45°03′09″N 68°18′28″W / 45.052528°N 68.307752°W Riceville (also known as Hancock Tannery, Thirty-Nine Tannery, #39 Tannery, Riceville Plantation)[1] is a ghost town in East Hancock, Maine, specifically in Township 39 Middle Division.[2] It was once home to a bark extract works owned by F. Shaw and Brothers Company, which owned many tanneries in the state of Maine.[3] Later, the extract works was bought by James Rice and transferred to his company, Buzzell and Rice Tanning, which converted the plant into a tannery and began manufacturing sole leather from buffalo hides for shoemaking out of the township.[4][5][1][2] Eventually Buzzell and Rice transferred the land back to Rice as an individual and he formed a new company, Hancock Leather, after which he began manufacturing sole leather once again.[6][7][8] The community which sprang up around the tannery was home to 136 residents in 1890, eventually declining to 75 residents in 1900.[9][10] The Riceville school had an enrollment of 21 pupils in 1900.[10][1][2] In 1905, the tannery burned down and the town was abandoned shortly after.[5] A post office existed from 1898 to 1906.[11] There was nobody living in the township in 1910 and 1920.[12]