USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Haverhill > History of the town of Haverhill, New Hampshire > Part 40
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There were three libraries in town when the town voted to accept the provisions of the act: that at Woodsville, a free public library; the other two voluntary associations. It was manifestly impracticable to estab- lish a town library district from these, and as manifestly unfair to make either of the three a town library. A town library at North Haverhill would accommodate neither Woodsville nor the Corner, each five miles distant, and still less would a town library at Woodsville or the Corner accommodate other sections of the town. It was proposed that the state board of library commissioners approve a decision between the three libra- ries of the fund voted by the town, but they would not consent to this on the ground that two of the libraries were not free, and they were also opposed to any decision on the ground that the library act provided for a single town library not for two or three. In the meantime the Haverhill library trustees simply placed the funds which came into their hands in the bank. There was need of legislative action, but such action would be special legislation, not easy to secure on any matter covered by a gen_ eral law. Under the general title of "An Act to Prevent Misappro_
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priation of Funds raised by Taxation for Public Libraries," the legis- lature of 1901 enacted :
One third part of the taxes heretofore raised and set apart under existing law for the purpose of a free public library in the town of Haverhill shall be paid by the trustees of the town library to the trustees of the Woodsville Free Public Library in said town for the purposes of said library, and one third part of the amount hereafter to be raised for free public library purposes in said town shall annually be paid to said trustees for the purposes of said Woodsville Free Public Library. The accumulation of said library funds in said town by reason of said two thirds of said library taxes in said town not hereby appropriated to the present use of any library shall be held by the town library trustees for the use of any other free public library or libraries in said town which may hereafter conform to the requirements of law regarding free public libraries.
The Woodsville library received immediately one third of the three years' accumulation of funds, and a little later the libraries of the Corner and North Haverhill availed themselves of the provisions of the act of 1901, and Haverhill has now three town libraries, or rather three free public libraries, each entitled to one third the amount raised by taxation for town library purposes. The duties of the Haverhill library trustees are not onerous. They receive from the town treasurer the amount annually appropriated and pay the same over to the treasurers of the three libraries, and there their duties end. It is needless to say that they serve without pay.
CHAPTER XV
TAVERNS, MAILS AND STAGES.
TAVERNS-CAPT. URIAH MORSE-JOHN HAZEN-LUTHER RICHARDSON-CAPT. JOSHUA HOWARD-MR. COBLEIGH-EZEKIEL LADD-AT THE CORNER-THE BLISS- EDWARD TOWLE-THE WILLIAMS-THE GRAFTON-JOSEPH BALCH, FIRST POST RIDER-JOSEPH BLISS FIRST POSTMASTER-MULTIPLIED IN LATER YEARS- STAGE LINE PROJECTED IN 1811-STAGE ROUTES-FIRST STAGE OWNERS-NAMES OF POSTMASTERS.
No sooner was the settlement of Haverhill begun, than there was felt the need of some place where the settlers, oppressed by the loneliness of the wilderness, might meet for social intercourse, and the solace and comfort which in that day was believed to be found in bowls of punch and mugs of flip. Travellers were not numerous in those first days, indeed there were no travellers, but there was the comfort of the settler himself to be considered. When Capt. John Hazen guided his horse over the bridle path or "road as it is now trode" down the river to Ladd Street to transact a matter of business with Timothy Bedel, it was a matter of great convenience that they could meet at Ezekiel Ladd's and transact their business, while they partook of the liquid refreshment which Cap- tain Ladd was licensed as common importer to sell. That Captain Hazen did not always have his six pence or his "three pence ha'penny" with him made no difference, as appears from accounts of Captain Ladd, as rendered to the Administrators of Captain Hazen's estate. The old- fashioned ordinary, the tavern, the licensed innholder were first of all for the comfort and accommodation of the home people; later for the traveller. There were few travellers, until there were roads, and roads were hardly worthy the name, until the beginning was made with the construction of the Coos turnpike. With roads came stages and Haverhill became one of the most important of stage centres, just as in later years it has become one of the most important of northern New England railroad centres. The fact that it was the first settled of the Coos County towns had something to do with this, but geographical situation was the determining factor. The earliest taverns were not at the Corner. "Probably1 the first tavern, or at least what served the purpose of a tavern, was Uriah Morse's on Poole brook. Captain Hazen was an innholder as early as 1766, in the same locality a little north, and Luther Richardson kept a public house in 1774 at the 'Plain.' Another very early tavern was kept by Samuel Ladd on Ladd Street. This house stood just south of the James
1 Bittinger, p. 200.
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Woodward place. There was also a tavern in early times on Ladd Street, where the house known as the Mrs. Osgood Morse house now stands. Col. Joshua Howard kept a tavern near the site of the County almshouse. Also a little later there was a tavern at Horse Meadow known as the 'Morse tavern,' which was kept by John Morse, and a mile north of this was the 'Cobleigh tavern', where the fast men of the day met and drank and handled cards.2 The Burk house at the north end of Ladd Street was once a tavern known as the 'Swan tavern.' In later days it was kept by Capt. "Lyman Burk." Ezekiel Ladd also held an innhold- er's license for several years. His house was near his tannery on the west side of Ladd Street a little south and on the opposite side of the street from Henry S. Bailey's.
The most notable of the taverns or hotels, as in the later stage days they were called, were at the Corner. One of the first that was built and which is still standing was the famous "Bliss tavern." It was built by Joseph Bliss who came to Haverhill about 1790, and who took a leading part in the early history of the town. He was one of the number that built the first Academy building. He was the first postmaster of Haverhill appointed under Washington in 1792 or 1793. He kept this tavern until his death in 1819, and in its day it was the aristocratic head- quarters for the judges and lawyers during the sessions of the court. It is still standing, a dignified and comfortable mansion, at the corner of Court and Academy streets. The Coon tavern, built and kept by Ross Coon, was on the west side of Main Street on the site of the Grafton Bank house, and of the new house now owned and occupied by Mrs. Rogers. The Coon tavern, previous to the erection of the bank building, was cut in two and moved from the premises, a part becoming the Levi B. Ham house, east of the south common, and a part the Augustus Whitney house.
The great stage tavern was owned and kept by Col. Simon Towle, who came from Chester to Haverhill in 1805. It was previously kept by Asa Boynton, and it is probable he was the builder. Colonel Towle died soon after coming to Haverhill and he was succeeded as landlord by his son, Edward Towle, who made the Towle tavern one of the most famous on the northern New England stage lines, until it was burned in the great fire of April 18, 1848. The fire caught from a defective flue in the tavern which stood on the site of what was afterwards known as the Nathaniel Page property, now the store of W. H. Page & Son. Six buildings besides the tavern were burned, and the loss was one from which the Corner never fully recovered.
On the opposite corner from the Bliss tavern there is still standing 2 Now transformed into the Cottage hospital.
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another relic of the old tavern days, the present residence of Samuel S. Page, and for many years the residence of his father, David Page. This was kept for many years by Jacob Williams, who later bought a resi- dence on the west side of Main Street, which he enlarged and kept as a hotel until he sold to Eleazer Smith, who with his son and successor, Charles G. Smith, made it for many years a popular hostelry. Charles G. Smith was succeeded by Scott Fellows, but with the removal of the courts to Woodsville the glory of the Exchange Hotel departed, and the building burned in the fire of 1902.
The large brick three-story building on Court Street so long the home of Dr. Phineas Spalding and now known as the Crawford House was originally built for a tavern and under the name of the Grafton Hotel was kept for many years by Jonathan Sinclair, and it is thought by many was built by him early in the first decade of the last century. In 1830 Mr. Sinclair enlarged and repaired the house and the following prospectus or announcement, published in the Intelligencer February 24, 1830, is inter- esting as what might be expected of a first class tavern of the time:
Jonathan Sinclair has recently enlarged and repaired the Grafton Hotel at Haverhill Corner, his former establishment, and has re-opened the same as a house of public enter- tainment. To his friends and former customers he would say that his accommodations are much superior to what they formerly were, and inferior to none in the state. To the public generally he would observe that his house shall never be the haunt of tipler, gambler and idler but shall on all occasions be found a pleasant and commodious resort for the weary traveller, the man of business and the gentleman of pleasure. On the subject of charges, attendance and fees, the proprietor would remark that fair dealing, trusty servants and good living shall be found inmates of his establishment. He also professes to be a connisseur in the article of coffee, and care will distinguish the Coös domestic from the Java coffee. The bar is furnished with the best of liquor and one toddy stick for the accommodation of gentlemen with many for family use.
The terms of court were longer in the early days than now. Besides the court of Common Pleas and the Court of General Sessions of the Peace at which sometimes no less than twenty justices were present there was the Supreme Court of Judication, and with justices, lawyers, clients, sheriffs, deputies, jurors and witnesses remaining in town until their law business was finished, the taverns at the Corner were crowded for weeks at a time, as besides these there was the daily stage passenger list which had to have accommodations. Bliss's tavern was headquarters for court and bar, which had a special dining table to which no layman, however high his social standing was admitted.
There was another old "Morse tavern," besides the one at Horse Meadow. This was on Morse Hill on the road leading from the Plain or North Haverhill up through the Centre over the hill down through "No. Six" through the Coventry or Benton Meadows, the Coventry road, so-
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called, to Portsmouth and Boston. This stood on the hill a little east of the present Dearborn place. This, like many of the taverns of the day outside the villages, was a story and half building containing four rooms below and two in the attic, these latter occupied by the family. Of the four lower rooms one at the front was the bar room, and the one opposite a sort of reception room. Back of these were the dining room and kitchen. For a number of years more teams passed over the Coventry road than over the turnpike from the Corner to Plymouth. In the summer time freight was carried to and from the cities in heavy wagons for the most part, the regular teamsters never having less than four horses, a ton being allowed for each horse, but there were three horse teams called "spikes," two horse, called "podangers" and single horse with cart "gimlets," all demanding the tavern as a necessity, though the smaller teams were never favorites with the tavern keepers. It was in the winter time, when there was usually plenty of snow, that the wagons were housed, that taverns like the Morse on Morse Hill and the Tarleton on the turnpike were crowded. The farmer became his own carrier, and sold and pur- chased for himself in the large towns "down country." Often twenty or thirty farmers would start together on the road to town. The two-horse pung or single horse pod sleigh was closely packed with farm produce that could be sold in the large town or city, "frozen hogs, poultry and venison: firkins of butter, casks of cheese, bags of beans, peas, sheep pelts, and hides, mink, fox and fisher cat skins, and now and then a bear skin, nuts that the boys had gathered, shoe pegs they had cut, yarn their sisters had spun, stockings and mittens they had knitted, homespun cloth and linen, splint brooms and birch brooms strapped on behind. So closely packed was the sleigh that the driver could not sit: he stood on a little semi-circular step on the back of the sleigh protected from the cut- ting mountain winds by the high sleigh back. At times he ran alongside to keep his blood briskly warm."1
On the Coventry road, as well as on the Coos turnpike, these trains of farm sleighs were sometimes half a mile long. Taverns were a necessity for these, and tavern keepers might need all these farmers paid for meals as well as for lodging and for what they obtained at the bar, but they nearly all carried their own food and provender for their teams. Part of the latter was sometimes deposited on the way down with reliable land- lords, and there was no more reliable class of citizens, to be used on the way home, and plenty of food was carried for the journey,-doughnuts, cooked sausages, mince pies, roast pork, "rye and injun" bread, pork scraps and cheese of "the kind mother used to make." Alas! the knack of making it has departed with the brick and Dutch oven, the turnspit,
1 "Stage Coach and Tavern Days"; Earle, 317.
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the open fireplace. This was an itinerant winter picnic. Tavern-fare was not expensive, but small country taverns like Morse's, could not serve meals to large numbers of travellers. A "cold bite" could be had in an emergency for twelve and a half cents-ninepence-and a regular meal for twenty-five cents. The landlord's profits were made on the liquor he sold and the sleeping room he furnished. The frozen food was thawed out by the open fire place in the bar room and at supper cider and flip from the bar took the place of coffee or tea. The bed and lodging was of the simplest character. The guests spread out their blankets or fur robes, and lying in a semi-circle with a their feet towards the great blazing fireplaces in the bar and reception rooms, slept the sleep of the weary, healthy and cider filled, at the cost of ten cents. The bar had besides cider, rum and gin, flip and toddy, and the tavern keeper did a thriving business.
The old-time tavern was distinguished for its home-like hospitality. Many of these were famous for their excellent tables. No supercilious clerk with diamond blazing in shirt front, showed you the register and then turned you over to the tender mercies of a bell boy expectant of tips, but mine host himself gave you cordial greeting. At the table you might not find the elaborate and artificial cooking, the numerous tidbit dishes and delicacies, but there was plenty of beef and mutton and fowl, with pies and puddings set before you in ample quantities from the old fashioned baking ovens, the thought of which stimulates the appetite in these latter dyspetic degenerate days.
The Haverhill tavern was of vast importance to the town. It was a news centre and furnished in itself great educational advantages. News- papers were infrequent, but the constant stream of newcomers brought all there was worth telling from everywhere. The tavern keeper was the medium through which the news was spread. He came into close contact with the leaders in law, politics and business, and companionable and intelligent, he was one of the leaders in town affairs, respected and hon- ored. Luther Richardson, Joseph Bliss, Ezekiel Ladd, Joseph Hutchins, John Page, Asa Boynton, Moody Bedel, John Montgomery, Andrew S. Crocker, Samuel Brooks, Nathaniel Merrill, Edward Towle, Jonathan Sinclair were among those who held licenses as "taverners and vendors of spirituous liquors."
The first regular mail service for Haverhill of which there is any authentic record was that arranged for by the State Committee of Safety at the beginning of the war of the Revolution. This Committee appointed John Balch post rider, and established a route for him which he was to cover once in two weeks for a term of three months. For this service he was to receive the "sum of seventy hard dollars, or its equivalent in paper
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money." Previous to this letters to and from the settlers in Coös were sent by chance travellers into the new settlements, or who were returning from them, a most unsatisfactory and unreliable means of communica- tion, and the receiving or sending a letter was an event. Scarcely less unsatisfactory was the service of John Balch, but it had at least the merit of regularity. He was to start at Portsmouth and ride to Haverhill by way of Conway and Plymouth, thence down the Connecticut River to Charlestown, and back to Portsmouth again. This service was per- formed by Balch not only for three months, but also during the entire period of the Revolution, and was in fact continued with some changes of route and perhaps of riders until 1791, when the State Legislature established "four routes for posts to be thereafter appointed to ride in and through the interior of the state."
There was already a mail route along the sea coast, established by the United States government. The routes established by the state were to be covered once in two weeks. Postage on a single letter was twelve and one half cents for each forty miles and eight cents for any number of miles less than forty. Postmasters were to be allowed four cents for each letter that passed through their offices.
A post office was established at Haverhill. Just who was the first post- master is not definitely known. Joseph Bliss was appointed to this office in 1793, when the federal government took over from the state the carry- ing of the mails to and from Haverhill, and it is not unlikely that he held the same position the previous two years under state authority. The mails consisted almost entirely of letters, for the era of newspapers and periodicals had not dawned, and at the current rates of postage which was seldom prepaid, the few letters constituting the mail, were hardly burdensome to the post rider. John Balch was succeeded as post rider by Col. Silas May, who as soon as roads would permit, certainly not later than the completion of the turnpike, substituted his Dutch wagon for saddle, and became a carrier of packages as well as of mails. It was express, and rural delivery a century ahead of time. With the advent of the wagon the mail was carried twice a week, and the Haverhill post office with Moses Dow as postmaster furnished mail accommodations for the entire town, and later after the advent of mail stages became a dis- tributing centre for a large section of country. The growth of the postal service during the century which elapsed after Colonel May in the spring of 1814, drove his first mail stage coach down Sinclair Hill to the post office at the Corner has been gradual but none the less marvellous.
Haverhill has now its five post offices, the most important being of course that at Woodsville with its four or five daily mails both north and south, its free delivery village service, its two rural delivery routes, its
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money order, postal savings, departments, and its special delivery and parcel post service. North Haverhill, Haverhill and Pike have also their rural delivery routes, with money order and the other modern facili- ties. At one time there was a post office at Centre Haverhill, on a weekly route from Haverhill over the county road so-called through Benton and East Landaff (now Easton) to Sugar Hill and Franconia. In the middle of the last century there was a route with mails twice a week from the North Haverhill post office through Centre Haverhill to Benton, and later a route from Woodsville to Swiftwater in Bath, Benton, Whitcherville and Wildwood in Easton with daily mails, but rural deliv- ery has taken its place. Haverhill has had its full share of the advantages accruing from the marvellous development of the country's mail service.
With the establishment of stage lines and the coming of the stage coach Haverhill Corner took on new importance, and an era of prosperity set in. A stage line had been projected as early as 1811, of which Col. Wil- liam Tarleton of the Tarleton tavern was chief owner. Silas May was not the driver much to his disappointment, but this enterprise was short lived, and it was not till 1814 that a permanent line was established. This was organized by Robert Morse of Rumney, a native of Haverhill, who secured the support and interest of all the towns along the route from Haverhill to Concord, the first trip was made in the spring with Colonel May in the box and with his four in hand he came down the long Sinclair Hill, and with wild blasts from his horn, wheeled his coach with its load of passengers, proprietors and managers of the line in front of Towle's tavern to meet with a rousing reception from the crowd which had gath- ered for the purpose. The trips were soon increased from two a week each way to three, and soon to daily, with additional coaches to meet the demands of travel. The line from Haverhill to Concord via Hanover soon followed that via Plymouth, and then in rapid succession came the open- ing of the lines to Boston, New York, Stanstead, Canada, Saratoga, the White Mountains, Chelsea and Montpelier, Vt. Before the railroad came there were half a dozen or more stage lines and arriving at Haver- hill as they usually did in the evening and departing in the morning, the setting down at Towle's, the Grafton, the Columbian, Bliss and other taverns of a hundred and fifty or more passengers for the night was not an infrequent occurrence.
According to a time table published in the Intelligencer February 24, 1827, mail stage for Plymouth, Dunbarton, Concord and Boston left William's hotel, Haverhill, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 4 o'clock A. M. and arrived at Haverhill on their return on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 6 o'clock P. M.
The Boston and Concord mail stage via Hanover left Towle's tavern on
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Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 3 P. M. connecting with the Great Southern mail, and was due in Haverhill Sundays, Thursdays and Sat- urdays at 10, P. M.
The Northern mail stage left Towle's tavern for Lancaster, Colebrook etc., on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 6 P. M. and was due on return Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 3 P. M.
The Montpelier and Burlington stage left Williams hotel, Wednesdays and Sundays at 4 P. M. and was due to return Tuesdays and Saturdays at 9 P. M.
The Concord and Haverhill stage left Grafton coffee house, Haverhill, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7 A. M., passing through Piermont, Bradford, Vt., Orford, Lyme, Canaan, Grafton, Andover, Salisbury and Boscawen, connecting at Concord with the Southern stages; and returning left Concord Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 7 A. M., connecting at Haverhill with the Northern stage.
In March, 1845, a reduction of fare to five dollars to Albany, N. Y., was advertised, stage leaving daily at noon and arriving in Albany the next evening.
In 1845 there was an advertisement for proposals for carrying the mails on the following stage routes: To Windsor, Vt., and return six times a week with four-horse coaches; leave Haverhill at 12 noon, arrive at Windsor 9 P. M .; to Bath, Littleton, Lancaster and Guildhall, Vt., and return 3 times a week; to Concord via E. Haverhill, Warren, Wentworth, Rumney, Plymouth, Sanbornton and Canterbury and return, three times a week, leaving Haverhill with four-horse coach Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; to Concord via Bradford and Fairlee Vt., Orford, Orfordville, Wentworth, Plymouth, Bridgewater, Bristol, Franklin and Boscawen, leaving Haverhill with four-horse coach Thursdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
These stray time tables and stage schedules, now so rare as to be curiosities, give some idea of how these stage lines with their numerous arrivals and departures contributed to the life of Haverhill Corner as a community, and to its prosperity. "'The stage tavern was the great centre of attraction in those days, and where the stages came in from various points bringing in their passengers and news, the village people were accustomed to gather at the tavern to learn what was going on in the outside world. Here reputable citizens congregated and talked on the happenings of the day. Newspapers were infrequent, and the tavern became a sort of literary exchange where any body that had anything to relate could always find eager listeners. The bar room, as it was then called, with its bottles of whiskey and gin was a large room with benches and settees on all sides. The open fire place was a conspicuous
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