USA > New Hampshire > Sullivan County > Cornish > History of the town of Cornish, New Hampshire, with genealogical record, 1763-1910, Vol. I > Part 19
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210
HISTORY OF CORNISH.
To better accommodate the business of the northern part of the county, on December 8, 1824, the Legislature passed an act that the May term of the supreme court should be removed from Charlestown to Newport. This was only a partial relief. The inconveniences for the transaction of the business of the county were so great that it became apparent the only remedy was the erection of a new county. In June, 1826, the question of a division of Cheshire County came before the Legislature. On the twenty-third, by an appropriate act, the question of division was to be submitted to the several towns of Cheshire County; and also the question whether Newport or Claremont should become the shire town of the new county. A good deal of dis- cussion followed, but the result of the election was: first, a vote to divide the county, and second, that Newport be the county seat of the new county.
The trial vote on the subject in Cornish took place on March 13, 1827, when, by calling for the yeas and nays, the vote stood: 128 yeas and 10 nays. On July 5, 1827, the county was incor- porated, to take effect on the following September. The county was named in honor of John Sullivan, one of New Hampshire's most distinguished patriotic soldiers, whose name was reverenced by the people of the state.
The new county comprised the towns of Acworth, Charlestown, Claremont, Cornish, Croydon, Grantham, Goshen, Langdon, Lempster, Newport, Plainfield, Sunapee, Springfield, Unity and Washington-in all, fifteen towns.
Sullivan County is about thirty miles long from north to south, and about twenty miles wide from the somewhat irregular line of Merrimack County on the east to the Connecticut River as its western boundary. The general inclination of its surface is towards the west, thus furnishing a water-shed for the Connecti- cut River. The highest point of land in the county is that of Croydon Mountain which has an elevation of 2,789 feet above sea-level. From its summit a large portion of the county can be seen.
The scenery of Sullivan County is picturesque and delightful, though less imposing than that of the northern portions of the state. Along the Connecticut River are some of the best farms of the state.
211
PAUPERISM-COUNTY AFFAIRS.
The population of Sullivan County in 1890 was 17,304. In 1900 it was 18,009, having made a gain of 705 during the decade.
The removal of the courts from Charlestown to Newport necessitated the erection of new buildings at the latter place. The old jail at Charlestown continued to be used, however, by the county until April 1, 1842, when it was burned by Hicks, a notorious robber who was then confined there. A new jail was then erected at Newport at a cost of $3,300. A meeting of the town of Newport was held January 13, 1825, when it was voted to raise the sum of $2,000 to assist in building a new court house, the balance of the funds needed for the purpose were to be furnished by individual subscription. By the eleventh of February, 1826, the building was ready for occupancy. This building continued to be used as a court house until 1873. The increasing population and consequent increase of court matters, had awakened the citizens to the fact that the old building was insufficient to meet its present and increasing requirements; so steps were taken in 1872 towards the erection of the pres- ent commodious town hall and court house. This was soon erected at a cost of nearly $40,000. A county safe building was erected in 1843, which still continues to be used.
212
HISTORY OF CORNISH.
CORNISH BRIDGE
RAILROAD BRIDGE
LOOKING NORTH FROM CORNISH BRIDGE .
. LOOKING SOUTH FROM CORNISH BRIDGE
CHAPTER XVI. CORNISH BRIDGE-BLUE MOUNTAIN PARK.
The Cornish Bridge.
BY concurrent acts of the Legislatures of New Hampshire and Vermont, the former passed in January, 1795, and the latter a little later, the toll-bridge company which maintains the bridge across the Connecticut, known to the people of Cornish as "the Windsor Bridge," was chartered under the corporate title of "The Proprietors of the Cornish Bridge." The charter was granted to Jonathan Chase, to whom had been granted in the year 1784 by the New Hampshire Legislature, a charter for a ferry across the Connecticut between Cornish and Windsor near the point where the bridge now stands. The original subscription agree- ment for shares of stock in the bridge company bears the date of the thirteenth day of April, 1796, and is signed by Jonathan Chase and by the following other subscribers: Nathaniel Hall, Ithamar Chase and Dudley Chase of Cornish, Nathaniel Leonard, Amasa Paine, Stephen Jacob, Isaac Green, Nathan Coolidge, Caleb Stone, Zebina Curtis, Allen Hayes, Samuel Shuttlesworth, Stephen Conant, Jonathan H. Hubbard, Freeman Hopkins, Ebenezer W. Judd, Nahum Trask, Abiel Leonard, William Leverett, Wil- liam Sweetser, Abner Forbes and John Leverett of Windsor, Benjamin Page of Hartland, Vt., and by the firms of Jones & Tuttle and George Bull & Company, both of Hartford, Conn. These subscribers, together with Benjamin Sumner of Boston, who did not sign, became the first proprietors. The subscrip- tion list also bears the signature of E. Brewer, but he does not appear to have become a stockholder. Jonathan Chase was by far the largest stockholder and Benjamin Sumner the next. Most of Jonathan Chase's conveyances of stock to his fellow- proprietors were witnessed by Nathan Smith and Philander Chase and acknowledged before Dudley Chase, justice of the peace. From the foregoing it appears that the promoters of
214
HISTORY OF CORNISH.
the enterprise included in their number, in addition to the influ- ential Chase family of Cornish, the leading professional men and merchants of Windsor.
The first meeting of the proprietors was held at the house of Nathaniel Hall, innholder, in Cornish, on May 4, 1796, pursuant to a notice dated April 14, 1796, published in the New Hampshire and Vermont Journal of Walpole, and signed by Jonathan Chase, Esq. At this meeting Jonathan Chase was moderator and was elected the first president of the company. The proprietors also chose at the same meeting the following other officers: Abiel Leonard, clerk; William Leverett, treasurer; and the following board of directors: Jonathan Chase, Esq., Nathaniel Hall, Nathaniel Leonard, Perez Jones, Caleb Stone, Ithamar Chase and Jonathan H. Hubbard.
The first bridge constructed by the company was built in 1796 at a cost of $17,099.27, a sum which, as the proprietors admitted, "in consequence of the unexpected rise of labor, pro- visions and the materials necessary for such a work," was "far beyond their expectations." This bridge was probably un- covered and supported by three piers between the abutments. It lasted until the spring freshet of 1824, which carried it away. The second bridge was presumably of similar design and was built in 1824. Some of the old toll-house journals, kept during the life of the second bridge, throw much light on the times. For instance, the records from December, 1824, to about 1840, which were kept in great detail, show to what a vast extent sheep- raising was carried on. This was before the railroad had touched Cornish. Then the Cornish Bridge was a truly great artery for commerce. Sheep and cattle in great numbers passed over the bridge from the North and West on their way to market. On the Sabbath day, October 23, 1825, there crossed the bridge, 450 sheep; on the 24th, 838 sheep and 259 cattle; on the Sabbath day, October 30, 328 sheep; on the 31st, 200 sheep and 108 cattle; on November 7, 920 sheep and 236 cattle; on December 4, 470 cattle. The record for that year was about 9,500 sheep and 2,600 cattle. The droves went to market chiefly in the autumn and early winter. The records for the years 1837 to 1841 show the total numbers of sheep and cattle as follows:
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CORNISH BRIDGE-BLUE MOUNTAIN PARK.
YEAR.
SHEEP.
CATTLE.
1837
13,233
2,420
1838
14,084
2,208
1839
12,229
1,705
1840
11,451
2,657
1841
11,513
2,988
The largest drove in one day which the writer has found recorded was on September 30, 1833, when 1,000 sheep crossed.
In the years 1825 to 1836 Skinner's stage, Pettes' stage and the Concord and Lebanon stages were regular patrons of the bridge. Colonel Nettleton's Boston stage was using the bridge in 1826. Charles Bell, Jeremiah Hubbard and Joel Nettleton were stage drivers in the early thirties and in 1836 Paran Stevens' stage was crossing. The toll-gatherer of the period from 1825 to 1836, one Colonel Brown, found time to record in the journal his com- ments on the weather and to mention events of interest. In the year 1825 there seems to have been a great drought. Among the toll-gatherer's repeated and sad observations on dry weather, smoky air and no rain, we find on August 12: "Many fields Corn dried up and Cut up for Cattle." On September 23 he recorded : "Mill Brook so low the Mills have stood still for 3 months." On October 7: "In many places in Mill Brook there is no water." But a "powerful" rain came on October 27, so that on October 29 he could record: "Rafts and Boats run on the Connecticut." Earlier in the same year, February 16, there was a "Convention for navigating the Vally of the Connecticut River," which, with the help of the October rain, may have caused the appearance of the rafts and boats. But historically the most interesting item of the year was noted on Tuesday, June 28, when "Marquis Fayette passed with his Suit." On September 14, 1826, there was a " Muster at Cornish." On September 13, 1831, there was a "Wolf Hunt," followed the next day by "Calvenistick Convention."
In 1849 the second bridge was lost by flood and that year a third bridge was contracted for. This bridge had but one pier and was a covered lattice bridge of the same type as the present, and stood until the night of March 3 and 4, 1866, when its turn came to be carried away. The contract for the erection of the present bridge, "to be constructed after the plan and in all respects equal to the late one built by Brown and others," bears date, April 3, 1866, and is signed by James F. Tasker of Cornish
216
HISTORY OF CORNISH.
and Bela J. Fletcher of Claremont as builders, and on the part of the proprietors by Allen Wardner, Alfred Hall and Henry Wardner. The bridge was framed on the meadow to the north of Bridge Street in Windsor village and put in place before the end of the year. The length of the bridge is upwards of 470 feet, and each span about 220 feet between supports.
Besides the names of members of the Chase and Hall families, some of the other familiar Cornish names to appear upon the bridge company's books are Davis, Wood, Balloch, Fitch and Weld.
While toll-gates have never been popular institutions with the public at large, it may fairly be said that this particular bridge company has served the public well and has furnished, at not unreasonable rates, adequate means of communication between Cornish and Windsor for about one hundred and thirteen years. During that period no part of the cost of building or maintain- ing any of the company's several bridges has fallen on the towns, counties or states. On the contrary the company has borne all of such costs and has been a large taxpayer in Cornish and Windsor besides. Of late there has been much talk of a free bridge and a good deal of claptrap has been written and spoken on the antiquated system of supporting bridges and roads by tolls. It is true that the system is old, but it is obviously fair; and the appeals for its abolition derive their greatest vitality from that instinct in human nature which desires to get some- thing for nothing. If Cornish, in having a toll-bridge, is old- fashioned and behind the times, her people can bear in mind that in New York City the great Brooklyn and Williamsburgh bridges are toll-bridges, that four toll-bridges cross the Ohio at Cincinnati, that the Mississippi is spanned by a toll-bridge at St. Louis and by another at Hannibal; that there is a toll-ferry across the Potomac at Washington, and that every one of the fourteen ferries from New York City to New Jersey is operated only for tolls and by private capital. H. S. WARDNER.
Blue Mountain Park.
This is a large tract of land situated on either side of and including Croydon and Grantham mountains. It embraces portions of Croydon, Cornish, Plainfield, Grantham and Newport.
It contains about 24,000 acres, being in size equivalent to a primitive township. The town of Croydon contributes a larger
217
CORNISH BRIDGE-BLUE MOUNTAIN PARK.
MAP OF
GRANTHAM FOUR CORNERS
BLUE MOUNTAIN PARK
Scale:
Grantham
1
E
W
Grantham
5
CORNISH FLAT
POPPY SQUASH
WEST PASS GATE
Last
Village
Road
CROYDON FOUR COR'S
EAST PASS GATE HAVEN GATE
I'd.to L'
CENTRAL STA.
BRIGHTON GATE
BRIGHTON
CROYDON FLAT
·Claremont
HEAD STATION AND GATE
Northville
Northrille
-
Road to Neuport
49444
AMERICAN BANK NOTE CO.N.Y.
BLUE MOUNTAIN FARM
percentage of its territory to the park than any other town, while Cornish contributes a strip along her entire eastern boundary amounting to about 2,800 acres.
Before the park was established, the land all belonged to indi- vidual owners and consisted of a large number of upland farms,
-
NORTH WEST GATE
N
Grantham
Gruntham
Notch
CENTRAL STA. GATE
-
Kelleyville
218
HISTORY OF CORNISH.
while higher up above them were timber lots belonging to indi- viduals generally more remote, who used their lots each year to obtain their supply of lumber. Mr. Austin Corbin, the prime promoter of the enterprise, conceived the idea of purchasing these farms and woodlands, and by fencing, converting them into a forest game preserve. He had become aware that the noble buffalo of the country were fast becoming extinet, and that other animals of note were about to share the same fate, which aroused him to the sublime project of preparing an asylum wherein a few at least of these valuable animals might be preserved from the avarice, cruelty and greed of man. It was perfectly charac- teristic of the man to do this. Few others would or could dare embark in an enterprise of such dimensions, but Mr. Corbin enjoyed the satisfaction a little later, of having it said that he had the largest and best appointed fenced game preserve in the United States.
Under Mr. Corbin's direction, Mr. Sidney A. Stockwell began the purchase of the farms and timber lots in 1886. The pur- chases were completed sometime during the following year. A wire fence was erected enclosing the entire purchases excepting irregular portions of some farms that could not well be embraced within it. The length of the fence is a little less than thirty miles and it is about eleven feet high. The fence is strengthened at the base by a lining of wire netting, and also by iron stays midway between the wooden posts. A telephone wire passes around the entire length of, and above the fence, for the convenience and cooperation of those having the care of the park.
An association was formed and incorporated in 1888, with Mr. Corbin at its head. In 1890 Mr. Corbin began to intro- duce game into the park. This at the first consisted of about thirty buffalo, one hundred and forty deer, embracing four varieties, thirty-five moose, one hundred and thirty-five elk, and fourteen wild boar, a few Himalayan goats and six antelope.
All the game, but the moose, has done well, except during one severe winter, when there was a great loss among the elk and deer. Since that time they have been fed in winter by cutting browse for the deer and elk, and feeding the boar with corn.
To avoid being overstocked, large numbers of the animals
219
CORNISH BRIDGE-BLUE MOUNTAIN PARK.
have been sold to zoological parks and gardens and to other parties. At present (1908) there are about one hundred and sixty-five buffalo, five hundred deer, fifty elk, and four hundred to five hundred boar, also a few moose and red deer.
A proprietary game club was started in 1899 with a lease of five years. The members, men from New York, Boston and Wash- ington, were allowed certain shooting privileges. The club was successful and they propose soon to start another.
The sudden death of Mr. Corbin in 1896 very naturally effected a greater or less change in the management of the affairs of the park. This is especially shown in the sale and removal of im- mense quantities of lumber from it. This action on the part of the association possibly gives rise to emotions of regret among those who admire Nature as seen in the full-fledged forest. Nevertheless, the association maintain that their action is un- der the direction and sanction of the Forestry Bureau at Washington.
The present directors (1908) are Mrs. H. M. Corbin, Mrs. Isabella C. Edgell, George S. Edgell, Austin Corbin, Jr., William E. Chandler, A. N. Parlin, William Dunton and A. C. Cham- pollion.
CHAPTER XVII.
" CITY FOLKS" IN CORNISH.
You have long called them the "City Folks" of "Little New York," these strangers who have bought land in Cornish. For a time the phrase "City Folks" set up a barrier that surely no right-hearted man could approve, whether he were from the country or from a town. But that antagonism is passing and the words, now too old to be displaced, carry with them only good-humored reference to the origin of the possessors.
The coming of the "City Folks" began over a quarter of a century ago in as much to be expected a fashion as any immigra- tion could possibly have been conceived. Mr. William M. Evarts of New York married Miss Helen M. Wardner of Wind- sor, Vt., and eventually made his home in her town in 1843. Their oldest daughter, Miss Hettie Evarts, became the wife of a rising young New York lawyer, Mr. C. C. Beaman. So in 1884 it was quite natural that the young people should cross the river to Cornish, where they bought land of Mr. Chester Pike for a permanent country home, adding to their property from time to time until now the Beaman family owns almost two thousand acres hereabouts.
Shortly after his arrival, Mr. Beaman, in turn, tendered what had been the William W. Mercer place, with its old brick house, "Huggins' Folly," to his New York friend, the sculptor, Mr. Augustus Saint-Gaudens. For the first few years the latter preferred to rent the land, but eventually in 1891 Mr. Beaman's offer to sell was accepted, and from then to the time of his death the sculptor spent untold energy in beautifying his home. Through these two men came all the others attracted to our town.
During these early years it required a nine-hour train ride to reach Cornish from New York; and nine hours seemed infi- nitely further then than now. So, probably, despite the influence of the two "founders" the "colony" would have failed to make its beginning when it did had not the peace and dreamlike ripe-
221
"CITY FOLKS" IN CORNISH.
ness of the hills, with their dark clumps of trees and their river winding south before the mountain, called strongly to these artists who desired a simple living. No country at a distance can compare with Cornish. No country near at hand can equal it. Go north toward Hanover-it is flat. Go east over the Corbin Game Preserve-it is covered with scrubby bushes. Go south toward Claremont-it is sandy, with a dearth of intimate detail. Go west behind Ascutney-the barren pas- tures are but scantily shaded by trees. Yet sadly enough through
RESIDENCE OF MRS. C. C. BEAMAN.
their very coming, the beauty of out-rolling pasture slopes, dotted with round-topped maples and quartz out-crops, is begin- ning to lose its charm. For as the "City Folks" have bought the mowings and the pastures and have no longer tilled them or allowed stock to graze upon them, the land which they admired, through their own neglect, is rapidly reverting to that unshorn appearance from which they fled.
Those who bought first were simple in their tastes. Mr. Saint-Gaudens worked upon his commissions in a dilapidated barn, hastily provided with a north light; Mr. George deForest
222
HISTORY OF CORNISH.
Brush of New York, the painter, spent a summer in an Indian tepee at the foot of Mr. Saint-Gaudens' mowing, and later returned for several years to rent from Mr. Beaman the modest house on the old "Big Tree Farm" just over the Plainfield line, north of what was then Mr. John Freeman's property; while Mr. Thomas W. Dewing, another charming painter of New York, in 1885 bought a portion of the one-time Mercer farm from Mr. Beaman and lived there in the midst of a rambling
MRS. C. C. BEAMAN'S CASINO.
Said to be the First Framed House Constructed in Cornish.
confusion of small buildings. These were the original "City Folks."
In 1889 came Mr. Dewing's great friend, the mural decorator, Mr. Henry Oliver Walker of New York, who bought land from Mr. Chester Pike on the Plainfield stage road. Mr. Walker's modest house, wholly hidden from the highway, is perched bird- like on the edge of a fascinating ravine. His recognition as an artist, which he gained for himself at about the time he painted his "Lyric Poetry" in the library of Congress, has continued in such other compositions as "The Pilgrims on the Mayflower," in the Massachusetts State House.
223
"CITY FOLKS" IN CORNISH.
Very shortly after Mr. Walker, came his intimate friend, Mr. Charles A. Platt, who settled just south of him, also on some of the Chester Pike land. From his house Mr. Platt may see the blue silhouette of Ascutney rising above his grove of tall pines, with such a singular composition of lines as to suggest Italy. During those early years Mr. Platt was a landscape painter and an etcher. But later, when he took up the carcer of an architect, this view gave him his cue to decorate Cornish slopes with pseudo-
"HIGH COURT," RESIDENCE OF MR. NORMAN HAPGOOD.
Italian buildings and to crop the heads of our native white pines that they might pathetically imitate the fashion of the trees in southern Europe.
In 1892 Mr. Platt in turn brought his friend, Mr. Stephen Parrish of Philadelphia, who, strangely enough, has been the only man to build a house on the north slope of a hill, out of sight of the much-prized mountain, purchasing his property from Mr. S. A. Tracy. Mr. Parrish is a man who was able to take up painting at the age of thirty and make a success of it; for certainly success includes creating delicate landscape paintings mostly for one's own pleasure.
224
HISTORY OF CORNISH.
At about this time, too, in 1890, Mr. Dewing's friend, Miss Emma Lazarus of New York, set up her home, "High Court," on the western edge of the Austin farm. While the next year Mr. William C. Houston of Boston bought from Mr. Beaman what had been part of the Williams place, above the old Mercer mill, and Mr. Henry Prellwitz, a landscape painter from New York, and Mr. Arthur Whiting, a musician from the same city, took portions of the southern slope of Mr. Edward Bryant's land.
Meantime, while these newcomers had followed in the foot- steps of Mr. Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the Beaman family in turn had brought their allotment, for Mr. Alfred Bullard of Roxbury, Mass., in 1886, leased Mr. Beaman's farm, "Chase- holme." Miss Charlotte Arnold and Mrs. Clendenen Graydon of New York began to rent "The Butternuts," formerly belong- ing to Mr. William Mercer, from Mr. Beaman. Mr. and Mrs. Fraser Campbell of New York since 1890 have occupied the cottage next to it, which belongs to the Beaman estate, and Mr. Frederick Todd and his family from Roxbury, Mass., in 1895 established themselves in a new house belonging to Mr. Beaman near at hand.
Thus was formed the group of the first period of ten years, a sociable, unsophisticated group, whose chief entertainment centered in Mr. Beaman's Saturday night balls in his "Casino," an old building which he had moved to close by his residence. From 1895 on, however, the Cornish "Little New York" began to assume a more fashionable atmosphere, with somewhat pretentious clements creeping in, until close to 1907 when the "boom" reached its final height. Of course Cornish could never have attained the elaborate limits of the country around Lenox, Mass., or Dublin, N. H. Those regions are controlled by bankers or business men, who back their original purchases by large fortunes. While here, with scarcely an exception, most of the residents, after the fashion of artists, live to the extent of their incomes. It is strange, indeed, that this gen- uinely rich element has never crept in, yet such is the fact, with the exception of the late Dr. George Hayward of Boston, who in 1901 bought the old Eggleston place, just over the Plain- field line, and of Mr. Albion E. Lang of Toledo, Ohio, who in 1905 bought land of Mr. Frank J. Chadbourne, just north of Doctor Hayward's. Rather, the newcomers have given the
225
"CITY FOLKS" IN CORNISH.
region a literary turn which is supplanting the artistic one, for the only painters and sculptors here now are Mr. and Mrs. Kenyon Cox, Mr. Stephen Parrish, Mr. Henry C. Walker, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Saint-Gaudens, Mr. William H. Hyde, Mrs. Homer Saint-Gaudens, with, across the Plainfield line, Mr. Herbert Adams, Mr. Maxfield Parrish and Mr. and Mrs. Henry B. Fuller, with a welcome summer transient or two such as Mr. James Wall Finn.
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