had the merit of an intrinsic value in harmony with that by which it had been invested by the legislature of the town, a merit of which some of the modern schemes relating to currency are lamentably destitute. The present generation may well regard the robust honesty of their fathers with pride.

Another vote at the meeting of 1811 was that each district should build its own schoolhouse. This vote seems a little premature, inasmuch as not a single district had been established, but it disclosed an interest in schools which was an ever-abiding element in the hearts of the early inhabitants.

The proceedings of the second town meeting of 1811 were closed by a vote to raise fifty dollars to defray town charges.