USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Washington > History of Washington, New Hampshire, from the first settlement to the present time, 1768-1886 > Part 4
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A road from Charles Jones' to the turnpike was laid out in 1820-to be a bridle path till 1823; and on the Ist of Nov., 1823, it became a public highway.
The road leading from the mountain road, near Mr. Weld D. Proctor's house, through the New Boston neigh- borhood was laid out in 1834. The road from near the residence of S. E. Jones, Esq., to the Hillsborough line was laid out in 1843.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
A toll gate was established on the Croydon turnpike in the north part of the town, of which John May was for a long time the keeper. The company that constructed this road continued its control for about thirty years, when it was given up, and the town assumed the support of it. The phrase "as the road is now trod," explains the manner in which the course of the roads was selected in the first place. As the people passed from each others' dwellings, and eventually from one neighborhood of set- tlers to another, they formed footpaths in the easiest or most natural direction, which soon became bridle paths, and then the common highway. Some of the transcripts here recorded are at least obscure ; some not recognizable ; and it is supposed that in some instances the roads have been discontinued, or changed somewhat in their courses, so that it is impossible to tell what road is indicated. The larger part of the transcripts are, however, so plain that it is thought that no error has been made in locating the present course of the road mentioned.
It has been said that the condition of the highways indicate the degree of culture that the community through which they pass has attained. We think our town has not been remiss in the expenditure of money for improv- ing the roads, and considering the hilly and rocky nature of the lands traversed by our roads, it must be conceded that they at least compare favorably with those of adjoin- ing towns. It is to be hoped that no retrograde move- ment will be made, but that perhaps sometime ornament will be considered as well as utility, and as far as is practi- cable, our roadsides will be transformed from unsightly hedges, into neatly kept borders.
Washington Centre from Faxon Hill.
..
CHAPTER VII.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND BOUNDARY LINES.
Physical Geography. General scenery. View from Lovewell's Mt. Situation of centre village. Longitude and Latitude. Height of Mountain and other portions of the town. Prospect from these elevations. Original size and form of the town. Boundary lines. Water-shed between the Connecticut and Merrimac rivers. Ashue- lot river. Other streams. Ponds in Washington. Forests, Sur- face. soil, productions, climate. Boundary dispute between Wash- ington and Marlow.
HE scenery of Washington is similar to that of a large portion of New Hampshire. It has the same diversity of hill and vale, meadow and woodland, and the additional charm which so many beau- tiful ponds cannot fail to give to the landscape.
The scene presented to the view as one stands on the summit of Lovewell's mountain is indescribably beauti- ful. A description has been given elsewhere of the more distant features of this view, written by one who has travelled in many different parts of the country, and is of the opinion that the beauty of the scenery in and around Washington is not often excelled. The prospect nearer to the mountains is no less pleasing. One can count fifteen ponds and nearly all of them in Washington. Reed's, and Fisher's hills rise in the south-west, and farther on to the south and west, we have a delightful view of the farm-house, the meadow, and the pleasant valley, and the waving forests of this town, and in every direction the more distant hills rise like an amphitheatre enclosing the
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
beautiful scene spread out around us. The village of East Washington lies at the foot of the mountain on the east, and as the traveller follows the old mountain road, some- times with a steep ascent and again through a little valley, winding about through a cluster of trees, and then an open space, he catches glimpses of the village with its white cottages, and church spires, and the surrounding hills, which one who enjoys nature's beautiful pictures cannot fail to appreciate.
The village at the centre of the town is situated "on the summit of the ridge which forms the water-shed be- tween the Merrimac and Connecticut rivers. Its altitude is twelve hundred feet above the level of the sea. Upon one of its outlying hills is the residence of Mr. Joseph Safford, from whose roof on one side the water drops into Millen's pond, leading into the Ashuelot river, and from the other side into a tributary of the Merrimac, during every storm."
Having so elevated a situation, the air is cool and invig- orating ; and many tourists visit this locality every sum- mer to enjoy the health giving breezes, and delightful scenery. Several roads diverge in different directions from the main street, and afford pleasant drives over the hills and by the substantial farm houses.
The town house, built one hundred years ago, stands here, and is still a handsome building, an honor to the town and an ornament to the village. The Library build- ing, and Soldiers' monument, also add an interest to this locality and increase its attractiveness.
The latitude of the summit of Lovewell's mountain as determined by the U. S. Coast Survey, is 43 degrees, 12 minutes, II seconds ; the longitude, 72 degrees, 3 minutes, 42 seconds west from Greenwich. The height of the mountain, determined by the aneroid barometer, at the time the Coast Survey had a signal station on the mountain, is 2487 feet. The altitude of the centre vil-
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IIISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
lage is 1290 feet ; that of the high land west of the vil- lage on the Marlow road 1463 feet. West of the Ash- uelot river after it crosses the town line from Lempster into Washington it is 1500 feet. On the Marlow road there are views of surpassing interest. From the house of Joseph Safford there is an enchanting prospect. The scene viewed from a point west of the residence of Jabez Fisher near the spot where the first house on the farm was built, is of almost matchless beauty ; the valley with the village resting in its bosom, seen through the trees, the valley still sloping downward to the level of the stream, with the adjuncts that compose the picture, de- light the eye as few others can. Farther to the west at a still higher elevation, near the house of James Farnsworth, a much more extensive prospect presents itself, giving a wider sweep to the eye at all points of the compass.
The dimensions of the original grant of the township given by the Masonian proprietors, were eight miles in the general direction of north and south, and six miles, east and west. Changes effected in those lines, on ac- count of the grants secured by other towns, left the shape of Washington far different from that of the parallel- ogram suggested by the numerals six and eight. Wash- ington is bounded on the southern part of its western line by Marlow, and from the north-east corner of Marlow by Lempster, which extends east beyond Marlow, making an angle in the western boundary of Washington. From this angle the line runs north-east until it reaches Goshen. From that point the line runs east to Bradford. It ex- tended originally two or three miles from this point into Bradford, making a narrow gore between Washington and Sunapee, which gore now belongs to Bradford. From the north-east corner of Washington, the line takes a south- erly direction along the west side of Bradford, before it reaches its extreme southern limit, touching three coun- ties at one point. Bradford extends along about half
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
the length of the eastern boundary, making an angle till Hillsborough is reached, which juts its north-west corner more than a mile beyond Bradford into what was the original grant of Washington, making nearly a right an- gle. From this angle the line runs on the west line of Hillsborough until it reaches Windsor, where it forms another angle and runs southerly on the east line of Windsor until it reaches the original north line of Stod- dard. On this line it runs north and west until it reaches the north-west corner of Stoddard and the south-western corner of Washington.
The south line lying on Stoddard seems to be unchang- ed, but all the others are widely variant from the original boundaries, the changes on the east and west, making the north line but little more than one half its original length. Had the original shape been retained, the west line would have included all of Ashuelot river and a mile or two be- yond it. The east line would have extended two or three miles into what is now Bradford, and would have cut off the jutting angle of Hillsborough.
The water-shed between the Connecticut and Merri- mac rivers passes in a longitudinal direction through the entire territory of the town a little west of its centre. This line does not follow the highest elevation of land in its vicinity but is determined by the depth, and course of the valleys which furnish the channels for the water. The outlying spurs of the Sunapee range on the north line of the town, form the beginning of the water-shed. Then comes Jones' hill and Reed's hill, whence the line passes over the farm of Jabez Fisher, and that of Joseph Safford and H. B. Millen; over Oak hill and the high land where the Stoddard line crosses.
On the western slope of this ridge the Ashuelot, a dash- ing and impetuous stream that collects the waters of the hills from many brooks and small ponds, as it flows through wood and meadow, takes its rise in the north-western part
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
of the town, whence it flows through one small pond near the town line, then through North pond, and thence to May pond, which is often regarded as its source. From this pond it flows south-westerly until it crosses the line into Lempster, through which it proceeds a distance of two or three miles and then again crosses the line into Wash- ington, and passes through three small ponds, and finally enters the Ashuelot pond, and from thence nearly west into Marlow. This river in its course to the Connecticut, which it enters at Hinsdale, has a fall of one thousand feet, and is one of the most important rivers of its size in the state with regard to power for manufactories of va- rious kinds. Ashuelot is an Indian word signifying "the gathering of the waters."
The waters of the eastern section of the town seek the Merrimac through the channel of the Contoocook.
"And on it glides through grove and glen, Dark woodlands and the homes of men."
The stream generally known as Long pond brook has its source in the northern limits of the town on the Goshen border, surrounded by the dense forests that have always covered that part of the town. The stream, small at the outset, receiving a brook from Frog pond on the west, flows nearly south, by Collins' saw-mill, and down the val- ley until it reaches Half Moon pond, through that pond, and still on by Water street, furnishing the motive power to the machinery in operation there, then pursuing its way through pleasant meadow and thick woods until it enters the waters of Long pond. The stream from Long pond passes on to South Stoddard, where it finds Island pond, and turning a corner, sweeps to the north-east, through Antrim, where it takes the name of North Branch, into Hillsborough, joining the Contoocook west of Hills- borough Bridge.
Island pond, in our town, sends a tributary of the Con-
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
toocook through the village of East Washington where it unites with a small stream from Ayer's pond, and passes on through Hillsborough, uniting with the North Branch in that town, and with that flowing into the Contoocook. Another stream from Smith's pond unites with this stream in Hillsborough.
The Ashuelot and Contoocook thus bear away the sur- plus waters of this town and help to constitute those mightier streams, the Connecticut and Merrimac, that are the source of so much wealth to the state.
There are twenty-seven ponds situated in Washington, the largest of which is Long pond, lying partly in this town and terminating at Mill Village in Stoddard. It is six miles in length, and from three to one hundred and seventy rods in width.
Ashuelot pond is next in size, said to contain between three and four hundred acres. It is the principal supply- ing source of the Ashuelot river.
Half Moon pond is a beautiful sheet of water lying near the foot of Lovewell's mountain on the south-west- erly side. Many pleasure seekers encamp on its pleasant shore each season, seeking rest from toil and care.
Island pond, which is situated in a hollow of the ridge that runs southward from Lovewell's, nearly at the foot of the mountain, is a lovely pond, interspersed with numer- ous small islands that rise abruptly from its dark waters. It has its source in the mountain springs, and the water is clear and cool. Millen's pond may be called equally beautiful, and so may each of the other smaller sheets of water; the scenery around each one varying so that they all present many attractive features, and are all beautiful and picturesque in their situations and surroundings. The names of the larger of these ponds are Bacon, May, North, Freezeland, Ayer, Smith, Bear, Fletcher, Hedge- hog, Barney, Barden, Vickery and Frog ponds.
These waters are much visited by sportsmen, and large
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON. 47
quantities of fish are taken from them each year. Beside those kinds usually found in such ponds, some of our bodies of water have been stocked with black bass and land locked salmon.
The first settlers in this town found it covered with the primeval growth of trees, excepting on the ridges of some of the hills, and a part of the rich meadow lands in the vicinity of Long pond. The woodlands have been cleared mostly, yet there still remain forests of considerable extent. The largest of these is an unbroken tract of dense growth, extending from the Bradford line on the east, along the Goshen line on the north, and westerly towards Lempster. In the dark thickets wild animals of the harmless varieties remain undisturbed by the hunter, and the wild bees hide their honey in the recesses of the trees. Many years ago Dea. Thomas Farwell secured from one tree about three hundred pounds of their de- licious hoard. Another portion of land which has never been cleared extends from the Stoddard line, by Long pond and the Long pond stream as far as Island pond. This includes hundreds of acres. Still another lies on the Ashuelot river and follows its course through the town, the green meadow in some places bordering on the stream, and contrasting beautifully in its light shade with the dark hue of the evergreen forests.
The surface of Washington is broken with many hills and valleys, and small streams, and ponds of various sizes, diversify and beautify the landscape. The soil is deep, moist, and rocky, requiring much toil in cultivation, but amply repaying the tiller for his labor, in the return of good crops, and it is not easily worn out or exhausted. Good crops of corn, potatoes, and such grains as are com- mon to this latitude are raised here ; and apples of a good quality, as well as large quantities of the smaller fruits, which grow naturally on the hills and newly cleared wood- lands. Blackberries in abundance, also raspberries and
-
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
blueberries are gathered every year, and are becoming more esteemed and used, as each year brings round its gratuitous harvest.
Our winters are long and the cold is severe. For nearly one-half the year we are obliged "to contend with frost and snow."
"Too long her winter woods complain ; From budding flower to falling leaf IIer summer time is all too brief."
There is usually a great fall of snow, which is consid- ered a fertilizer of the soil. And the severity of the weather is by no means without its benefits; the air is healthful and invigorating ; and many people come here every year to drink the "wine of our mountain air," and inhale the "iron of our northern winds." And if it is generally thought that New Hampshire is a good state to emigrate from, we must still claim that although our hills are rugged, and climate often severe, this portion of the state is a good place in which to remain.
The inevitable dispute growing out of the difference between the straight and curve line as a boundary caused some trouble about the year 1775. All of Camden would have been outside of a straight line, and such a line would have given undisputed validity to the claims of Marlow and Lempster, which on the other hand had been settled and improved by men living under the grant given to Col. Kidder of the township of Camden. The curve line claimed by the givers of that grant passed to the west of . Stoddard and Washington. March, 1776, a petition was sent to the general court asking for a decision from them. The following answer to the petition is given.
"The committee of both houses on the petition of Mar- low, Stoddard and Camden, make report that upon mature consideration of said petition, they are of the opinion, the prayer thereof being to resolve whether there be a curve line or not, and to determine the jurisdiction of the grant
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
of Marlow, it is out of the power of the committee on general Assembly to determine the jurisdiction of Marlow or to determine these disputes at present ; and is improp- er now to be brought under their consideration, and therefore they ought not to meddle in the matter. The committee think it advisable that each person in the dis- puted lines pay taxes to the respective towns or charters they settled under." This . advice seems to have been followed for a while, but in 1778 trouble arose again from the curve line as the following petition shows.
"To the Hon. Council and House of Representatives in Gen. Assembly convened.
The petition of the freeholders and inhabitants of the town of Washington humbly shows that the township of Washington was laid out within the curve line of Mason's grant, and so they settled and made their farms, and con- tinued for a number of years in a quiet and peaceable manner, till the last tax went out from the state, when the selectmen of Marlow and Lempster thought proper to lay a tax on some part of the lands within the lines of the said Washington : therefore your petitioners pray that your honors would issue and order, that they may con- tinue to pay their taxes as heretofore they have done until the lines which occasion the dispute between the town of Washington and Marlow and Lempster and many other towns in similar circumstances may be settled by authority of the state, and our petitioners in duty bound shall ever pray.
J. ROUNSEVEL,
For the town of Washington."
The House of Representatives and Council concurred in deciding that the owners of the disputed lands claimed by Marlow and Lempster, pay their taxes to the town of Washington until the title to the disputed lands should be settled.
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
In 1787 an act was passed that the boundary line of no town should be changed in consequence of the determin- ation of Mason's line ; and in 1790, the heirs of Allen made a compromise with the Masonian proprietors, by means of deeds of mutual quitclaim. ' That an attempt was made to dispossess some of the original settlers is evident from a petition sent to the legislature in 1793, signed by 'Abraham Estabrook, Samuel Lowell, Nathan Metcalf, Jacob Wright, William Proctor, Daniel Farns- worth, John Safford, Thomas Farwell, Jr., Francis Faxon, Thomas Penniman, Simon Lowell, Ebenezer Spaulding, Jacob Burbank, asking that they be allowed to retain lands that they had settled and improved ; but it does not appear that the matter progressed farther, and it is sup- posed that some compromise was effected to the satisfac- tion of all concerned.
CHAPTER VIII.
LOVEWELL'S MOUNTAIN AND THE ORIGIN OF ITS NAME.
Lovewell's Mountain. Indian Tribes in New Hampshire. Indian Relies in Washington. The Theory of Hon. John II. Goodale with regard to the name of Lovewell's Mountain.
RADITION has given a variety of reasons for the selection of Lovewell as the name by which our mountain is designated. The one with which we are all familiar, and the one which is generally thought to be the true reason, is that Capt. Lovewell, the Indian scout, when employed in wood cutting, near Island pond, was accosted by seven Indians, with the preliminary warn- ing from one or more of them, "me kill Lovewell !" The brave captain asked them to assist him in splitting a log before they executed their threat, which they kindly con- sented to do by inserting their hands in the cleft log. Lovewell suddenly removed the wedge and had them fast, and it became an easy matter for him to kill them all with his axe. This story, for obvious reasons, is not to be cred- ited. So remarkable an adventure would have been handed down to us in a more reliable form than mere tradition. A similar circumstance is said to have taken place in another part of the state. Another account locates the struggle between Lovewell and his foe at the centre of the town, near where the Congregational church now stands; still another, near Half Moon pond. Frederick Kidder, Esq., of Boston, who has written an account of
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
Capt. Lovewell's expeditions, says in his interesting narra- tive : "There is a traditional account of his attacking and killing seven Indians on Lovewell's Mountain in Wash- ington, which must be an error. The killing of seven Indians was an event that could not have been overlooked by the historian of that day, and a careful research in our printed and written documents of that period fails to show any authority for the story." The author was a grandson of Col. Reuben Kidder, and a man of extensive historical research. Whiton, in his History of New Hampshire, states that there is a tradition that Capt. Lovewell made an excursion into Sullivan county, for the purpose of ob- taining a view of the surrounding country, and discovered traces of the lurking foe. If he had ever made such an excursion it must have been previous to 1725, as he died in that year.
Mr. Nathaniel D. Vose, whose grandfather was one of the early settlers of the town, states that a hunter by the name of Lovell once lived on the mountain, and, on snow- shoes, with his dog and gun, pursued three Indians, and after killing them, cut through the ice of Island pond and threw their bodies into the water ; and that the hunter af- firmed that their remains would be found on the melting of the ice in the spring. Many natural divisions of land and water derive their names from land owners or persons living in proximity to them, and it is possible that the name of Lovell became attached to the mountain from this early resident. Could this be proven the correct orthography of the name would be Lovell, instead of Lovewell, as it is generally written.
No further account of this affair of the killing of In- dians, by the man Lovell, is given, and it does not seem likely ever to have taken place, from the fact that no In- dians were known to have lived here, or even to have made excursions into the town after it was settled in 1768. It is not known that there was any Indian title to
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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON.
land included in No. 8, and but few traces of their occu- pation of the soil has been found.
No "Owners and occupants of earlier dates From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands, And hold in mortmain still their old estates."
There are indications of wigwams on the Long pond stream, and also in the vicinity of the Ashuelot river, on land of Mr. Charles Lovell. Indian relics, such as arrow- heads, have been found on the farm of Mr. Alonzo Mar- shall. It is quite probable, that at a date prior to the set- tlement of this town, these wandering sons of the forest made excursions over these hills and followed up the streams, fishing from the ponds and hunting in the woods ; but there is no evidence that they ever lived here for any great length of time.
The large tribe of the Penacooks occupied the lands on the Merrimac river ; and the Nashuas, near the mouth of that river, and the Souhegans, living on the rich intervals of the Merrimac, above and below the mouth of the Souhegan, and some other small tribes, whose names are unknown, were united into a confederacy with the Penacooks.
This was the situation of the Indian tribes in Southern New Hampshire previous to King Phillip's war, which com- menced in 1675. After that war was over their condition was not changed, only as they gradually passed away, and, in a comparatively short time, they were unknown here ex- cepting in memory or by the "sweet Indian names" which they have left on mountain, lake and stream.
This brief sketch of the situation of the Indian tribes in New Hampshire has been given as presenting some reason why the traditions of the destruction of Indians in Washington can not be relied upon. Each reader can decide for himself, whether to give credence to any of these legends of the past, or to accept the theory pre-
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