Monday, September 25, 2006

Razorville and Lobotomies

One of my friends grew up near a village called Razorville here in Maine, described by one of the state's webpages as "a village on the southwest end of Washington Pond." [Source] She told me that as a teenager she had heard in local talk that the town was named Razorville because of the large number of lobotomies performed there in its history.

I can find no mention of any historical asylum located there, but as lobotomies came into vogue in the early part of the 20th century, it does seem as though there were many "traveling" lobotomists. I suppose it might be possible that they traveled in this area.

In an odd synchronistic event, one of Maine's many modern mental health facilities, Washington Manor, is located near the village of Razorville, on the Razorville Road in Washington, Maine.

The area around Razorville in Knox County has some dramatic place names which should be noted. These include such as "Hibberts Gore" and "Deadwater Slough."

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Do you know anything about a lake in Razorville called "Crystal Lake"? I came a cross an old picture of a couple standing in front of a body of water and it's caption says "Crystal Lake Razorville, Maine. But I can't find any such lake there when I do a Google search. What I do find is Washington Pond. Do you know if that pond used to be called Crystal Lake? I'm asking because the name of this village is too perfect to not include in the horror novel I'm writing that takes place in Maine, and a Crystal Lake there would fit perfectly, but I am hoping this is real.

Michelle Souliere said...

It looks like the Washington area Crystal Lake (as opposed to the Gray area one) is just to the west of Washington Pond. Map here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Washington+Pond,+Washington,+ME+04574/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x4cade221c69b8bed:0xf345303888236ae2?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwihk7T9_oLvAhVfF1kFHZSQAd4Q8gEwDHoECBcQAQ

Let us know when you finish your novel!