USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Walpole > A history of Walpole, New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 27
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son's tavern on the 3rd New Hampshire Turnpike. In the point between the Watkins Hill Road and the County Road there was an iron foundry and/or mill in early days. Later the old Turnpike toll house stood here.
339. WIDOW WHIPPLE'S CELLARHOLE: In 1780 Benjamin Bellows estate sold to Daniel Whipple a 150 acre lot south from the then road in Christian Hollow. The west line was about 6 rods east of the woods line north of the road, including about one half of the present point between the roads and crossing the Wellington road at the eastern tip of the mowing land south of the road. The east line was about 6 rods west of the present Whipple Hill Road where it comes into the Keene road. The lot extended southward 240 rods to the farms on the Rapids.
In the woods at the east end of the Wellington Meadows, between the highway and the brook, is an old foundation. When Mrs. Leonard was a girl there was an old building here used for a sugar house and storage of farm equipment. This was in the old Whipple farm and may have been the first Whipple house. Aldrich wrote (AH 381) "Daniel Whipple came to this town from Grafton, Mass. ... was an iron founder and had a foundry on the brook west of the meeting house in the Hollow .... When he came to town that portion where he settled was one dense forest, and his wife always kept a stock of fire-brands ready to drive away bears from the premises as that kind of gentry have an instinctive dread of fire .... They lived in a small hut that once stood near the Welling- ton place, getting their milling done somewhere near the Merriam place, and attending church at the first meeting house" on North Main Street.
When Daniel Whipple died in 1796 he left his widow, Martha, with five children: Daniel 19, Adams 17, Polly 11, Betsey 5, Eben Waters 3. Daniel was probably still at home, perhaps carrying on his father's busi- ness. He seems to have had a shop on the north side of the road opposite his mother's house. From the deeds it appears that his son Daniel and the Hubbards removed to Lyndon, Vt., by 1822. Widow Martha remained here, but she seems to have died by 1832.
The Widow Martha Whipple's house and barn were in the point be- tween the roads-a small house with two chambers upstairs. The Wellingtons bought this property and the house became run down. Scott kept his sheep here. Harry Jennison finally took the building down after Scott died.
340. PAUL R. GALLOWAY: The Whipples also owned on the north side of the highway, west of the road to Derry Hill, having bought from Lucy
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Fay. Wellingtons owned this and Scott had from his father William. Scott first lived in the Widow Whipple house, later built himself a house on the north side of the highway, west of the brook where the henhouse now stands. Harry Jennison took down this building. In 1919 Scott Welling- ton's estate sold to Clarence E. Jennison; 1922 to Henry Croteau of Keene; 1924 to Frank Cameron; 1940 to Charles A. (Carl) Cameron; 1943 the corner lot to Richard Cameron who erected a one-room house; 1952 to Christyne M. Galloway with buildings; 1952 to present owners who built present house.
341. RUSSELL L. GALLOWAY: Lucy Fay sold this land to Nathan Bundy Jr .; to Allen; to Jonathan Emerson; to Clarence Jennison; to Charles A. Cameron; 1949 to Russell L. and Christyne M. Galloway, who built a house halfway up the hill.
342. HAROLD F. ROBBINS-WHIPPLE FARM: Adams Whipple seems to have been the farmer of his family. As early as 1803 he began buying land adjoining the southeast side of his father's original lot, and probably cleared the farm on Whipple Hill and erected buildings. In 1814 the present road over Whipple Hill was laid, the north end having been a part of the old 3rd New Hampshire Turnpike.
In 1842 Adams made over the farm to his son John A., reserving two east rooms for himself and wife Huldah; 1844 John sold to brother George W .; 1855 to Holland Mason (Susan); 1856 to John Adams; 1857 to John Mason Adams; heirs to William Wellington. When Wellington sold in 1866 to Horatio N. Fletcher of Westmoreland, he kept the north 50 acres. When Fletcher sold in 1867 to James Comstock, he reserved the 50 acre west pasture, including the now wooded area southeast of the Wellington meadow.
Comstock, who had previously been living on the Silas Williams place, added the part north of the Rapids to the Whipple farm; 1887 to Mrs. Emeline H. Staples (Mrs. Philander) of Fairlee, Vt .; 1894 to Arthur H. Chickering; 1895 to Wellington Curtis. He came from Surry and lived in the old house until he built a new one beside it in 1910 without a cellar. The old place rotted down. In the walls was found the bones of a baby. The house now stands dilapidated, vacant, weather-beaten.
In 1914 Curtis sold to Lyle Elroy; Sands of Salem, Mass. He died here; heirs sold 1951 to present owners.
On August 4, 1822, great damage was done here by a tornado which twisted trees, levelled stonewalls, and took off tops of chimneys.
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Howard Studios
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#344
Old Robinson Tavern
343. EARL R. ALDRICH-PARSONAGE: In 1853 George W. Whipple (Emily F.) sold to the First United Christian Religious Society of Walpole a lot here for a parsonage; 1937 to Floyd R. and Olive M. Jennison; 1947 to Ralph N. Johnson; 1947 to Robert W. and Harriet S. Kilburn; 1952 to David J. Alexander (Marie A.); 1958 to present owners.
344. WALTER BLAKE: In 1781 Nathaniel Baker bought from the Benja- min Bellows estate 60 acres of land between the Keene road and the Atkinson tract on Derry Hill. In 1787 and 1795 Baker added more land to the northeast, making a total of 120 acres.
As early as 1808 Baker and William Robinson seem to have had some kind of partnership. In 1811 Baker leased the farm to Robinson with the following provisions: "So much of house, barn and woodhouse as Nathaniel and Sarah, his wife, wish to improve for their comfort to hold during life of both of them. Robinson agrees to carry on farm during their life and pay 1/2 corn in basket, 1/2 english grain in the half bushel, 1/2 cyder in cellar by said Baker finding casks, 1/2 flax in bundle. Good wood shall be kept cut and split at said Baker's door sufficient for Baker and wife. Each pays 1/2 taxes and each pays taxes on own stock; Robinson to keep 12 head of cattle and 10 sheep and take care of; Robinson to pay
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Baker's highway taxes. Robinson has farming utensils. If Baker dies first, wife gets 1/2 of above recited articles. Robinson to suckle and tend Baker's calves yearly."
Baker died about 1812 and Robinson acquired full ownership. He kept a tavern here on the turnpike. It is recorded that in August 1822 his barn was swept away by a tornado.
In 1837 William Arnold bought the place from Robinson. He “. . . was born in Westmoreland 1792 and learned the machinist's trade and worked at that business in his younger days. At what time he came to Walpole is not known, but at one time he worked for Thomas Moore as a hired man on his farm (on Derry Hill), and married one of his daughters, Naomi, Oct. 3, 1822. After his marriage he worked at his trade awhile in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where some of his children were born. He returned to Walpole and purchased the Robinson Tavern stand."
Josiah G. Bellows wrote of Arnold: . . William Arnold ... kept a stage tavern for many years over in Christian Hollow. That was then a lively road. There were no railroads, and all the passengers, and freight moving to and from Boston, in that sec- tion, passed that way. The heavy stage-coach with its four or six horses and great cumbersome wagons, with their long teams of horses or oxen, passed by his door, or stopped to bait at his tavern. If the driver were on economy bent, he was allowed all the comfort of the house on purchasing a mug of flip, with which he moistened the luncheon he brought along with him and his team. When the inevitable hap- pened and the stillness and quietness which soon pervaded the old stage-coach road was only infrequently broken by the faint scream of the steam whistle from beyond the hill, old Bill Arnold relapsed into a state of innocuous desuetude and passed the remainder of his long life in superintending his farm, and instilling into the mind of his son who succeeded him, and any of the neighbors who would listen, the precepts on which he had built up his life scheme. He was a tall thin man, whose scanty white locks covered a countenance round, rosy and abounding in shrewdness. His small, twinkling eyes showed the nature of the man. He was very sententious, but not over well stocked with the wisdom of the ages, a prominent figure in the evenings at the village store where one habit of his greatly amused the circle of loafers there congre- gated. Arnold was an inveterate smoker, wedded to the short clay pipe, not over three inches long, black and dingy with use, in which he burned, or tried to burn, the filthy weed. He was so impressed by his own wisdom that if it was called in play when he was in the act of lighting his pipe, and the damp plug tobacco he used required fre- quent ignition, he would at once begin to talk and let the match burn out before he became aware of it and had lighted his pipe. It was one of the amusements of the listening throng to see how many matches old Bill would light up before he got the fire going. Sometimes the wags even went so far as to put in the hands of the store- keeper, old Major J. Britten, enough money to reimburse him for all the matches old Bill would waste. Matches then came in packs, containing eight cards as they were called, and each card had sixteen matches. I am particular about this, because when I was young matches were a great luxury and happy the boy who possessed a pack
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for his Fourth of July. They cost, if I remember right, some twelve cents a pack. It is remembered that on one occasion my wife's father, then the supreme boss of the Republican party here of which old Bill was a member and Wm. G. Buffum who oc- cupied a like position on the other side, put their heads together and determined to see how long they could keep Arnold trying to light his pipe. And how many matches he would consume. Judicious suggestions of the various burning issues of the day pro- longed the time to two hours, and consumed four packs of matches, and then the old man's pipe was not aglow."
His son William continued on the farm; 1899 heirs to Frances A. Mann; 1903 to Luella Farnsworth; 1905 to Ellis Copeland; 1907 to Wil- burs and Wilcox who apparently cut the timber. In 1913 John A. Wheeler sold the little piece on the west side of the Derry Hill Road to Scott Wellington and the farm to Harry O. Ayers; 1928 widow Margaret J. to Nial Bemis; 1930 to Wallace A. Blake of Springfield, Mass .; 1958 to present owners.
The house was built probably around 1800 while Nathaniel Baker was still here. William Arnold built a new barn March 1845, and also a horse barn.
In 1813 Robinson deeded land for a school to District 13 east of his buildings-foundation still to be seen in the pasture by the brook.
The blacksmith shop may have been across the highway from this place. Luke Thurston had a blacksmith shop, also Richard Clark. There is a spring there, along with apple trees and lilies of the valley, probably a remnant from Cora Arnold's garden.
345. LAURENCE E. BLAKE-SITE OF CHRISTIAN CHURCH: In 1826 William Robinson deeded to the Religious Christian Society 66 rods of land on the north side of the highway, east of the road built two years later to Derry Hill. South of the meeting house there was a Common. In 1955 the agents of the church sold the land to Wallace A. Blake; 1956 to Laurence E. and Marilyn Blake who built a house in 1957.
346. In the edge of the woods south of Harold Robbins' field, there is a cellarhole for which we have no explanation. It was on Davis Carpenter land, later in the Wellington family for many years. It is possible that this is where Ebenezer Wellington lived when on Carpenter Hill. The 1834 school district list includes William Wyman in this area.
347. HAROLD F. ROBBINS: Richard Clark brought this place together around 1813; 1826 to Roswell Wise from Langdon, who removed from here to Rockingham; 1829 to William Marshall of Alstead; 1831 to Joseph Mason; 1855 Holland Mason (Susan) to George W. Whipple;
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1856 to Sarah W. Allen (Henry T. P.); 1923 estate of Frank P. Allen to M. Louise Cameron; 1925 estate to Royal and Mabel M. Robbins, who had been burned out down on the Rapids; 1941 to present owners. Royal Robbins added another story to the house.
COCHRAN ROAD
348. OLD EDWARD WATKINS FARM: In 1793 Edward Watkins (son of Nathan) bought from Thomas Bellows 156 acres next south of the At- kinson Derry Hill tract, probably erected buildings on the hill east of the highway; 1811 to son Royal with provision for his care and for the schooling of Charlotte and Lise and Betsey. In 1812 Edward Watkins took back the farm; 1816 to John Messenger (Lydia); 1819 east side to Nathan Nye; 1821 west side to Matthew Dickey; 1823 Nye the east side to Matthew Dickey; 1830 to George M. Dickey; 1831 to Salma Hale and Charles G. Adams (Mary Ann); 1836 to Ira Hodgkins of Groton, Mass .; 1850 to Levi S. Leonard; 1862 to Rufus Leonard; 1871 to Madison J. Comstock; 1894 to Charles E. Seward; 1894 to Frank P. Allen; 1922 heirs to Harry J. Jennison, to Arthur Jennison; 1955 to Walter A. Kistler.
When Royal Watkins sold the farm back to his father in 1812, he reserved 20 acres along the north side, the land west of the road and the 50 acres in #16. He had built a house, apparently east side of road, and lived there. In 1816 and 1819 Joel Chaffin seems to have owned at least the 20 acres, may have sold that and on west side of road to Recompense Hall, later Ezra Hall owned.
CARPENTER HILL
One of the earliest roads in Walpole (probably the earliest) was what we called the Merriam Road from Keene to Township #3, cut in 1738 by the first proprietors to whom Massachusetts had granted the town. The road came from Surry into Walpole by the old Merriam place, up over Carpenter Hill and down to Christian Hollow. This road was de- scribed roughly in the town records in 1762 and was surveyed in 1774. In that year Maj. Josiah Goldsmith had established himself on Carpenter Hill at what was later known as the Carpenter Tavern. From his place, which seems to have been the crossroads of the area, the road to the Hollow followed about the same course as the latest turnpike, coming into the present road at Mrs. Jennison's and continuing down the hill as the present road. To the southeast there was the Merriam Road; and to the south there was the road down by what is now the Patnode place,
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to the Westmoreland line. In 1785 a county road was laid from Gold- smith's to Wentworth Road, generally known as the Rapids.
This whole area south of the Atkinson tract on Derry Hill belonged to Benjamin Bellows. In 1772 he sold to his son, Benjamin Bellows Jr., 460 acres, a strip 210 rods wide and a mile long from the Surry line west along the Westmoreland line. References indicate that Benjamin Smith owned this (or at least the part next to the Surry line) before Benjamin Bellows Jr., but he had no deed recorded until we find Benjamin Bellows Jr. deeding him what is now the Fred Whitney farm in 1779 (he was there 1774). This would indicate that Benjamin Smith was perhaps the first settler on Carpenter Hill.
In 1773 John Merriam bought property next to the Surry line. Elipha- let Fox bought land that is now the Crehore place and in 1777 bought the Salem Town place also. In 1775 Barnabas Willey bought what is now the Patnode place, and Phinehas Wright bought the next place south (Joslyn). These are both on the west side of the old road.
In 1779 John Flint bought 300 acres next west, from the Westmoreland line north to include part of the present Wilbur place.
At least as early as 1784 Benjamin Redington had 50 acres of Carpenter Hill, the Scovil farm, later owned by Joseph Mason. In 1797 the town voted to lay a road from John Wheeler's (at the corner on the Crehore Road) to Joseph Mason's. The road testifies to the fact that it was built, but there is no further record.
In 1799 a charter was granted for the 3rd N. H. Turnpike, and it was subsequently built over Carpenter Hill. From Christian Hollow it passed up Whipple Hill Road, then southeast to the Harry Jennison place and across the road, from thence following about the same course as the 1775 road, as may be seen on the 1858 map of Cheshire County, except that in 1832 it did not turn out of the present road until the top of the hill south of Jennisons. The piece of road from Jennisons to the old Carpenter Tavern was discontinued in 1869.
The course of the old turnpike may be found by starting from the tavern site, and going west on the road toward Wilbur's. Instead of following their road left, one climbs the wall into the pasture. The old turnpike continues with walls on either side, a cowpath down through heavy pasture ferns, juniper and pine, in the openings a lovely view to the distant Vermont mountains. The hermit thrush is in possession now. The north wall peters out. One comes into the present road at the bar- way above Jennison's.
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About 1813 the turnpike was relocated. Instead of going over the Whipple Hill Road, it went in the course of the present road from the Hollow to the Jennison's.
From the tavern, it continued southeast past the burying ground (established sometime between 1773 and 1795 out of northwest corner of land of Eliphalet Fox), across the present road east of Conley's to the present Patnode place, then directly south to the Westmoreland line, somewhat east of the present road.
The road to the Crehore place, which is fairly new, was established as a private road but is now public.
Of all these roads, only the County Road and the spurs to Patnode and Crehore are in common use today. The other homesteads not on the County Road have burned, fallen down, been removed, or fallen into disuse.
349. MRS. HARRY JENNISON: This was an early part of the holdings of Aaron Allen, next east of the 100 acre Whipple lot. In 1818 William Robinson sold land here to Edward B. Rollins (Rhoda), the same Elder Rollins in whose preaching Aaron Allen had become interested when Rollins commenced his labors in Walpole. (See #333.)
In 1825 Rollins had removed to Randolph, Vt., and was listed as a clerk when he sold land and buildings to Josiah Osborn (Dordana) of Pier- mont, N. H .; 1828 to Jacob B. Burnham, minister at the Christian Church in the Hollow until 1845-50 (AH 497), when he took up practical medicine; 1865 to Joseph Allen of Keene; 1868 to Josiah H. Jennison, father-in-law of the present owner.
350. FLINT FARM-PHILIP H. FAULKNER, INC .: In 1779 John Flint of Lincoln, Massachusetts Bay, bought from Benjamin Bellows 300 acres extending along the Westmoreland line 168 rods, west of Phineas Wright's farm. He sold the south 90 acres (Priest farm) and the west 1031/2 acres (Gilbert-Ball farm) and added a piece of the Carpenter farm (south of the turnpike and northwest of the road to the Rapids), so that his farm finally included 159 acres when Elijah Mason bought it from his estate in 1811.
Elijah Mason sold it to Joseph Mason Jr. in December 1811. "He had been schooled in adversity, but notwithstanding, he managed by dint of energy and perse- verance to acquire an English education sufficient to enable him to utilize his time winters in teaching common schools, while in summer he labored on the land until he was able to buy this farm. Soon after he acquired the farm, his parents became infirm and he had to lend a helping hand to them and at the same time become a
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foster parent to his younger brothers and sisters. He gained an enviable record as a teacher and many lived to remember that under his care good behavior was one of the cardinal virtues in the school room. He had a great desire to have his children ac- quire a good education and to that end always manifested a lively interest in the common schools of the town. As a farmer he stood among the first in the orderly man- ner of conducting his business. His religious sentiments were deep and strong, and held out to the last in the belief of a glorious immortality." (AH)
In 1858 the Masons sold the farm to Gilbert T. Stevens and retired to the village where they built Brookside (Dolloff place).
After Stevens died, his wife and son, then of Walloomsac, N. Y., sold the farm to Addie M. Chickering Clement of Surry; 1903 to Alton V. Farnsworth of Washington, N. H., who also owned the Wallace Blake farm, and later moved here. His wife, Luella Copeland, died July 1910, leaving several children, the youngest 13 weeks old. He sold the farm the following March to E. Everett Rhodes of Norwood, Mass .; 1924 to Katharine Dunham Bennett of New York City; 1945 estate to Clifford A., Howard D., Denman W. Wilbur; 1947 house site to present owner.
The buildings burned in the afternoon May 22, 1928. Sam Leavitt and Richard Cameron were burning brush and the fire got away from them. The buildings stood on the south side of the road, commanding a wide view. Perhaps it was here that Daniel Webster, on his way from Bellows Falls to Keene July 9, 1840, "stopped his barouche that he might get out and view the Green Mountains of Vermont and the hills of New Hamp- shire." He was travelling the present County Road.
351. WILLIAM R. PATNODE-GILBERT-BALL FARM: In 1787 John Flint sold this 1031/2 acre strip from the Westmoreland line north, out of the west side of his farm, to Joseph Munn. He and his wife Sarah joined the Walpole church June 30, 1781, so they must have been in town before they bought this farm, perhaps the same Munn who was at the tavern in Walpole Village. In 1796 they sold to Thomas Bucks; 1797 to Nathaniel Cross; 1797 to Ebenezer Gilbert of Surry. (See AH 260-1.)
His son Asa Gilbert remained on the farm, owning in 1817-1867. In 1858 Harding Ball and his wife, Asa's daughter Thankful, returned to Walpole to care for her aged parents. The Balls owned the farm from 1867 to 1890, when they sold to their son Henry E. and went to Keene to live with him. He owned until 1898 when his mother removed to California. The place had been in the family 100 years. No doubt the previous owners had buildings here, but Ebenezer Gilbert built about 1797 the house occupied by him and his descendants.
The Balls were ardent workers in the Christian Church. She was
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president of the Ladies' Aid, and sang in the choir until she was past 70. She continued church work after removing to California, where she had gone to be with her daughter Jennie (Mrs. Alfred Foster).
In 1898 Henry E. Ball sold to Fred H. Watkins (brother of Edward); 1915 to Isaac J. Chalifoux of Keene, removed to Milwaukee; 1921 to Frank R. Pelsue. He came from Tupper Lake, New York, to Walpole about 1916, was the life of all social gatherings, a wonderful Sunday School worker. He was born in Stockholm, New York, and died in his sleep in February 1924.
May 1924 his estate sold to Royal and Mabel Robbins of Rockingham, Vt. The buildings burned May 17, 1925.
The Robbins sold July 1925 to Arthur H. Chickering Jr .; 1956 to present owners who farm the land.
352. WILLIAM R. PATNODE-WILLIAM PRIEST FARM: In 1787 John Flint sold to Abel Flint of Lincoln, Mass., 40 acres in the southwest corner of his farm, on the Westmoreland line. After Abel died, the place was sold 1790 to Samuel Joslin of Winchendon, Mass. He also bought from John Flint the 50 acres next east; 1792 to William Priest of Packersfield, N. H. After death of William, his son Arven sold his share to his brother Jesse H .; 1851 to George H. Gilbert, a grandson of Ebenezer who lived at the junction of the roads to the north. (AH 260) He later moved to Keene, selling in 1866 30 acres with buildings to Frederick Crain of Surry (last mention of buildings). In 1869 Crain sold the building site to Harding Ball. Ball finally bought the whole farm, selling in 1890 to his son Henry E. Ball, except 12 acres in the northeast corner which he sold to Estey and Fletcher. From then on, the Priest farm went with the Ball farm.
The house stood on the west side of the road about halfway up the hill.
353. CARPENTER TAVERN FARM: As early as 1774 (although not deeded to him until 1779), Josiah Goldsmith was here on Carpenter Hill. Three thousand soldiers on their way to the Battle of Bennington are said to have stopped at his tavern "where they were refreshed by devouring a whole ox which he had been ordered to prepare for them" (AH 331). We have no record of his family except that his daughter Fanny, born 1729, married John Merriam.
In 1785 Goldsmith sold the place (212 acres) to Benjamin Bellows Jr .; 1790 to Daniel Newcomb of Keene who was later a proprietor of the 3rd New Hampshire Turnpike; 1791 to John Moore of Londonderry; 1794
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to Davis Carpenter of Woodstock, Conn. He added other parcels of land to his holdings and continued here as an innkeeper.
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