History of Raven's Grove

1803. The Great Westward Expansion. As single wagons and trains turned their attention toward the direction of the setting sun, one man instead had northeast on his mind.

His name was Jeremiah Cutter, a lifelong resident of New York whom built up his wealth and influence with brilliant and judicial skills with mining and the exporting of the ores and precious metals he always seemed to find. Despite his statue as a pillar of the community, the 30 year old and deeply religious man gathered his family together and decided on Maine. His wife Elizabeth, his three year old son Thomas, and newborn baby daughter Raven were the most precious cargo in the wagon train that he lead. Alas that tragedy would rear its serpentine head and strike at the wealthy Cutter family before they reached their destination. During the trip Raven became gravely ill, and on the very day that Cutter reached the border of Maine the infant passed on.

The Cutter family's first steps into Maine were, then, steps of sorrow and grief. They reached the spot where Cutter desired to build his home, lush and thick with forest on one side and open to the Atlantic on the other. Cutter purchased five hundred acres of this land from the government and his very first act on the land he now owned was to bury his lost daughter, In her honor, he named his land Raven's Grove.

Cutter built a luxurious eighteen room mansion for his wife and son on his new land, and as he built so did the twoscore of wagons that had followed him. The families that clopped into Raven's Grove increased Cutter's wealth by purchasing lots from him and establishing homes and shops so that by 1810 Raven's Grove had become a hub for those desiring to lay down roots, establish trade routes by land and sea to neighboring towns, and to make available for trade goods and services for those passing through. Only by the virtue of Cutter's power and influence of the city was lawlessness and corruption held at bay, and so there was no question among the fledgling neighborhoods that when it came time for the city to be governed and guided, Jeremiah Cutter was voted in as the first Mayor of Raven's Grove.

To those passing through, Raven's Grove seemed to be the perfect place where one might raise a family in safety and security. Neighbor protected and assisted neighbor, and anyone coming in with the intent of being a troublemaker or causing problems quickly found that almost every able-bodied citizen of the Grove would rise up against him. But for the permanent resident of Raven's Grove things were very, very wrong.

The local Penobscot were not happy to find their pristine lands being quickly savaged and broken down by the new white settlers. Diplomacy between the settlers and the Amerindians was tried first, and when those talks and meeting fell apart because of clashing personalities that refused to negotiate, small skirmishes began to break out among those whom settled in the forest at the northwest. Skirmishes with fist and words became skirmishes with guns, and many a Penobscot was felled. Outnumbered and outmatched the tribe migrated west but not before laying a curse on both the Cutter family and the town itself. The curse came from Bison-Black-as-Midnight-Sky, the tribe's powerful elder shaman. Thought many of Raven's Grove scoffed at the very notion of the curse, others had such profound and terrifying experiences as to think that the curse had dug in deep.

Mayor Cutter heard several eyewitness reports of strange noises in street and home alike after dark. Strange lights of different colors were seen in the sky, and many ranchers found their sheep and cattle inexplicably bloodless and mutilated. Huge shapes "like trees walking" as one woman put it were glimpsed in the woods day and night. What truly terrified the population was that, knowing the Penobscot had left the area completely, were the sounds of ceremonial drums deep within the woods every night of the very first full moon each month. Cutter himself was not exempt from strange experiences either. His servants whispered in horror of scratching sounds within the walls at night, redolences of rotting flesh and blood that permeated the sitting room and kitchen, and both candles and gas lamps in the house suddenly being snuffed out in rooms that were still. Indeed, the curse would eventually strike at Jeremiah Cutter's own heart.

The Ballad of Thomas and Anna
It was inevitable that Thomas Cutter would attract the eye of many feminine admirers, and their fathers. To most, Thomas utter was the singularly most eligible bachelor in the whole of Raven's Grove. Thomas seemed blessed by Providence. He was strkingly handsome, possessed of a brilliant mind, and the proud owner of an altruistic heart that drove him with passion towards the profession of a physician. Many were the young ladies whom presented themselves to Thomas, and equally as many returned home dejected, after being turned away most gently by the young man. But then there was Anna Updike.

A photograph of Miss Updike, which can still be found in the city's hall of records reveals Anna Updike to be a pixie of a woman, one year younger than Thomas Cutter and a good six inches shorter. Her hair is the pitch of a rook's wing, her eyes large and wet. Her nose is rather dainty and slightly upturned to lend her more of an elfin touch to her features, and her lips are full and seem imminently ready to be kissed. She was a lover of poetry in all of it's forms, a skilled seamstress, and in letters that uncovered her demeanor spoke favorably of her finer qualities of being demure, very quiet, and shy. This was the woman whom caught the loving gaze of Thomas Cutter, a gaze that was returned.

On several occasions the couple was seen together in each others' company exclusively. They would walk together along the beach where he would collect pretty shells for her. Arm in arm they traversed gardens and seldom trodden paths around and within the forest, and went boating in Cutter's small and relatively private property lake. The talk of the young couples' deep friendship soon turned to buzz about marriage possibilities, of which both the elder Cutters and Updikes approved.

Speculation ceased all together when Thomas did, indeed, pay a visit to his employer and make a sincere and heartfelt plea for Anna’s hand. The blessing was immediately given. The news was a ricochet through Raven's Grove with all the speed of a musket ball, permanently dashing the hopes of the few eligible young ladies—and their fathers—that they still stood some modicum of a chance with the until then bachelor.

It was decided that the entire town should celebrate the upcoming nuptials. City Hall was bedecked with flowers of all kinds. Caterers were brought in from Victoria Falls and October City, and every soul in Raven's Grove was invited to attend the dance and feast. And come they did, in droves and flocks; to a party where status didn’t matter and the poor could hobnob and make connections with the wealthy. It was by every account a magnificent night, albeit a night that would end in tragedy.

Toward midnight the engaged couple said their good nights. Thomas escorted his bride to be into a trap pulled by two magnificent stallions. As towns people melted out of the hall to holler a final congratulations and throw flowers after the departing couple, Anna was seen to turn in her seat beside Thomas and wave good bye.

Halfway to the Updike home, something spooked the team of stallions terribly. They bolted at once, leaving Thomas to struggle with Herculean effort to bring them under control again as Anna clung on for dear life. The cart overturned, landing on top of Thomas and killing him instantly. Anna was thrown clear and impacted against a tree, which shattered her spine. Had anyone known of the couple’s plight it’s quite likely that Anna could have been saved.

Alas, they did not. When the senior Updikes set out for home themselves some three hours later, they discovered the accident. By that time Anna, too, was dead. The stallions were found grazing placidly nearby. The real mystery was why Thomas had been unable to quickly regain control of the beasts, for the road they traveled on was well maintained. There was no evidence, whatsoever, of a pothole wide enough or a stone large enough to have caused the carriage to overturn, nor were there any fallen branches or trees to account for it. In private homes, mostly among the slaves but also some of the home owners, that the evils Reverend Cutter had combated had taken their revenge.

To continue, -please click on the link for The History, Page Two.