Grindstone Scenic Byway Corridor proposal encouraging

By Jon Gulliver
Staff writer
    PATTEN — More than 30 people representing businesses, economic development and landowners were in attendance Wednesday night at the Patten Lumbermen’s Museum to hear about the final draft of the Grindstone Scenic Byway Corridor Partnership Plan.
    This was the second meeting to unveil the draft, the prior was held in Millinocket.
    Corridor Advisory Group (CAG) member Rhonda Brophy said interest in the plan at the meeting was encouraging.
    “It presented an opportunity for local residences to ask questions as to how the plan would affect the local area and the goals of the CAG,” she said. “The CAG members used this opportunity to express how the Byway could increase tourism in the area and the need for local involvement to carry out the draft proposal, not only in the Patten area but working together with residents of Millinocket, Medway and Sherman.”
    The Maine Department of Transportation has designated a number of highways in northern Penobscot County as the Grindstone Scenic Byway.  The roadways that make up the Scenic Byway include the Baxter State Park Road from the southern entrance of Baxter State Park to Millinocket; Route 11 from Millinocket to Patten; Route 159 from Patten to Shin Pond and; the Grand Lake Road from Shin Pond to the northern entrance of Baxter State Park.
    The Maine Scenic Byways program is a voluntary, grass roots, community-based consensus and partnership program administered by the MDOT.
    John Noll, of the Eastern Maine Development Corporation, is spearheading the planning of the byway. He said the public private partnership in place to develop the Byway is unique and ultimately will bring tourists to the region.
    “25 to 30 percent of the people who come to Maine do some sort of touring and they do seek out scenic byways,” he said.
    Brophy, the curator of the Lumbermen’s Museum, is excited about the possibilities.
    “The Byway visitor will travel from the north at Matagamon Lake, following the route river drivers ‘drove’ logs down the Penobscot River through various landscapes, to the mills in the Grindstone-Millinocket region,” she said. “Visitors traveling the Byway will gain first-hand knowledge of the history of the Maine woods, the lives of the families who settled here and beauty of this inland mountainous region.”
    One concern some folks in attendance had was the connection the Byway has to a possible national park. Noll was quick to point out “there is no relationship whatsoever between the Byway and any proposed National Park.”
    The EMDC has applied for grants to put in signage along the Byway as well as turnouts for tourists to take in the beauty of nature along the route. Funding is also being sought to develop publications highlighting the history of the region.
    Maine boasts 12 scenic byways, including two others in northern Maine, the St. John Valley Cultural Scenic and Fish River byways.
    Information on the Byway can be found at http://www.exploremaine.org/byways.