One day this fall, a hunter was walking through the woods in Woolwich and came upon an old fireplace.

He had walked those woods many times over the years, and had never noticed it before. He was quite taken with the good condition of the structure and the perfectly shaped heart in the center above the mantle.

He put his rifle on the fireplace, took a photo of it and gave the photo to the Wiscasset Newspaper.

Several Woolwich historians have some memory of the nearly 100-year-old structure.

At first it was thought it was the fireplace and chimney of the Montsweag Farm Tea Room.

The tea room once stood on the old Route 1 in Woolwich on the left side of the present Route 1, coming from Wiscasset.

However, the hunter had taken a photograph of a completely different fireplace. The hunter had taken his photo in back of the Montsweag Road House between Route 1 and the Mountain Road.

In that spot could be what remains of a big, old farmhouse known as Montsweag Farm in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The first clue came from Connie Wills, who is known in town for her genealogy research.

The book, “Woolwich History,” by Brunette Wallace,  tells of an old fireplace of the Montsweag Farm Tea Room.

However, it appears that both fireplaces belonged to the same man, at least at one point in time, since that person owned the properties where both fireplaces were found.

Wallace wrote, “In the early 1900s, Charles Henry Butler, a Washington D.C. lawyer, brought the property he and his family occupied on during the summers.”

“He had a large orchard on both sides of Montsweag Stream. The farm and orchards were operated by hired help with Harold Wooley and Alton Erskine, foremen.

“Broilers were also raised on the farm, and chickens and waffles were served in the Butler’s Teahouse, across the railroad rails on the old Tibbets property.

“The tea room was moved in the 1930s but the old stone fireplace and chimney still stand on the site.”  The property is now owned by Bob and Jolene Allen.

Like the owners before them, the Allens love the fireplace and have left it standing. In fact, they are considering building a new kitchen around the fireplace.

According to Wallace’s history of Woolwich, old Route 1 ran close to the Woolwich Grange Hall, continued toward Bath across the railroad tracks, by the Baptist Church, through Montsweag Woods.  

Woolwich resident Hayden Temple has a Bath Times newspaper clipping about a Woolwich Town Fair, that was held in 1912 and 1913, which tells about Butler, the owner of Montsweag Farm at that time, giving a silver cup to the winner of the Best Homemade Preserves exhibit at the fair.

Leon Grover, who grew up on the Birch Point Road, in Wiscasset, used to play along Montsweag Brook as a child.

Grover said he remembers Butler owed the Montsweag Farm and a lot of land on both sides of Route 1. “He was very well to do,” Grover said. He apparently lived between Maine and Washington D.C. While he was away he hired people to take care his orchards and his property.

Butler also ran a campground on the south side of the highway along the brook, with several outhouses there and tent spaces offered for campers to spend time in the outdoors, according to Grover.

The old farmhouse burned down while Butler owned the property and it was never rebuilt. Temple said he believes the chimney and fireplace is in the location of the old Montsweag farm house.

As for the heart shaped stone in the center of the chimney, Grover said, “In the days of old when men were erecting rock fireplaces and chimneys, they would use odd shaped rocks over the mantle to increase the beauty of their hard work.”

The Allens own an old “Maine Cook Book” published in 1925, by Jane Tucker; on the inside of the book is a photo of the Monstweag Farm Tea Room showing the outside of the fireplace and chimney.

The book also has a photo of Castle Tucker, which appears to be an advertisement of tea room and the castle. Under the tea room photo the caption is: “Montsweag Farm Tea Room, Lunch – Dinner – Supper – Afternoon Tea, half way between Bath and Wiscasset on the Atlantic Highway (Route 1), in the state of Maine.”

On the Castle Tucker photo the caption is: “After a delicious dinner at the Montsweag Farm Tea Room ride on for about 10 minutes to Castle Tucker for a cool comfortable lodging at this quaint old house.”

If the old fireplace and chimney of the tea room could talk, one might hear some real old tales.

Richard Willard, whose parents purchased the land in the 1950s said, “It is my understanding it was a speak easy and they offered more than just tea.”