USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Mont Vernon > History of the town of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire > Part 4
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THE town of Mont Vernon is situated in the county of Hills- borough in the State of New Hampshire. It lies a little southward from the territorial center of Hillsborough County, being third in the tier of towns northward from the Massachusetts line. It is situated in latitude 42 degrees 51 minutes north. Mont Vernon is irregular in shape, averaging four and one-half miles in length, and three and one-half in width. It covers an area of about 10,000 acres, of which a very small part is covered with water.
The towns which bound it are : New Boston on the north, Am- herst on the east, Amherst and Milford on the south, and Lyndeborough on the west.
It is twenty-eight miles south by southwest from Concord, fifteen miles southwest from Manchester, fourteen miles northwest from Nashua, and four and one-half miles north from the line of the Nashua and Wilton railroad at Milford village. Its distance from Boston is about fifty-five miles.
The surface is hilly, the larger part of the town being a lofty ridge lying between the valley of the south branch of the Piscataquog River on the north, and that of the Souhegan on the south. It is emphatically an upland town. The soil is rocky, but generally deep and fertile, well repaying careful cultivation. It seems especially adapted to the apple, several thousand barrels of this fruit being the annual product of its orchards ; and the winter apples grown here have long been known as not excelled by any for their keeping quali- ties. The annual crop of blueberries gathered from its pastures is many hundred bushels.
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
Its water courses are limited to five brooks, of any considerable size, four of which flow southerly to the Souhegan, and one northerly to the Piscataquog. The largest of these streams has its rise in the northeasterly part of the town, flows southerly some four miles, (furnishing in the easterly part of the town two mill sites. ) to Holt's Meadow, in Amherst, where it unites with Cæsar Brook, which rises in Mont Vernon village, two miles above, and unitedly they form Beaver Brook, which courses southward, and, after furnishing the water power to Amherst village, makes its confluence with the Sou- hegan River, three miles below. The Indian name of this stream as given on some maps is the .. Quohquinnepassakessananagnog." This name excites much interest among those who come to Mont Vernon as strangers. A third brook, known as Harwood's, rises in the meadow northwest from Mont Vernon village, and after a journey southward from three to four miles, empties into the Souhegan, one and one-half miles above Milford village.
Black. or Purgatory. Brook issues from Smith's Pond. one mile northerly from the village, has a course of some five miles, and after receiving a large tributary from Lyndeborough, known as Curtis Brook, empties into the Souhegan River about three miles above Milford village.
A fifth stream rises in the northwest part of the town, and after a course of two miles northward, discharges itself into the Piscataquog at the hamlet known as Paper Mill Village, in New Boston. It is generally known as Baldwin brook. or sometimes called Colby.
Smith's Pond a body of water located one mile north from the village, covers an area of twenty-five acres. This name. Smith's Pond. is not usually applied to it. " The Old Pond," being its com- mon designation.
Joe English Pond is divided between Mont Vernon, New Boston, and Amherst, the larger part being in Amherst.
Roby's Hill. rising in the northeast part of the town near Joe English Pond. forms the highest elevation.
Other conspicuous prominences are McCollom Hill. on the north- erly line of the town : Beech Hill, in the northwesterly section ; Carle- ton Hill, in the southwesterly part of the town; and near the village easterly and southeasterly are Campbell Hill and Prospect Hill. From the summit of the latter, which is a broad plateau elevated some one hundred feet above the village, is obtained a prospect most varied
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
and extensive. An expanse of country forty miles in every direction is seen with the naked eye.
Mont Vernon is on an eminence nearly 1000 feet above mean tide water.
Nearly all the different kinds of forest trees and shrubs, usual in southern New Hampshire, abound in Mont Vernon. Hard wood is found chiefly here, largely beech, birch, maple, and chestnut. also soft wood including pine, hemlock, and spruce.
A little granite is to be found, principally in the southern part of the town, being of a fair quality. What granite has been quarried here, has been mainly used for door-stones and underpinning.
The smaller wild and cultivated fruits, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, are plentifully produced, and hundreds of bushels of the different kinds, more especially blueberries, are sold at the boarding houses, while more are sent to Boston and other cities. Forty years ago the wild fruits were available to any who might desire to gather them. But of late years they have become so valuable that in most blueberry pastures the public are warned not to gather them. In the north and east parts of the town certain persons make a business, in the season, of picking, or hiring others to pick. blueberries, and each day carry crates of them, in quart boxes. to Milford, whence they are shipped by rail to Lowell and Boston.
As not any of the ponds of Mont Vernon are of any considerable size, no fish of much consequence are to be found in them. The brooks above named, however, still abound in small trout, except Purgatory brook. The brooks are, however, so persistently fished, and dry summers are so frequent, that the fishing is not at all what it used to be, although every year several hundred trout are taken within the limits of the town. Large game was abundant in the early days of the town, and small game is now. Within late years Mont Vernon has had many famous hunters for a town of its size. The smaller animals, as the mink, coon, musk-rat, otter, fox. rabbit, or
hare, etc., are frequently met with. Even now a deer is seen occasionally. animals have become quite common. Squirrels are very common. In fact, within ten years these At present no shooting of deer is allowed, and they bid fair to become detrimentally plenty to the farmers. Formerly the birds that were to be found in the country were more common than at the present day. Robins, bluebirds, sparrows, bobolinks, swallows, orioles, or golden robins, partridges. quail, and a host of others appear every summer. The voice of the
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
whip-poor-will is a pleasant feature of the summer evenings. Often in their semi-annual migration wild geese are seen or heard coursing through the air. Rattlesnakes are very rare. Only one has been seen here within the memory of the present generation, a large one being killed in 1840 by Mr. Chester B. Southworth, in the garden at- tached to his house, on the west side of the cemetery. Adders, water and spotted, also black, green, and striped snakes are common.
Sudden and extreme changes in temperature occasionally oeeur, as great and sudden as fifty degrees in eighteen hours have been noticed The average snow fall for each of the forty last winters has been a little less than seven feet. The greatest rain fall within that time is believed to have been in October, 1869, when, after a drought of three months, nearly eight inches of water fell, damaging hillside highways and dams. The damage amounted to $3,000 in this town, and the sawmill of Arthur A. Trow and Daniel W. Trow on the Har- wood Brook was swept away. The old turnpike, near the old Town Farm, was so washed out at this time that it was discontinued as a highway.
PURGATORY.
"Purgatory" is the name given to a rocky gorge two miles west of Mont Vernon, forming part of the boundary lines between the towns of Mont Vernon and Lyndeborough. It is a deep ravine, more than half a mile in length, through which Black Brook makes its way. At the "Upper Falls" the brook plunges perpendicularly about fifty feet into a deep chasm or pit, from which the view upward of a solid wall of rock on either side and dense overhanging forest is one of singular wildness and grandeur. One hundred rods down this steep gorge, the stream makes several further leaps known as "Lower Falls." Close by the channel at the "Upper Falls" is the "Devil's Beanpot," a circular excavation or "pot-hole" several feet deep in the ledge, and hard by is a perpeet imprint as of a human foot, seven feet long, embedded in the rock, and known as the "Devil's Foot- print." In the gulf below are the "Pulpit," the "Overhanging Rock," the "Devil's Den," the "Old Boy's Face," (sometimes called the "Giant's Head") "Hog Rock," and many other points in this museum of Nature's wonder works.
There is a fine grove near the "Upper Falls" which is fitted up for picnic parties. The approach to the glen is down a steep hill
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
one-half mile long from the Mont Vernon side, on the old highway from Amherst to Lyndeborough, and a domestic once remarked, after emerging from its gloom, that this Purgatory was as hard to get out of as the other.
Doubtless this gorge had a human history long ere the Anglo- Saxon set foot here. The dusky tribes of the forest no doubt fre- quented it to gaze in awe and wonder. The students at the village academy were accustomed to make weekly picnic excursions to Pur- gatory ; but the name has no particular significance.
For some years, one day in the latter part of August of each year, hundreds of dwellers in Mont Vernon and adjacent towns had been accustomed to resort to Purgatory on a picnic excursion. In July, 1889, Mr. H. A. Hutchinson, the owner of the Falls and lands in the vicinity, associating himself with Messrs. Henry F. Dodge and Joseph G. Carleton, formed the plan of improving the grounds and providing the requisite accommodation for the entertainment of any number of excursionists who might be attracted thither. A band stand, dancing platform, bowling alley, and other facilities were erected. In short, they designed to enlarge the gathering and make Purgatory Picnic a permanent institution. So, in August, 1889, over two thonsand persons assembled to inaugurate the scheme. J. H. A. Bruce, Esq., then the proprietor of the Hotel Bellevue, presided. The survivors of the world-renowned family of Hutchinson singers, John W. Hutchinson, of Lynn, and his sister, Mrs. Abby H. Patton, of New York, who led a choir composed of such other members of the "Tribe of Jesse" as had inherited something of that rare gift, thrilled and charmed the vast audience by the sweetest music.
Hon. Charles J. Smith delivered a very acceptable historical ad- dress on "Purgatory and Surroundings," which was published. Since then, on the Thursday next the 20th of August, not less than 1500 to 2500 persons from near and far have annually gathered here to honor the occasion and make it permanent; and these throngs coming each returning August, establish the fact that the festivity is popular.
CHAPTER V.
POLITICS, ROADS AND BRIDGES, NOTABLE EVENTS.
POLITICAL FEELING BETWEEN AMHERST AND MONT VERNON-THE FREE SOIL PARTY GROWTH-VOTES AT SEVERAL ELECTIONS- BOY SPELLBINDERS-CAREERS OF MARDEN AND BRUCE-HIGII- WAYS AND BRIDGES-THE OLD TURNPIKE CHARTERS-SECOND TURNPIKE ROAD OF NEW HAMPSHIRE-THE AMHERST TURNPIKE CORPORATION-TURNPIKE TAVERNS-OTHER ROADS-NOTABLE EVENTS-SPOTTED FEVER-TEMPESTS-FROSTS-RAIN STORMS- FLOODS-GRASSHOPPERS-"DARK" AND "YELLOW" DAYS-LONG WINTERS.
AT the time of the incorporation of the Northwest Parish of Am- herst into the town of Mont Vernon, Thomas Jefferson was President and Aaron Burr was Vice President of the United States. Both were Republicans.
The country was divided into two large political parties, intensely antagonistic to each other, and this party rancor affected the social relations of every community in this country. The aversion of the Amherst Federalists to the leading influences of Mont Vernon con- tinued until the incoming of President Munroe's administration, when the "era of good feeling" began to pervade the country. The follow- ing well-authenticated anecdote furnishes an instance of the feeling. A prominent citizen of Concord, who was born in Amherst in 1801, left in 1822, and died in 1883, was noted for his quaint and original sayings. Whenever the town of Mont Vernon was mentioned he would scowl and express himself thus : "Mont Vernon ! Mont Vernon ! it was nothing but a community of savages before the advent of Dr. Adams, whose coming brought civilization into the town."
Politically, Mont Vernon, in its early days was overwhelmingly Republican, as what afterward became the Democratic party was then
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
called. The opposing party was the Federalist party, which later was known as the Whig party. The anti-slavery sentiment grew very strong in the early forties, and when the "Liberty," afterwards the "Free Soil," and, later still, the modern "Republican" parties were organized, there was a strong minority of anti-slavery men to join those organizations. The town, however, was almost uniformly Democratic.
In 1804 the national vote was : Federalist 3, Republican 74.
State vote-Gilman, Federalist 13, Langdon, Republican 129.
1812-National vote : Federalists 35, Republicans 120,
1836-National vote : Whigs 26, Democrats 61.
1840-National vote : Whigs 67, Democrats 92, Liberty 4.
1844 -National vote : Whigs, 18, Democrats 77, Liberty 40.
1846-State election : Governor, Colby, Whig 18 ; Berry, Liberty 56; Williams, Democrat 80.
1851-Governor vote: Atwood, Liberty 98: Sawyer, Whig 11; Dinsmore, Democrat 48.
1852-Governor vote: Martin, Democrat 80; Atwood, Liberty 61 ; Sawyer, Whig 18.
National vote : Democrats 77, Liberty 57, Whigs 12.
1856-National vote : Democrats 110, Republicans 86.
1860-National vote : Breckenridge and Lane 6, Douglas 83, Lincoln 80.
1868-National vote : Democrats 95, Republicans 83. 1876-National vote : Democrats 96, Republicans 74.
1880-National vote : Democrats 104, Republicans 63. 1884-National vote : Democrats 76, Republicans 64. 1892-National vote : Democrats 79, Republicans 60.
1896-National vote : Palmer, Gold Democrat 15, Bryan, Silver Democrat 27, Mckinley, Republican 86.
1898-Governor vote : Rollins, Republican 65, Stone, Democrat 63.
A good many of these anti-slavery men lived in the village, and at the Lyceums, which used to convene in the old red school house, many of the debates were on anti-slavery "questions." It was at these meetings that young Geo. A. Bruce and Geo. A. Marden, both little lads and chums in the primary classes, being duly coached by their respective fathers, who were rank abolitionists, began their careers as public speakers.
The town threatened to become anti-democratic under this con-
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
stant hammering of the anti-slavery element, but it was saved to the democratic party by a timely annexation of a democratic strip of Lyndeboro' along the west line. in 1852. This annexation had been petitioned for the year before by Abraham French and others, but was not enacted by the Legislature. In the town warrant for the March meeting in 1852, Article 6 was as follows : "In consequence of a petition signed by Hiram Perkins and others, to see if the town will vote in favor of disannexing a part of Lyndeboro', and annexing the same to Mont Vernon, it being the same as that petitioned for by Abraham French and others at the last session of the Legislature." The vote was 76 yeas, to 22 nays. At the March meeting in 1853 it was voted to raise $105.00 to defray the expenses of said annexation.
In 1860, when Lincoln was elected President, the anti-democratic voters, having joined hands as modern Republicans, were exceedingly jubilant, and, a few evenings after the election, celebrated the victory in most enthusiastic style. A company of "Wide Awakes," as the campaign organizations of the party were known, paraded the streets in uniform hats and capes. and carrying lighted torches. Every Re- publican house in the village was illuminated, in the way then in vogue, with a lighted candle in each window pane. A brass band es- corted the procession with martial music. and a mass meeting crowded the "New Academy Hall," where speeches were made by several local orators, including young Bruce and Marden, who were now class- mates and room-mates in Dartmouth College, where they graduated the next summer. Marden was just old enough to cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, but Bruce, whose birthday did not come until November 19, was a bit too young to share in that glory.
It may not be out of place here to record certain facts in the careers of these two young men, which were. at that time, considered somewhat remarkable. Both were born on the main village street, within a few rods of each other -Marden, August 9, and Bruce November 19, 1839. They attended the same district school, drove the family cows to the same pasture, were always together in their studies and their sports, entered Appleton Academy together, gradu- ated in the same class, entered Dartmouth College together, roomed in the same rooms and ate at the same tables, through the entire four years, belonged to the same society, and graduated together in the class of 1861. They did not serve together during the war, but were both in the service about three years. Both studied law after the war, but Marden drifted into journalism, and Bruce was admitted to
.
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
the bar ; and in 1867 they were both in Boston, again sleeping in the same room and sitting at the same table. In 1884, Bruce was elected President of the Massachusetts Senate, and Marden was elected, for the second time, to the Speakership of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
HIGHWAYS AND BRIDGES.
The town of Mont Vernon as constituted at this writing (1904) has about 60 miles of public highways within its limits. It has no bridges of any great importance to maintain. Its roads are fairly well kept, and the annual expense of maintenance. including road-breaking in winter, is now about $1400. The modern "road-machine" has done much to improve those roads which are not too much used, but the main travelled roads often are made worse by the scraping from the gutters into the middle of the highways, of the worn out material which has so long been subjected to the wear of travel.
It is difficult to learn the details of the laying out of the earliest roads, but among them it is certain that the old Turnpike is one of early enterprises in this direction.
TIIE TURNPIKE.
The "Second Turnpike Road in New Hampshire" was incorpo- rated in 1779. We are indebted to the Hon. E. N. Pearson, Secretary of State, for a copy of its charter, which was as follows :
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
[L. s.]
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD ONE THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE.
AN ACT TO INCORPORATE A COMPANY BY THE NAME OF THE PROPRIETORS OF THE SECOND TURNPIKE ROAD IN NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Gen- eral Court convened, that Josiah Stevens, Isaac Green, and Nathan Coolidge, and their associates and successors be, and they are hereby incorporated and made a body corporate and politic under the name of the Proprietors of the Second Turnpike Road in New Hampshire, and in that name may sue and prosecute & be sued and prosecuted to final judgment and execution, and shall be, and hereby are vested with all the powers and privileges, which by law are incident to corporations of a similar nature.
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
And be it further enacted that the said Josiah Stevens shall call a meeting of said proprietors by advertisement in the newspapers printed at Walpole and Amherst to be holden at any suitable time and place, at least fourteen days from the first publication of said advertisement & the proprietors by a vote of a majority of those present or represented at said meeting, accounting and allowing one vote to each share in all cases, shall choose a clerk, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of said office, and shall also agree on the method of calling future meet- ings, and at the same time, or at any subsequent meetings, may elect such officers and make and establish such rules and by-laws, as to them shall seem necessary and convenient for the regulation and government of said corporation for carrying into effect the purpose aforesaid, and for collecting the tolls herein after established, and the same by-laws may cause to be executed and annex penalties to the breach thereof, provided the said rules and by-laws are not repugnant to the constitu- tion and laws of this state; and all representations shall be proved by writing signed by the person to be represented, which shall be filed with the clerk, and this act, and all rules, by-laws, regulations and proceedings of said corporation shall be fairly and truly recorded by the clerk in a book or books provided and kept for that purpose.
And be it further enacted that the said corporation are empowered to survey, lay out, make and keep in repair a turnpike road of four rods wide, in such rout or tracts, as in the best of their judgment and skill, shall combine shortness of distance, with the most practicable ground, from the lottery bridge in Claremont, to the plain in Amherst in this state, near the court house.
And be it further enacted, that if the said proprietors, and the owners of land, over which the road may run, shall disagree on the compensation to be made for said land, and the building or buildings thereon standing, and shall not agree in appointing persons to ascer- tain such compensation, the judges of the court of common pleas in the county in which said land lies, if not interested, and if interested, the judges of the superior court, upon application of the said proprietors, or the owners of the land, reasonable notice of such application having been given, by the applicants, to the adverse party, shall appoint a committee. who shall ascertain the same, in the same way as compen- sation is made to owners of land for highways as usually laid out, and execution on nonpayment, against said proprietors shall issue of course.
And be it further enacted, that the corporation may erect and fix, such, and so many gates or turnpikes upon and across said road, as will be necessary and sufficient to collect the tolls and duties hereinafter granted to the said company. from all persons travelling in the same, with horses, cattle, carts and carriages.
And be it further enacted, that it shall and may be lawful for said company to appoint such and so many toll gatherers, as they shall think proper, to collect and receive of and from all and every person or per- sons using said road, the tolls and rates herein after mentioned, and to stop any person riding, leading, or driving any horses, cattle, hogs, sheep, sulkey, chair, chaise, phaeton, coach, chariot, cart, wagon, sleigh, sled, or other carriage of burden or pleasure from passing through the said gates or turnpikes, until they shall have respectively paid the same; that is to say, for every mile of said road, and so in pro- portion, for a greater or less distance, or greater or smaller number of sheep, hogs or cattle (viz) for every ten sheep or hogs one cent, for every ten cattle or horses two cents; for every horse & his rider, or led horse one cent; for every sulkey, chair, or chaise, with one horse and two
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
wheels, two cents; for every chariot, coach, stage-wagon, phaeton or chaise with two horses and four wheels, three cents, for either of the carriages last mentioned with four horses, four cents; for every other carriage of pleasure the like sums, according to the number of wheels and horses; drawing the same; for each cart, or other carriage of bur- den, drawn by one beast, one cent: for each wagon, cart, or other carri- age of burden, drawn by two beasts, one cent and an half; if by more than two beasts, one cent for each additional yoke of oxen or horse; for each sleigh drawn by one horse, one cent: if drawn by two horses, two cents; and if by more than two horses one cent for every additional horse; for each sled drawn by one horse one cent; for each sled drawn by two hors- es or a yoke of oxen, one and a quarter cent, and if by more than two horses, or one yoke of oxen, one cent for each additional pair of horses, or yoke of oxen; and at all times when the toll-gatherer shall not attend his duty the gates shall be left open; and if any person shall with his carriage, team, cattle or horses turn out of the said road to pass the said turnpike gate, or ground adjacent thereto, with intent to avoid the pay- ment of the toll due, by virtue of this act, such person shall forfeit and pay three times so much as the legal toll would have been, to be recov- ered by the treasurer of the said corporation to the use thereof in an action of debt or on the case; provided that nothing in this act shall ex- tend to entitle the said corporation to demand toll of any person who shall be passing with his horse or carriage to or from public worship, or with his horse, team or cattle, or on foot, to or from any mill. or on the common and ordinary business of family concerns within the same town.
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