USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Salem > History of Salem, N.H. > Part 25
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HISTORY OF SALEM.
chinery, were the rule here. The growth was more steady and covered a longer period of time than was the case at the Depot or at North Salem. Among the men who were instrumental in building up here before the Civil War may be mentioned John Clendenin and his son, John Leverett, Moores Bailey, Isaiah Kelly, John Marston, John R. Wheeler, Earl C. Gordon, John C. Ewins, Moody Foster and others. Just after the war the shoe business took its great boom. Then Daniel and Thornton Russ, Benj. R. Wheeler, Joseph Webster, Ed. S. Woodbury, all helped to make the village busier, and therefore a better place of resi- dence.
SALEM DEPOT was probably never dreamed of as the site of a village before the railroad was built. And had it been put through the Center and North Salem, as was proposed at the time, it is likely that this locality would now be taken up with level farms rather than thickly placed dwellings. But even the railroad could not turn the trick at once. Before the war very little change had come about. In 1859 there were only nineteen houses and nine other buildings here, all told. The great devel- opment came in the years between 1860 and 1880. And if to one man more than another the credit is to be given, that man is Prescott C. Hall. It seemed that every building which he touched turned into a shoeshop; and he was also instrumental, either directly or indirectly, in building many of the dwellings now in this village. He did in a way for this village what John Taylor had done for North Salem.
Other men who were potent factors in the good work here were Moody Foster, Joel C. Carey and Phinnie C. Foster. Others were doing their share in many other ways to build up the place. Of more recent results are the operations of Frank P. and Isaiah Woodbury. Their large shoe factory does much to keep up a prosperous condition here.
NORTH SALEM was to a greater extent than any other part of the town built up by the thrift and industry of one man. When John Taylor located there in 1833 there were only ten dwellings and five other buildings in the village. The dwellings, indicated by map numbers, were 550, 556, 560, 564, 541, 534, 573, A 4, 594, 598. The other buildings were a shingle mill 546, sawmill 565,
WOODBURY & CO., SHOE FACTORY. (M 144) (See page 305)
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INDUSTRIAL.
gristmill 542, schoolhouse 566, store 568, woolen mill A 2. As his sons grew up they became interested in these buildings as well as in others. A glance at the Map Key, Ch. XII, for numbers be- tween 535 and 600 will give an idea of the part played by this family. Working along at the same time were Nathaniel Duston, Thomas Duston, Nathaniel Paul, Alexander Gordon, Daniel Tay- lor, Matthew H. Taylor and the three sons of John Taylor, John, Jr., James and Richard.
MILLVILLE was built up very early about the mill of Henry Sanders, Bluff Street being one of the oldest settled highways in town.
MESSER's was developed about the intersection of Dracut Path (now Hampshire Road) and Methuen country road, receiving a later augmentation through the business instinct of the Messer family.
COWBELL CORNER began with the old sawmill and was given new life by the Clendenin family about one hundred years ago.
The question of the oldest house in Salem is a difficult one to answer. From all the evidence at hand, carefully weighed, the author believes the Moses Messer house, M 376, to be the oldest frame now retaining its original service as a dwelling. The form of the roof has been altered but otherwise the main structure is the same. Others which press closely upon this for the distinc- tion may be mentioned, the order in which they are here ar- ranged, however, indicating nothing of their comparative ages: George Jones, M 398; D. W. Felch, M 633; Baxter Hall, M 332; Henry Hudson, M 341; Warren Bodwell, M 423; also the timber of J. W. Kelley's house, M 352, although it was rebuilt when moved to the Turnpike. There are many other very old houses, which might be of even greater antiquity than these if the whole fund of facts could be unearthed. But from the information now at hand, the honors must be awarded as stated.
CHAPTER IX.
Highways and Bridges.
The earliest settlers had one doubtful advantage in travel not possessed by the citizens of today-they were free to choose their paths where they would through the unbroken wilderness. Their method of choice brings to our attention one fundamental difference between road building in those times and today. Then the road or path owed its existence to some newly built homestead; now the homestead is built because of the road. This is of course not always the case at either time; but the early inhabitants had the land granted them before there was a settler in this region. Then by slow stages they pushed outward from the older settlement at Haverhill and built their homes on what seemed the most acceptable pieces of land. In many in- stances the summit of one of the large rolling hills was selected as the most favorable location. Here the settler and his family were more secure from the attacks of the savages than they would have been in the lowlands. The favorite mode of attack in daylight was to watch from a distance until the father or brothers had gone to the fields, then fall suddenly upon the defenceless women and children; but the experience of the Haverhill citizens had been sufficiently severe to make those who ventured out into the wilderness extremely careful. Thus we find that the first settlers of the Center district were on and around the great Spicket Hill. Even long before these settlers came there was a flourishing farm on the top of the height of land now Policy Street, owned by the heirs of Major-General Leavitt. In the north part of the town Zion's Hill and the heights near No. 3 schoolhouse were first to receive the new inhabitants. And here we return to our original discussion- the roads followed the farms, that is, led from one to another, or from some house toward the distant town until it came into
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HIGHWAYS AND BRIDGES.
the path from some other dwelling. This explains why so many of the roads lead directly over the hills, when a far easier and shorter way could have been chosen along a nearly level course. These old hill roads have in most cases been retained to the pres- ent day. Examples of these are the last three mentioned above. In the first case, however, the road is now so constructed as to form a complete circuit about Spicket Hill. The old path led directly over the summit, and is the finest illustration, both in its original condition and in its present excellent state of preser- vation, within a radius of many miles, of the trail or path that was so common in these forests two hundred years ago. This path came through the lowlands to the east of the hill, up over its eastern slope, along the length of its brow and down the long decline toward the river on the west. Toward the foot of the hill it wound around slightly toward the north, past the house of Daniel Peaslee, and over the river near or over the causeway, so called. From here it turned northward, following the general direction of the river, but sending a branch off along Hitty Titty Brook to the sawmill near what is now known as Millville. The name Spicket path is generally applied only to the part from the river eastward to Haverhill. That is, it was the path by which the Haverhill Proprietors came to their lands along the upper Spicket for hay and timber.
The houses that stood on the crest of the hill have long since disappeared. Here Evan Jones had his first house, also proba- bly the elder Massey and one of the Kelly families. The cellar of the Peaslee house may now be seen among the apple trees near the ruined cellar of the house of Silas Carey. As the land became more thickly settled the top of the hill was deserted for the more productive land in the valleys, which had been culti- vated under difficulties because of the distance from the build- ings. Evan Jones took up his abode on the land afterward occu- pied as the town farm. Daniel Massey built a house on the north side of the road near Wilson's Corner, toward the cause- way. Abiel Messer went down the other side of the hill to the place now owned by Robert I. Smith, and built his house very near the corner of the road leading to the Stephen Bailey place. The historical map gives the locations of all of these places, of
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HISTORY OF SALEM.
which descriptions are included in the key. The outline of the old path is also traced, showing the branch that led at a later period toward the bridge near the town house. A picture of the path is here presented, taken in the spring of 1907. It will be seen that the preservation of the old trail is perfect for the short distance shown. Years of travel over it had so hardened the earth that during all these succeeding years no trees have grown up in it, in spite of the fact that the timber of the hill has several times been cut off and a new growth sprung up, each time leaving the path bare as before. In some places the per- sistent offspring of the pine have succeeded in taking root, but these have not yet attained any considerable size.
A path which has long since been converted into a highway was that leading from Haverhill to Dracut, along the south side of World's End Pond. This was older than Spicket path, but not so interesting today, because none of its original appearance is preserved. Dracut was incorporated as a town in 1705, or forty-five years before Salem, and this old path was a means of communication between the two settlements for several years before that date. It is practically certain that the first house built in the territory now Salem was on this trail, near the crossing of the Turnpike, or perhaps nearer the pond. There were log houses on this road so old that they were in ruins dur- ing the early days of Salem. These are described in the accom- panying map key. This path was formally laid out as a road by the town of Methuen in February, 1735, three rods wide, and extending from the south side of World's End Pond westward to the Spicket. This is the road now in use over the course named.
It is to be observed that the above action was taken in the year that the Second Parish of Methuen was set off. If we go back two years, to 1833, we shall have the first record concerning the facilities of travel in what is now Salem. It has been re- ferred to in a preceding chapter. Daniel Peaslee, who lived beside Spicket path as it wound around the base of the great hill at its west end, had requested the town (Methuen) to take some action to repair the bridge near his house over the Spicket. He described it as being unsafe to travel over. No action was
OLD SPICKET PATH.
PRESCOTT C. HALL.
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HIGHWAYS AND BRIDGES.
taken at this time, as another project was on foot. The new settlers, who were becoming more numerous at about this period, were locating on the south side of the hill and in the fertile valleys down both sides of the river. Consequently there was a growing demand for a bridge farther down stream than the old one at the causeway. Moreover, a road had been trod along the south slope of the hill, leading from the farms and meadows there to the larger settlement at Haverhill. Also the men who had bought land in the western section desired a shorter route by which to reach it. Consequently a bridge was built near the site afterwards selected for the meetinghouse. This was known as the "new bridge," to distinguish it from the older one up river at Peaslee's. In all of the records for the next three years following the building in 1735, this bridge is referred to by this name. After 1738, the year of the erection of the meet- inghouse, the new bridge was designated frequently as "the bridge near the meetinghouse." The old bridge continued in use during the dry weather, the river then being low. But it had settled so that during the freshets the water was too high for fording. At such times travel was turned down along the meadow on the east side of the river, to the new bridge. It seemed a strange reversal of conditions that during the progress of construction of the new iron bridge last year the way was again turned up along the river and across the old causeway, which thus repaid its obligation of a century and three quarters.
Writers of historical sketches have held to the idea that the first bridge over the Spicket in Salem was this one of 1735. It will be seen that this opinion was not based on facts of record, but upon the tradition that passengers from north of the hill used to come down the meadows to cross the "new bridge." The tradition did not explain the conditions from which it derived its existence; but this is the characteristic of tradition whch gives it its mystic charm.
The travel over these trails was at first on foot or horseback. Wagons were not used, the burdens being slung on horses or drawn on sledges or drags by oxen. In this way heavy loads of supplies were brought from Haverhill, Newbury and even Salem, Mass., and Boston. The paths were narrow and usually
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HISTORY OF SALEM.
smoothly trod, especially those leading from one settlement to another. Many of the fields and forests in Salem are now trav- ersed by these old paths, but they are so obliterated as to be in most cases indiscernible.
After the incorporation of the towns these trails were either abandoned or laid out wider as accepted highways. The in- stance cited above was the first case of the kind in Salem. The next was on March 9, 1736, when the town meeting at Methuen laid out a road "Beginning at a pine tree marked by the high- way near the old mill formerly in possession of Benoni Rowell, then running northwesterly on the southerly side of said tree, and crossing the land of John Rowell, John Amme, Benoni Rowell, Nathaniel Peaslee, 'Joseph Peaslee and land of Henry Sanders, to a white oak marked by Policy pond." From the names here mentioned this road would appear to be from near the mouth of Captain's Brook up across the hills toward Canobie. It could hardly have been Bluff Street as it is today, being too far to the north.
At the next annual meeting, in March, 1737, Methuen laid out a road "from Mitchell's meadow over the new bridge, thence northwest over land of Page, Eaton, Richard Dow, David Dow, to road leading to Londonderry." Mitchell's meadow was on the east side of the Spicket, upon which it bordered, and about opposite the Stephen Bailey farm. From here to the bridge the road was south of the road now leading by Warren Bodwell's, being nearer the river. It may still be made out in places, and there is evidence of a house some distance from the present residence of Robert I. Smith. After crossing the bridge, the road followed nearly the course of the present road past No. 1 schoolhouse, the Crowell and Dow homesteads, and on to Charles Kelley's farm near Canobie Lake.
We define these roads to indicate that they were in use for some years before Salem became a town, as well as to locate the possessions of some of the early inhabitants.
At the last meeting above mentioned the road from the Center to the Depot was laid out, as running from the new bridge westerly, passing "near a sloe," near a sunken bridge, to a small brook, and to Policy Brook near the Haverhill old line. The "sloe," or slough, must refer to the lowland south of the
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HIGHWAYS AND BRIDGES.
carbarn, but the sunken bridge is not so evident. Perhaps some reader may have some light on the matter. The small brook is that on the land of Charles F. Kimball. The road here probably was south of Main Street and more in a direct line, as it crossed Policy brook near the Fairmount House, and no mention is made of an abrupt turn such as is now made at the Stone house. After the incorporation of Salem most of these roads were laid out anew and accepted by vote of the town. To convey an idea of the comparative age of some of our roads, as to whether they are colonial descendants or of more recent construction, we here give 'a list of them as far as possible.
The record of the first of these, laid out the next month, is given ad literatim, since it is one of the principal roads of the town, from Methuen to Salem Center. Not only this, but it follows almost exactly the road now in use between the two towns. Such changes as have been made will be noted after the original course has been traced. However, one of the val- uable features of these road records is, as was stated above, the location of property of the settlers. And in this respect this record of the Methuen road is the finest specimen in the entire collection. All that is necessary is enough information to posi- tively locate the road, then each item of the directions may be easily interpreted. Following is the record :
"Salem June ye 26th 1750 A rod layd out from ye provinc Line beynd Jams Swans to ye to ye meeting hous three rods wide in ye maner foolowing begining at ye provine line at a pich pine markt H Standing on ye wast sid of the rod thanc roning north to a black oak marked H from thanc to a whit oak markt H from thanc throw betwen Jams Swons barn and Joseph rights house Crosing ye rod that leeds from gages farry to pelham and so throw ye Said Swons and rights land to ye eand of ye sd rights land to a whit oak markt H standing on ye wast sid of ye rod from thanc throw Sd swons land to a black oak markt H from thanc to a black oak Standing just within Nath11 Wabstrs fanc marked H thanc to a whit oak marked H standing betwen sd wabstrs hous and barne from thanc to a black oak marked H on ye south Sid of the Worlds Eand brook from thanc as ye rod now gos to a small whit oak markt H standing on ye wast
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HISTORY OF SALEM.
sid of the rod that was formaly layd out by the town of haver- hill to petr Bruers madow from thanc as the rod is now trod to ye corner of ebn' Ayrses feeld near Thomas Silvers from thanc to ye brig Josiah Cloghs hous to ye corner of the Sd Clough fenc and from thanc along by the est sid of of the hill to a pitch pine marked H Standing near abial Astons field from thanc to ye est corner of sd Astens hous from thanc as ye rod now goes to ye meeting hous.
Voted that this within rod John Ober - Select
Stand apon condison that the
Nath11 Dow
men
man that owns ye land Sath patee
whar ye rod is layd out give ye land"
The first point to notice here is furnished by our informa- tion from a later source, namely, that the Turnpike was not then built (not until 1804), nor was the piece of road from the Hoyt place to "Westmoreland," the western entrance to Mr. Searles' "Stillwater" estate. The road began at the province line near the house of George E. Townsend and led up over the hill, probably a little west of the present road. James Swan lived in the house afterwards known as the Butler or Tootell place, while Joseph Wright's farm was just east of it, on the south side of the road from World's End pond. Swan's barn was also on this side of the road. The record calls this the road from Gage's Ferry to Pelham; it is the old Haverhill-Dracut path also. The highway then crossed this old road and con- tinued in what is now the road from L. A. Watjen's to West- moreland. The next point obtained is that Nathaniel Webster lived about here, his house and barn being on opposite sides of the new road, not far south of World's End Pond brook. Peter Brewer's meadow was near Foster's bridge, and the road laid out to it by Haverhill came in near George Jones' place. Eben- ezer Ayer's field came to the corner near the old Pattee house, but we cannot now say just where Thomas Silver lived, though it was certainly near that corner. Josiah Clough (Cluff) lived at the corner, but whether where the Foster house stands is doubtful. The bridge here was for many years known as Clough's bridge. From this point the road is easily traced along the side of the long hill and directly past the house of Abiel
LAWRENCE ROAD, SALEM CENTER.
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HIGHWAYS AND BRIDGES.
Austin, later the Amos Webster place. From here to the meet- inghouse it may or may not have been exactly as it is today, but probably has not been greatly altered, as the houses along the road were gradually built up, instead of being erected under the boom influence of a new road.
By the way, this Clough bridge was washed away by a freshet some thirty-five years later, and when replaced brought forth an interesting entry on the records :
"Ordered Amos Dow (Treas) to pay Elisha Woodbury Seven- teen Shillings and Six pence it being for warning out People out of the town and for rum he provided for the Building of Clough Bridge January the 29: 1789."
We infer that the weather must have been considerably cold when the bridge was built !
The road to North Salem was laid out the next day. With the exception of the portion near Wheeler's mill, it was about the same as today. As it passes over Long's hill in a straight line and continues a short distance in this direction it is the same as the original road. But where it now dips down to the north toward the mill it then continued straight on, meeting the pres- ent road near No. 10 schoolhouse. As wagons bringing grain in later years to the gristmill which was there little by little formed a new path, and deserted the straight line higher up on the hillside, other traffic did likewise until the old road was abandoned. There is an old cellar hole some distance back of the former residence of Wallace W. Cole, where Richard Wheeler, father of John A. Wheeler, lived. In 1811 the town "voted to exchange the road that formerly went by Richard Wheeler's . and accept the road that leads by Allen's mills in lieu of the former."
In so far as the rest of the roads are known they are given, with the respective dates of laying out. In most cases the roads had been in use before these dates, often for several years. Some which are not sufficiently definite in the records to be located have been omitted here. Following are the dates and locations :
June 27, 1750-Wheeler Street, so called, from the bridge near the town farm land to the Country Road, which was the name applied to the North Salem road. Properly speaking this should
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HISTORY OF SALEM.
not be called Wheeler Street, as that name was applied more especially to the part from the corner by Daniel Merrill's east to the Atkinson line, past the Larrabee and Emerson places, which were first settled by the Wheelers.
November 14, 1750. Poverty Street, from Daniel Merrill's corner to the bridge at Hale's mill, near residence of James Cullen. This had been a very old road, settled early because of its proximity to the old Haverhill and Londonderry road, which comes down over Providence Hill and continues up through the No. 3 district and past Cowbell Corner.
May 6, 1752, from near the bridge by Hale's mill, down by the old cemetery near the Jesse O. Bailey place, to the foot of Long's hill. This crossed the river at what was afterwards known as Bailey's bridge, by the Moores Bailey homestead.
May 26, 1752. The road known as Silver Street, because of the number of families by that name living there at one time. It was laid out from the province line to the corner near the Jennings and Joy places, thence past the Littlejohn farm to Clough's crossing and on to the corner at Thorndyke Foster's.
In 1752 another "road with gates and bars," by which a toll road is indicated, was laid out from the corner where No. 8 schoolhouse now stands to the old Dracut path above referred to. This followed nearly the same course as the present road does, by way of Kelley's crossing and the Turnpike. We are not positive in this case, as the whole record of the road is not clear in its references to adjoining property. Of course such refer- ences, as well as those to other roads crossed or terminated on, are the best means by which to follow the directions of the road.
1754, a bridge referred to as "over ye back river near Tim- othy 'Johnsons" was repaired by him with plank and an allow- ance of seven pounds, old tenor, made him for the work. Tim- othy lived near the junction of Captain's brook with the Spicket. Whether the bridge referred to was the one near Moores Bai- ley's or not is uncertain. The Spicket was sometimes called Back River, but the bridge may have been farther down river just below the horseshoe bend.
March 31, 1756-voted to "except ye rod layd out from ashbe
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HIGHWAYS AND BRIDGES.
(Ashby's) to winhah line," also "the rod layd out from ye rod that goes by Samuel Sandres to the old brig By timothy bells corne so over the hill Northly to Isrel Young Jrs house," in both cases provided the persons through whose land the road goes shall give the land. Both these roads were in the vicinity of Policy Pond, but their exact location is unknown.
In 1757 it was voted to pay one pound five shillings per day for work on the roads, also the same for a cart and yoke of oxen. Two roads were accepted that year, one from Edward Bayley's to the road from Jonathan Woodbury's to David Heath's, the other from Abraham Annis' to Caleb Hall's. The first of these led to Policy Street, the second farther south and west, perhaps not now in existence.
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