Rumford Falls

Rumford Falls and Native American Sculptures

This post was originally published May 2, 2024.

One day I was sitting on my couch, scrolling through my phone, when I came across an interesting piece of information: the largest US waterfall east of Niagara Falls was in Maine. As someone who grew up in Maine, this was certainly news to me, but to be fair, Maine is renowned for its coastline. For the longest time, the only things I thought existed in Western Maine were mountains and paper mills. Since I started exploring the state more, I realized just how wrong I was.

I’ve visited a couple waterfalls in Maine, specifically the Mariaville waterfalls and Angel Falls. The two couldn’t have been more different from each other. While the Mariaville waterfalls were a series of three foot tall falls, Angel falls was a singular waterfall standing over 90 feet tall. Rumford Falls, the waterfall featured in the article, stands 176 feet tall. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen it before.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox

I packed up my car and drove west for a little over an hour. Rumford is not far from Bethel, so I had driven the same roads many times before. It’s always a quiet drive filled with trees and old homes. Finally, winter had taken its exit and the sunny spring weather was a welcome reflection against my rearview mirror.

I arrived at J. Eugene Boivin Park at noon. The visitor’s center was closed, but historical information lined the park’s pathways and rocks. The first, and most noticeable piece of history, being the statue of Paul Bunyan and his companion Babe the blue ox. After my time spent in Bangor, where another statue of Paul Bunyan stands, I am familiar with the lumberjack of legend. I didn’t know I’d see him at the foot of the falls, but it made sense with a paper mill operating just down the street.

The park itself was named after the artist of the Native American sculptures that were spread across the river’s edge. In all my googling, I couldn’t find any information about the history or meaning of these metal sculptures. However, the park featured a monument dedicated to Edmund Sixtus Muskie, who was from Rumford. Muskie was an influential politician in Maine history, serving as Governor in the 1950s before going on to attain the record of highest political office held by a Polish American in the United States government, serving as Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of State. 

Lower Half of Rumford Falls and Portland St. Bridge

The park also featured a map of Italy, acknowledging the active Italian immigrant population that came to Rumford in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

As a few people sat in their cars on their lunch break, I braved the chilly breeze that whipped across the Androscoggin River to stand at the water’s edge. Rumford falls is split into two parts by dams to help regulate the water flow. From the park, I could see both falls, and with all the recent rain Maine has been having, they were a sight to behold.