Newry, Maine

Newry (/ˈnjʊəri/;[2] from Irish An Iúraigh[3]) is a resort town in Oxford County, Maine, United States.

[4] The town is best known as the home of Sunday River Ski Resort and has a proportionately large seasonal (winter) population.

First called Sunday River Plantation, it was settled in 1781 by Benjamin Barker and his two brothers from Methuen, Massachusetts, together with Ithiel Smith of Cape Elizabeth.

[6] The name Newry is an anglicization of An Iúraigh, an oblique form of An Iúrach, which means "the grove of yew trees".

The Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter rendezvoused with the B-47 Stratojet bomber at an altitude of 15,500 feet in the Fighting Fox aerial refueling area over Newry.

As the bomber maneuvered into refueling position, a lubrication failure caused the tanker's outboard port engine supercharger impeller to disintegrate.

The tanker entered a gradual left turn, which became a spiraling spin as the fire rapidly caused structural damage to the port wing.

Seven miles away, three hundred people at a Rumford Point drive-in theater observed the tanker spin down, with burning pieces flying off.

The fuselage impacted a forested slope of granite boulders and caused a fireball seen fifty miles away in Lewiston.

[9] Wet vegetation limited spread of the fire, but fuel-covered trees were completely consumed and the five-acre hillside wreckage field was discernible for years amid the surrounding forest.

Substantial lithium deposits were discovered in 2018 on the north side of Plumbago Mountain, which straddles Newry and Andover, Maine.

Bear River in 1905
Poplar Tavern c. 1918
Bear River Grange
Artists' Covered Bridge (built in 1872)
Oxford County map