Much of this was established as plantations in the 19th century for hop-pole production (hop-poles are used to support the hop plant while growing hops) and is nowadays cut on a 12 to 18 year cycle for splitting and binding into cleft chestnut paling fence, or on a 20- to 35-year cycle for cleft post-and-rail fencing, or for sawing into small lengths to be finger-jointed for architectural use.
The Hop River does not refer to the common hop Humulus lupulus used in brewing.
Common Slavic *xъmelь, common hop (Humulus lupulus)' < Turkic (cf. Chuvash xӑmla, hop-plant < *qumlaγ) < Iranian (cf. Ossetian xumællæg, hop-plant < *xaum-ala-ka, from *xauma, soma/haoma);
Kitchen Garden - fruit trees and bushes including apple (Malus), pear (Pyrus), cherry (Prunus cerasus), and peach (Prunus persica), as well as a small vineyard with a variety of grapes (Vitis) and hedges of Lonicera xylosteum and Humulus lupulus.
Hops (humulus lupulus) were introduced to the area in about 1820; by 1875, Waterville was considered the "Hops Capital of the World."