While access to cell service and high-speed internet can still be issues in parts of the Lower St. John River Valley, in the late 18th century, the area was at the forefront of telecommunications.

Several sites, including the top of a hill in Evandale, were home to visual telegraph stations, a revolutionary piece of infrastructure that drastically cut the time it took to send and receive messages.

"Prior to the visual telegraph, the fastest that a human being could communicate with another human …