USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Goshen > History of Goshen, New Hampshire : settled, 1769, incorporated, 1791 > Part 30
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Recently the cutting of timber from the steep hillside toward Unity has opened to view the succession of cone-like hillocks strung all along the base of Oak Hill, from the Newport town- line southerly. They are recognized as the result of glacial action.
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At the mill-dam in the Village one of these hillocks was known by older residents as "the Pinnacle." From its rounded flank rockets and kindred fireworks were launched on more than one Fourth of July evening, their fiery arcs to be mirrored in the mill-pond. Farther to the south similar round-topped sand-hills enclose a natural amphitheater called the "Basin," until recent years a favorite spot for baseball games and picnics. Well up a rocky glen nearby a cavern was known as the "Devil's Den." Maple Sugar Making
Coincident with the changing pattern of the years has been the dying interest in maple sugar making. Time was when the maple crop, because of its quick cash value, was one of the most important items on the farm. The product, once put up in tubs as soft-sugar, had become standardized in a demand for syrup weighing 11 lbs. per gallon. Sales, which were generally made through commission-houses in Boston and Lowell, Mass., and Manchester, N. H., financed the seasonal purchases of seeds, fertilizer and new wearing apparel for the family.
Every farm had its sugar-orchard and sugar-house, with the rock-maples forming their main dependence, although many white, or "soft," maples gave sap of quality and quantity but little inferior during the early part of the season. White maples are prone to "bud" earlier than rock-maples, be it known, there- by imparting to the syrup a highly unpleasant flavor. The best farmers kept their maples free of evergreens, averring that ever- greens caused dark and tangy syrup. The wood furnished by this constant removal of unwanted growth fed the sugar-house fires. And so much wood was required, when thirty-one gallons of sap had to be boiled away to get one gallon of syrup!
In attempting to explain the peculiar charm of the sugar- place it must be granted that there are nuances then stirring in the great spaces of sky and forest that are perceptible to none but youthful ears. It was doubtless so ordained. Yet to older folks, who are tramping knee-deep in snow, even, there is a very sub- · stantial uplift in the realization that the winter is over; sap tinkles audibly in the buckets and from farther afield come echoing blows of a neighbor's axe, as he adds wood to his roaring
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HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
saphouse fire, or the tap of hammer on bucket-edge to loosen it from the carried stack, the creak of wooden sled and spoken commands of the teamster, the ringing calls of one busy sugar- maker to another - all these seem to carry with surprising clear- ness when the wind is in the northwest and a rising thermometer shows that a good sap-run is on.
An unusual stand of sugar-maples crowned the hills at Goshen Center, extending in an east-and-west direction. Beginning with the L. S. Chamberlain sugar-place, the unbroken belt, mixed somewhat with other hardwoods, crossed the H. F. Nelson farm, the Ira Hurd farm, that of Oren E. Farr (who had the prize lot of all, with ability to tap from 1100 to 1200 trees) and the Sulli- van Pike or Ed. Abbott lot. With but a field intervening, the sugar-belt then ran on, with the King place and the Clifton Purington farm in line. Although figures are not readily avail- able, it is probable that in a good sap-year twelve or thirteen hundred gallons of syrup would have been produced in these combined sugar-houses. Furthermore, the half-dozen plants it contained were but a few of the many then in operation all over town. Yet for years it was outstanding and serves to bring out in sharp contrast the paltry two or three hundred gallons now produced by the few sugar-makers who have still persevered in the old art. It must be pointed out, too, that syrup which sold in 1890 for .50 or .60 cents per gallon brings $4 and $5 and over, according to size of container, in 1957.
What has become of the maple-syrup industry? The belt just described has been cut off, one block after another, beginning around 1915, owing to the rapidly-rising prices offered for lum- ber. It is a moot question whether the 1938 hurircane would not have ruined the belt had it been then standing. Other sugar-lots came to the same end, either from saw or hurricane.
Nevertheless, the white sugar so conveniently packaged and easily purchased at the store furnishes required sweetening at low cost. One may correctly surmise, by the same sign, that maple- syrup has been priced out of the commodity-market and has become a luxury, to be used sparingly and only upon special occasion. Lest a too-hasty conclusion be reached, however, that
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syrup-producers are in the "big money" it may be pointed out that there are still areas where maples grow in sufficient numbers to form an effective sugar-orchard, yet most men find they can earn more, in easier surroundings, in mill or shop.
1956 producers include "Twin Ridges Farm," where a new sugar-orchard has been brought in; J. H. Newman, at the Center; H. G. Bartlett, with a portion of the farm's original maples on a lower slope where hurricane-damage in 1938 was reduced, and Maurice Richardson, who made use of roadside-trees which were gathered by means of a truck-borne tank.
Sunapee Mountain Grange
Sunapee Mt. Grange, No. 144, was organized Nov. 29, 1889, by district deputy Lorenzo L. Cutts of Newport, with the follow- ing charter members:
Imri Purington, Mrs. Sophronia M. Cutts, Mr. and Mrs. H. S. George, Elias W. Pike, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Hurd, Solomon and Jennie (Russell) Russell, Russell Maxfield, Mrs. Ardella Max- field, Belle M. Dodge, Bertha Russell, B. Frank Lear, Stephen D. and Etta (Hardy) Maxham, Cyrus M. and Sadie (Baker) Clough, Jessial P. and Ellen Gove, Fred H. and Carrie Baker, Mrs. Helen Davis, Mrs. Emerette (Smart) Powers, H. Byron Russell, Frank Graves, Sherman Pike, Katie E. Buxton, Lizzie George and Eda M. Maxham.
Grange meetings were held in the upper portion of the cream- ery building until the spring of 1891, when the Methodist church, which had been moved to the village in 1876 but then unused, was purchased by the rapidly growing order and adapted to grange use. In the minutes of Oct. 15, 1892, the record is found, "Voted that J. P. Gove have the steeple for removing it." The steeple was of the square, box type. Contemporary accounts give Elias W. Pike much credit for guidance of the grange during its early years. Mr. Pike had been an active supporter of the Meth- odist church as long as it was in being.
A large number of horse-teams gathered on grange nights and comfortable stabling became a serious problem, especially in winter. In September, 1893, an old barn standing near the grange hall was purchased and removed, money was hired and materials
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HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
solicited and from the proceeds a fine, new stable was built on the old site, John S. Smart, carpenter in charge. After creditably fulfilling its mission through the horse-age, the barn was sold in 1937 to J. G. Pike, then operating the adjacent store. In the evening of March 27, 1952, fire, which originated in an ice-house immediately in the rear of the barn, destroyed ice-house and a grain-shed, a two-car garage and the barn which contained goods in storage of much value. But for the prompt and efficient re- sponse of the Goshen fire-company the adjoining store-block, then owned by the Pratts, would assuredly have gone up in flames also.
Membership from Goshen, Lempster, Unity and Sunapee grew, until in 1903 the grange numbered 142. A project of far greater magnitude than any before it now began to materialize - a din- ing room. After much discussion of the relative merits of exca- vating beneath the building, or of raising it to allow for the building of a dining room, the latter method was adopted by vote of members, Oct. 10, 1908. Again it was carpenter Smart who planned and supervised the slow, laborious task of raising the building bodily in air and the framing and finishing of the sub-structure. The result fully justified the soundness of the plan. Over the years, the dining room, with connected kitchen, has been of the greatest value in the preparation and serving of those universally popular grange-suppers.
Officers serving for the year 1957:
Master, Mrs. Stella Parks; overseer, John H. Newman; lecturer, Mrs. Ettabelle Lewis; treasurer, Mrs. Eva Russell (64-year mem- ber); secretary, Mrs. Lucy E. F. Newton.
Juvenile Grange
A branch of the Juvenile Grange was organized in April, 1942, with Mrs. Maurice McClellan, matron and Mrs. Ada Crane, asst. In Mrs. McClellan's temporary absence from town Mrs. Crane assumed full charge of the work for a short time.
Meetings are held at the Grange Hall on Saturday afternoons, under competent adult guidance. The present matron is Mrs. Lucy Newton, with Mrs. Ettabelle Lewis her assistant.
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FARMING AND ALLIED ACTIVITIES
Heavy Tax Payers of 1919
With the tax rate $27.00 per $1,000 valuation, the following residents paid $60 or over:
Babb, Herbert B.
$60.62
Nelson, Arthur W.
$90.18
Booth, Horace M.
99.55
Nelson Bros.
94.50
Bartlett, George B.
132.28
Pike, John G.
106.11
Butler, Frank A.
141.67
Pike, Harry E.
71.55
Chapman, Chas. R.
66.45
Putnam, Alice
63.45
Crane, Geo. F.
73.71
Palmer, C. H.
69.64
Emerson, C. L.
77.60
Robinson, E. S.
160.90
Gocha, John B.
131.00
Smart, John S.
68.85
Howe, Wm. E.
100.77
Smith, Horton L.
128.39
Lear, Althine F.
113.40
Teague, A. T. heirs
67.50
LaBombard, E.
73.86
Whitney, Stella and
Malcolm & Parkins
125.60
Willard
198.99
CHAPTER XXIX Endeavors in Many Fields
"Keeping Summer Boarders"
O NE of the most rewarding projects to appear in Goshen at the turn of the century was the keeping of summer board- ers. Profiting by the aroused decision of the city-dweller that he, or she, needed a two-weeks' vacation in the country every sum- mer, many farm-families found an enlarged income while enjoy- ing the bustle and excitement of visitors from afar. The farm- garden was planted extra early; the living-rooms were given a fresh coat of paint and paper, the big chunk-stove was trundled out to the shed for a three-months' banishment and things were picked up generally around the premises. The boarders arrived by train at Newport, or at Mt. Sunapee, as the case might be, and were thence transported to the farm by horse and carriage, trunks piled in the back. They climbed Mount Sunapee, or the more distant Ascutney Mountain in Vermont, or fished at May Pond in Washington, or went blueberrying. For the final big day of the summer a straw-ride might be reserved and a trip around Lake Sunapee upon one of its steamboats, the "Armenia White," "Edmund Burke," or "Lady Woodsum." There was usually someone in the company who could tellingly recite Scott's immortal lines as the steamer neared Lake Station where the bluff crags of the mountain loomed:
"The sunlight falls on castled walls and snowy summits old in story; The lòng light shakes across the lake and the wild cataract leaps in glory ..
Rand's Pond, now stocked with trout and famous for its catches, then offered little but under-sized flatsides and perch, although winter ice-fishing would lure some good pickerel to the tilts.
At the big house near the old Number 5 school, Mrs. Melinda Thissell entertained select groups of young-lady boarders through
353
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several summers. Her youngest daughter, by a previous marriage, Maud Mitchell, was a school-teacher and therefore had the sum- mer free for helping with her mother's guests, or waiting on table at some Lake hotel.
In 1911, by an item in the annual report of the School Board: "The fall term of 12 weeks (at the Corners, Dist. No. 1) was taught by Miss Maud Mitchell, one of our successful teachers, who walked daily a distance of four miles to and from her school. Enrollment 7." New adjustable desks had been installed and fresh paint applied to the interior woodwork.
The house, two-storied, was well fitted for guests, having been built about 1853 by Rev. Eleazer D. Farr. Its size and arrange- ment, to many observers, gave weight to the report that he planned to establish a girls' boarding-school, similar to the academies at New London, Meriden and elsewhere, then so popu- lar. However, certain members of the family scout this idea and claim that it was planned simply as a residence suitable for his large family. For Mrs. Thissell, widow of Hiram Thissell, the commodious quarters were made to provide a home for her sister Eunice and her two brothers, George and Leander Corkum, originally of Nova Scotia.
When the weight of years obliged her to seek a smaller home, the "big house" was purchased in 1916 by a family of English origin, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Butterworth and their married daughter and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Wood. Ex- tensive repairs made by them modernized the building and sum- mer boarders were again welcomed. Guests now occasionally came by auto.
"Boarders" were also kept at various times at many other farms; by Mrs. Fannie Brown, a widow; by a Mrs. Mills, who came to the Center district from the vicinity of Boston with teen-age son and daughter, Dick and Gladys; by Mrs. Ida Nelson and by Mr. and Mrs. L. Y. Bowlby, while owning the two-story McIntire house at the Corners. Rev. Emmet Russell, D.D., and Alonzo and Daisy Stewart of Washington, D. C., are remembered as among those who returned year after year.
Of the more professional summer hotels, The Earl is elsewhere described. A business of less display, although greater in total
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HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
volume, developed during World War I at the old John Gunni- son farm, near the mountain, under the vigorous administration of Archibald W. Maxner, a Nova Scotian by birth. Catering to people of Jewish faith, the Maxners filled their house every season and were obliged to build an additional cottage and recreation hall. Their cuisine was noted both for quality and abundance. About 1925 Mr. Maxner purchased the Pine Cliff property on Lake Sunapee and removed there.
The Drake and Howard Nursing Home
At a somewhat earlier date a nursing home was established at the old George Brown farm in Goshen Center. Two young pro- fessional nurses, Miss Myra Drake and Miss May Howard, were attracted to Goshen by the residence here of Mrs. Alba Callow- hill, a famed practitioner in Swedish massage. Purchasing the farm, which is on a sightly hilltop, they proceeded to refit the large connected barn with a suite of rooms on each of the two floors, leaving the main house free for dining and sitting rooms and kitchen service.
For several summers after completion the nursing home was filled with convalescent patients from Washington, D. C., where "the nurses," as they were known, were currently employed. A colored cook and assistant came on slightly in advance of the season. A row of catalpas bordering the highway was set out by Miss Howard's father, but proved unable to survive the climate.
The enterprise, operating with evident success, was brought to a close by injuries suffered by Miss Drake in an auto accident while in Goshen in 1913. As the incident is remembered, she had been invited to ride down to the Village by Mr. James Dawson, also of Washington, D. C., who owned the old McCrillis house at the Corners and regularly spent his summers here with Mrs. Dawson. The main roads had been widened somewhat then and spread with gravel, but still knew no hard-top. Mr. Dawson, with Miss Drake beside him, was driving down the "hearse- house hill," as it was then known, where a culvert crosses the hollow, when a team was seen ahead. Mr. Dawson had but re- cently purchased the car and obtained his license to drive it from a reluctant inspector. That he was unfamiliar with the mecha-
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nism of his new vehicle was evident from an apparent neglect to apply his brakes, as a more seasoned driver would have done in the same situation. Countless similar incidents have happened in the intervening years with little remembered of them. This was one of the first and details stuck. In an attempt to avoid the culvert-header on his immediate right, Mr. Dawson cut in against the wagon so closely as to scrape fenders on its wheels, though without visible damage other than frightening the horse. But for the fact that the young driver, Mrs. Cora Nelson, was an experienced horsewoman, a runaway would have added its dan- gers to the situation. Now practically out of control, the car struck the stone header and overturned with a crash of wind- shield glass, throwing its occupants out. Mr. Dawson, though an elderly man, escaped without serious injury, but Miss Drake never regained a full measure of health. The property is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Wasasier as a summer home.
James Wood Dawson d. July 5, 1922, aged 82; his wife, Matilda A., died the 4th of the following month, aged 81 yrs. 6 mos. Both are buried at Goshen Corners.
Teagues' Brentwood Farms
For over thirty years the Teagues' "Brentwood Farms" (plural because there were two farms combined, and Fred and Addie were cooperating hosts) drew city-folk who came with the sum- mer and stayed until fall. There were real horses and cows, until recently, and a big, airy barn in endless space - even a partially-authenticated outcropping of gold-bearing quartz in one of the upper fields - just the place, in short, that all enjoyed. When the guests were flown and winter's snow was blowing, road-breaking crews, at whatever hour of the day or night they happened to be passing, found a welcome and hot coffee in the Teagues' great living-room.
Fred served long on the Goshen Board of Selectmen and it was during his tenure of office, and under his personal super- vision, that the rebuilding of the Brook Road was completed from Maxner's Corner to the Sunapee line. The state promptly assumed maintenance of the whole section and applied blacktop. Upon selling in 1954 to Robert A. Skinner, the Teagues merely moved across the way to the house they had first occupied when
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HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
arriving here from Massachusetts in 1918. They still entertain some of their original guests in season.
Lynbrook Lodge
Reference has been made to the remodeling of the old Cur- rier tavern by Horace M. Booth about the year 1930. Into the overall design he put the artistic workmanship of which his hand was so capable, with the result that no hotel in the region was more attractive. The name "Booth Inn" was adopted and for a number of years a good business was maintained.
In 1945 the Inn was purchased by Michael and M. Patricia Faughnan of Long Island, having been inoperative for a short time preceding sale. The Faughnans catered to organizations and groups by appointment and their painstaking service has gained them many friends.
"Land O'Goshen" Kiwanis Club
It was but natural that the Kiwanis Club, upon its incorpora- tion in 1952, should adopt Lynbrook Lodge for its meetings. A promotional group from Goshen, consisting of Albert De- Robertis, Michael Faughnan, Melvin Pierce and others made necessary contacts with Claremont Kiwanians and streamlined procedure so well that their names appeared in the forthcoming roster of officers: President, Albert DeRobertis; Vice Pres., Charles S. Abbott; Sec'y, H. A. Warburton, Jr .; Treas., Michael Faughnan.
Membership was not confined to the town, however, as the objectives of the service group included five surroundings towns. A Boy Scout troop was sponsored, annual picnics with compe- tent supervision held at Rand's Pond and many worthwhile ben- evolences undertaken. When the Faughnans closed their inn for the winter in 1954, the Kiwanis meetings were transferred to the Winston Hotel in Newport. The exchange worked ill for the club. Its zeal could not be recaptured, numbers dwindled alarm- ingly and the charter was relinquished in 1955.
The Boy Scout Troop No. 39 seemed too valuable a work to be thus summarily disrupted and a group of young Goshen men, well-named "Friends of the Boy Scouts," rallied to the rescue
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ENDEAVORS IN MANY FIELDS
and have continued its program. John H. Newman is the present Scoutmaster.
A troop of Girl Scouts was organized three years ago by Mrs. A. W. Nelson, Jr., at the Community Church vestry, which often serves as their meeting-place. Camping out, hiking, bowling and kindred activities have been participated in according to season.
The Goshen Telephone Company
The telephone line that was early brought over the mountain from Washington, for the benefit of the big lumber-mill at Cherry Valley, has been previously mentioned. The portion of the line in Goshen was later acquired by William E. Howe and became officially known as the Goshen Telephone Company. A switch-board was maintained for many years at Mr. Howe's residence, now the Johnson-Crane place. Line and equipment was taken over by The New England Tel. and Tel. Company, Dec. 15, 1935. The local system was entirely rebuilt by the new owners, with greatly improved service and a somewhat higher monthly charge. A change-over to the dial system is imminent.
Electricity Comes to Town
Following World War I, and even while it was still in progress, farm-lighting units were being introduced into an occasional home, one of the first being that installed in 1917 by Frank A. Butler in his new house at North Goshen. Close contempo- raries were John G. Pike, Horace M. Booth, A. W. Maxner and L. Y. Bowlby. In 1922 a new service-station was built at the Main Street bridge by H. D. Bailey and for the operation of his gas-pump he installed a "Delco" plant at his residence on the Brook Road, with transmission wires to the station. From here current was later carried to a neighbor's house.
Storage batteries required by the home-generating systems were expensive and would sometimes give out for no apparent reason. Mr. Bowlby had the bones of his forearm broken by a kick-back from the plant-motor which he was attempting to start. Yet there were unquestioned advantages inherent in a clean, safe light that electricity provided and Goshen folks speculated upon the probable cost of bringing in current from the New
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HISTORY OF GOSHEN, N. H.
Hampshire Power Company's line on the Newport road. A power-plant at the old grist-mill dam was even considered, but in both suggestions the initial cost was prohibitive, considering the few actively interested.
In the fall of 1929, a welcome proposition was made by Melvin G. Pierce of Boston, to assume the extension of electric current, through capital which he would find. For good measure, the towns of Lempster and Washington were included in Mr. Pierce's petition for a franchise, but as stated to the Public Utilities Commission, April 15, 1930 (transcript kindly furnished by James W. Doon, Sec'y of the P. U. Commission):
"The first step in the development will be the construction of suitable lines and facilities from the point where the petitioner will take current from New Hampshire Power Company at the Newport-Goshen town line near the state highway, known as the Dartmouth College Road, to a point approxi- mately one mile below Mill Village and along the town road to the village of Goshen, a distance of between 31/2 and 4 miles. Where feasible, poles will be jointly used by the petitioner and the Goshen Telephone Company. there- by lowering the investment. Tentative figures indicate the cost of it will be under $3,500.
Extensions to Lempster and Washington have not crystallized to the point where it is possible to say when they will be undertaken. ... The chief in- dustry in this locality is farming, with a combined population in the three towns of less than one thousand inhabitants. Summer hotels of various kinds and sizes are found throughout the territory, and growth is apparent as a vacation resort. At present no electrical utility serves this area. It is believed the entrance of an electrical utility will not only accommodate the public but will also enhance the value of property . . . =
An order was issued, as of above date, authorizing the Mutual Public Service of New Hampshire, Mr. Pierce's newly-incorpor- ated utility, to proceed in accordance with their petition.
Week-ends thereafter, throughout the summer and fall, the new transmission line was brought forward as rapidly as possible with the small force available. It was December before the Corner was reached. Bertrand Carter acted as local agent, as Mr. Pierce was regularly employed in Boston. Financial difficulties vexed the Mutual's operations and on March 15, 1953, its interests were transferred to the Public Service Company of New Hampshire.
A competing service appeared in March, 1940, with the entry of the REA - Rural Electrification Administration, or N. H.
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