USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Dublin > Dublin days, old and new ; New Hampshire fact and fancy. > Part 11
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No cottages, hotels or recreation buildings can be erected on the tract and no highway shall be erected on it.
A half dozen years ago there was formed an Association to Protect Mount Monadnock, its purpose to guard the mountain from construction of a proposed radio station near the summit, and to protect it from future commercial encroachment.
The efficient leader and successful organizer of the move- ment was Francis E. Frothingham, of Boston and Dublin, who, since childhood, has summered here, and, in mature life, be- came one of our important property owners. Enlargement of the local cemetery, in which his parents rest, was made possible through his gift of land to the town-"The Frothingham Ad- dition."
Distinguished names are included among the Association's membership list, and men and women contributed willingly to raise fully $27,000 with which to protect the mountain they love. Funds came from friends on the Pacific Coast, and from faraway Alaska. Mr. and Mrs. Grenville Clark and Mrs. J. L. Mauran were especially helpful to the cause.
The organization is officered by Francis E. Frothingham,
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President; Frederick C. Stearns, Treasurer; Ernest L. Bell, Jr., Secretary and Clerk. There are Vice Presidents, Directors, and an Advisory Board.
A series of conferences was held and open meetings for discussion were arranged in this and adjoining towns.
The Association accomplished its purpose by buying the Half Way House on the Jaffrey side, its 250 acres of land, and mile and a half of toll road, for $22,000. Deed of the property was received by the Association on October 29, 1947.
Control of this property was a key factor in opposing the building plans of the radio company, and they abandoned their projects in 1945.
Organization expenses, and plans for two memorials, in- volved total expenditures of some $5,000 over and above the sum paid for the Half Way House property.
The Association expressed its intention of installing a "modest, but suitable memorial" to the late Allen Chamberlain, author of Annals of the Grand Monadnock, and the late Philip W. Ayers, for thirty-four years forester of the Society for the Pro- tection of New Hampshire Forests, whom the Association rec- ognizes as having "contributed more than any one man, perhaps, toward the preservation of Monadnock for public use."
It would be difficult to name two finer or more deserving gentlemen than Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Ayers.
Under date of August 12th, 1946, there was reported a total of 3,811 acres of the mountain now held for Public Benefit, of which the State of New Hampshire owns 828 acres, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, 2,983 acres, and the Town of Jaffrey has record title of 356 acres.
The mountain and lake made their appeal to early settlers just as they do now to those who dwell within these confines.
One must travel far to find another peak so individual in appearance, distinctive in character, inspiring and restful to those who view it.
The first verse of the hymn composed by Deacon Jonathan K. Smith, President of the Day, at the Centennial celebration in 1852, was sung to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne," and contained these lines:
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Stern old Monadnock, mid a flock Of hillocks, great and small, Reared then, as now, his crown of rock, The monarch of them all.
During the proceedings a letter was read from a former resident, Dr. Ebenezer Morse, of Walpole, who said, "But one object, and a very prominent one in the features of Dublin scenery, remains very little changed during the last fifty years, or even the last six thousand years-that is Old Monadnock."
The "17th Sentiment," "Old Monadnock," proposed by the committee, was assigned to Dr. Daniel Elliot, who went from Dublin to locate in Marlborough, New York.
In his response he made reference to the mountain as "my venerable and long cherished friend." This allusion to the moun- tain as a personal being suggests Mrs. Rebecca Malicheff's letter from Switzerland to a friend in Dublin, in which she said, "Give my love to Monadnock."
Dr. Elliot continued,
I remember him when clothed with verdant foliage to the very summit. I saw, year after year, the devouring flames climbing his lofty sides, exhibiting him as a dread volcano, or giant beacon, till half his leafy mantle disap- peared. But I liked him best in naked majesty-bald, hoary, stern, asserting his fixed character
I have visited mountains more known to fame-have stood on higher elevations; but from no point have I found the view so satisfactory-uniting so much grandeur, beauty, variety and extent-as from the brow of old Monadnock. I hail him King of Mountains!
The fire which Dr. Elliot has mentioned probably occurred in or about the years 1820-1822. I recall hearing my Uncle John speak of it; he said it lighted up the surrounding countryside so that he could see to pick up his jacknife at night in the dooryard of our home.
In his Centennial address, Charles Mason, Esq., spoke of
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two fires, the last one as having occurred some thirty years pre- vious, which would conform to the date mentioned above. He said:
Here, too, we have Monadnock, rising in cold, proud, isolated grandeur, an emblem at once of the essential stability and the superficial changes of nature.
Its rugged sides, now compact of bald, cragged rock, were formerly covered with trees almost to its summit. But, years ago, the ravening fire, kindled, whether by accident or design, spread over a great part of the superior portion of the mountain, killing every tree and shrub wherever it went.
The dead trees, decaying and falling, furnished materials for another conflagration which occurred within the memory of many of us. Some thirty years ago, in the latter part of a dry summer, the fire from a clearing on the side of the mountain made its way up to the higher regions, where, feeding upon the decayed wood, and nourished by the wind and drought, it extended itself over almost the entire northern side.
As the daylight paled, giving place to the darkness of night, there might be seen from out the dense sea of livid, flame-tinged smoke, in which the mountain was enveloped by day, countless fires lighting up all along the extended range, glowing with a more vivid brightness as the darkness thickened, until the whole mountainside blazed with its myriad tongues of waving flame.
It was a spectacle beautiful and grand in itself, but rendered sublime and awful by the thought of the dread power of the devouring element, and of the terrible destruc- tion that must ensue if, the wind and the drouth continuing, it should burst its mountain barrier and invade the domain of man.
But, fortunately, before such a catastrophe was reached, a drenching rain extinguished the fire and thus put an end at once to the grandeur and terror of the scene.
It will be fortunate indeed, if no similar conflagration de-
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velops in the region of fallen trees on Monadnock, laid waste by the 1938 hurricane. Hundreds of acres of woodland, high up on the northern and eastern slopes of the mountain, have created a fire hazard of serious, long-lasting proportion.
The summit of the mountain is in Jaffrey; the dividing line between the two towns passes some rods north of the peak; but the larger half lies in Dublin. Monadnock has given our town character, climate, beauty, and distinction, and has served to mould the lives of its people.
When Rudyard Kipling lived in his Brattleboro, Vermont, home, "Naulahka," two miles north of the village, he was able to get a glimpse of Monadnock over the highlands of Chester- field, and said the impression received from Emerson's poem describing "Cheshire's haughty hill" affected his entire life.
Dr. Park, Boston's much beloved minister-emeritus of the First Unitarian Church, called Monadnock, "A symbol of security which has meant more to me in a spiritual way than any other experience during my thirty-six summers in Peterborough; most influential on human character, and the most beautiful and best loved mountain in New Hampshire."
Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees, The winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms their energy,
While cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
- JOHN MUIR
Monadnock presents a variety of outlines, depending upon the viewpoint. Its contour, as observed from the highway near the cemetery, is quite different from that which may be seen from a point opposite the Catlin residence, a half mile farther west. The view from Thorndike, on the Jaffrey road, is so wholly unlike that from Stone Pond, as to suggest the inquiry, "Is it the same mountain?"
To climb Monadnock, the Pumpelly trail offers more in panorama than any other. It is a longer path, leading past the Pumpelly residence, over lower spurs of the mountain, through
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fields, up steep rocky slopes, and finally reaches the top, to earn for the climber the reward of glorious views.
The farthest reach of vision is to the north, where, on a clear day, the whole White Mountain group, fully a hundred miles distant, is visible. In a southeasterly direction, is Wachusett, and, to the southwest, Greylock and the Berkshires. Westward, beyond the Connecticut, the Vermont hills rise, tier upon tier, to the limit of vision. Monadnock is the only point from which all six New England states can be seen.
Northerly, and nearer, are Stratton, Ascutney, Cardigan, and Kearsarge. Villages, farmhouses, more than forty lakes and ponds can be sighted; and a creeping railway train winds through villages and open spaces, sending forth from its big, toilsome engine puffs of black smoke which rise, float away, and disappear.
Monadnock Lake, a mile and a third in length, and some- thing less in width, one hundred eighteen and a half feet deep, and nearly fifteen hundred feet above sea level, is fed by under- ground springs.
Its shores are clean and sandy, and gently shelve into deep water to provide safe bathing; many attractive summer homes dot beautiful nearby hills which look down upon its tranquil surface. Some of America's famous fine paintings have been created near its shores. An excellent road, three and a third miles in length, encircles it.
The late Dr. Henry H. Piper loved his native town and wrote charmingly of it. In his description of the lake he said: "To know it one must look upon it as we look upon the face of a friend; see it as the writer has often seen it in the early morning from the top of Snow Hill, when the sunlight was beginning to stream over the Contoocook valley, while all the west lay in shadow, the surface of the water like a mirror reflecting the verdant shores, a light mist floating over it, and all its message peace."
When the talented Miss Mckellips taught in our village school she remarked, "It seems to me the sun shines a little brighter, the sky seems a little bluer, and the moon more golden in Dublin, than anywhere else!" Colonel Higginson made refer- ence to an ideal morning as a "delightful Dublin day."
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Over all of Dublin's life should be the joy of living among mountains, amid sunshine and shadow, and the changing seasons; the "rocks and rills," the "woods and templed hills"; clear blue sky and fleecy clouds reflected in the pure water of the lovely lake; the singing brooks and sunny slopes; the succession of flowers and the variety of trees and shrubs; bird life and song; the sunlight of morning, and the afterglow of even-tide, to stream in and make glad the heart.
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