The terrain is mountainous, with little level ground suitable for raising crops; and the elevation causes frost in June and August, leaving a growing season of approximately 60 days.

The town school built just above Grafton Notch had 37 students by 1859, but that number slowly declined to 10 by 1900.

When the logging jobs disappeared, most residents sold their land to a pulp and paper company and moved away.

[3] North Oxford was the site of Maine's second worst military plane crash.

The bomber apparently became lost in thunderstorms around North Oxford which may have damaged the plane's radio.

Local residents heard the bomber wandering through the overcast in searching circles for more than an hour before it crashed 500 feet below the summit of Deer Mountain in the southeastern corner of Parkertown Township.

The Deer Mountain crash site now includes a memorial marker and is a popular hiking destination.

A similar Long Creek Air Tragedy Memorial 100 miles to the south marks the site of Maine's worst plane crash.