USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Wentworth > History of the town of Wentworth, New Hampshire > Part 16
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Our good Captain was amply justified in his opin- ion. When the mountains of Wentworth are men- tioned, the mind of any familiar with the town and its scenery will naturally recall, first, the imposing mountain in the easterly portion of the town known in
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BAKER'S RIVER VALLEY, LOOKING NORTH FROM THE VILLAGE, MOOSILAUKE IN THE DISTANCE
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FEATURES AND ATTRACTIONS
all the region roundabout and on all state maps as Carr's Mountain.
This is, properly speaking, not a mountain but a mountain range. The Carr Range would describe it much more accurately.
This range stands like a great wall on a large part of the easterly border of the town. Many traditions in regard to the origin of the name exist. Unfortunately for the historian, no two of these accounts agree. In the opinion of the writer, the legendary Mr. Carr, whose name is now firmly attached to the mountain, existed mostly in the imagination of those who could assign no better reason for this name which, for time out of mind, has been in existence.
Just who the fortunate, or possibly unfortunate, Mr. Carr was, and why his name is connected with the mountain, is not certainly known. As a mystery it ranks with the unsolved query of "Who struck Billy Patterson?"
It is of local interest to note that among the older people of Wentworth the mountain was frequently spoken of as King's Throne. It was generally alluded to as such by the people of the village for a long time. This name seems to be now falling into disuse but is still occasionally heard.
Carr's Mountain ranks in height above most of what we may call the secondary class of mountains in
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
: the state. The height, given in Hitchcock's Geology as 3,522 feet, places it above Cardigan, Kearsarge or Monadnock .* The mountain is extremely rugged and broken in surface, as any who may have attempted to climb it will testify. The towns of Warren, Went- worth, Rumney and Ellsworth meet and corner at a point on the easterly slope of the mountain not very far from the top. The highest point or apex of the mountain and of the entire range is in Wentworth. No road or even a well-defined and practicable path to the summit exists at the present time.
The slopes of the mountain were originally covered with a dense growth of spruce, even to and over the very top. The trees upon the top were short and stunted. Forest fires have raged on this mountain at different times, the one in 1854 being perhaps the grandest and most devastating. At that time the roar of the flames was heard for miles.
It is of record that fine print was read on the banks of Baker's River at midnight, by the lurid light of the forest fires on the summit of Mt. Carr.t
There was another extensive fire about 1874, which burned over most of what can be called the southerly slope.
These fires had at least one compensation for the
* Cardigan, 3,156; Kearsarge, 2,943; Monadnock, 3,186; Cube, 2,927. Ibid.
t William Little.
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FEATURES AND ATTRACTIONS
boys at any rate. They were followed by abundant crops of large luscious blueberries. These berries grew in profusion over all portions of the burned area. They were common property, free to all who wished to go and pick. People came from surrounding towns at times to get some of the berries. Beaten paths were worn in places on the slopes of the mountain at this period by the feet of the blueberry pickers. The bears were also greatly attracted by the profusion of berries and assisted materially in harvesting the crop.
The bears had, too, a way of tearing the rotting logs, stumps and windfalls to pieces, eating greedily, by way of relish, of the worms and ants found in the rotten wood. The voice of the bears as they "hol- lered" on the mountain during the autumnal nights was a familiar but awesome sound. It was a real thriller for the children who lived in the vicinity. Possibly it kept them indoors at times.
The slopes of the mountain are now green, with a small scrubby growth of spruce which has choked out the blueberries. This marks the beginning of another cycle of forest growth. Lumbering operations have been in order on the various slopes of the range for a hundred years or more. Some of the ground has been cut over three or four times, and the work still goes on. The bears and deer still frequent the woods and claim the wilderness yet as their
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
own. Quite a portion of the western slope of the moun- tain was never surveyed, but remains now, as it has always been, unlotted land.
No part of Mt. Cube proper is in Wentworth, but the southerly extension of this mountain, the high wooded ridge known as the Black Hills, rises impos- ingly in the westerly part of the town. Ellsworth Hill forms a sort of stepping stone to the Black Hill region.
Rowentown lies in a well-defined basin in the south- west corner of the town and almost in the shadow of Smart's Mountain. This mountain, like Mt. Carr, is located in four towns: Wentworth, Orford, Dorchester and Lyme can each claim a share, as they corner on it, at a point not far from its summit. The most of the crest of the mountain is probably in Dor- chester. Town Line Pond is located well up. on the slope, and, as its name would indicate, is on the town line of Wentworth and Dorchester. Fisher- men resort to this pond at times, but no one else ever goes there, so far as the writer is aware, except possibly an occasional hunter or trapper. Town Line Pond is oval in shape with rocky shores, for the most part, and is nearly half a mile in its longest diameter.
The only one of the ponds in town that is of im- portance commercially at the present time is the one above Brown's Mill site, known on the maps as the
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FEATURES AND ATTRACTIONS
Lower Baker Pond. It is over a mile in length and irregular in outline. The town of Orford extends a short distance over the upper end of this pond, the Wentworth-Orford town line crossing it quite near the westerly end. The land adjoining the shores of this pond is now largely owned by the proprietors of Camp Pemigewasset, a large summer camp for boys. This camp is well conducted, popular and ap- parently prosperous. The camp buildings are on the side back from the road in the shadow of the high steep hill that rises abruptly from the shore. This camp, with a summer population of one hundred and twenty-five or more, is a substantial addition to the resources of our town.
Waterfalls and cascades are almost too numerous to mention. The most imposing one of these is naturally the falls in Baker's River at the village. The Pond Brook for much of its course is almost a succession of falls and rapids. The South Branch and the Rocky Branch in the south part of the town both abound in falls that in a less favored locality would become famed for their beauty and scenic qualities.
The falls on the Ellsworth Hill Brook, usually known as Gove's Falls, have attracted much atten- tion. Here are, too, many deep potholes, worn in the solid rock by the action of the water during the past countless years.
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
Speaking of potholes, there is a locality in town down the Buffalo Road less than half a mile from the Rumney line where the action of running water on solid rock can be studied to good advantage. Curi- ously enough, these potholes and caverns are on the top and sides of a high ledge with no water in sight. One pothole is four feet in diameter at the top and some six feet deep, circular and tapering almost to a point at the bottom, a splendid specimen of its kind. The query naturally arises, From whence came the water that made in a solid ledge such visible and extensive potholes and caverns? Is it possible Baker's River once ran over this ledge? Possibly this stream may have been formed by the melting glaciers that once filled the valley.
Moosilauke Mountain does not belong to our town or, in fact, to any one town. It is true, however, that some of the finest views of this imposing mountain are those from Wentworth. The Concord and Mon- treal Railroad included in their tasty booklet showing . the scenery of our state, a view of Moosilauke from Wentworth station and another view entitled “Be- tween Wentworth and West Rumney," showing the Carr Range as it looked from a point about where the railroad enters Wentworth from Rumney. A beautiful view of the Carr Range is the one from the state road near the Foster Cemetery. Another good
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FEATURES AND ATTRACTIONS
view point is from the state road above the village. This latter view is perhaps the best one of the upper portion of Carr's Mountain and includes also the Eames Mountain and the Currier Mountain in the foreground.
There is a splendid view of the mountains and valley from Sanders Hill near the old schoolhouse. This view point is famous in its way and greatly admired.
In Volume III, Hitchcock's Geology, page 270, is a picture showing "The Great Rock of Wentworth." This and many other great boulders, relics of the ice age, may be found in town. There is a large well- rounded boulder on the side of the Buffalo Road about half a mile south of the village; it stands so that it forms a part of the roadside fence.
It would be almost a pity to close this chapter and fail to mention the steep rocky hill lying in the center of the valley, hardly a half mile south of the village and almost directly in front of Charles H. Brown's house.
This hill, known often as Pickett's Hill, because it was a favorite resort of the Rev. Charles Pickett during his pastorate in town, is also frequently spoken of as Gove's Ledge.
From the top of this hill the view includes the whole sweep of the valley. The mountains on every
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
hand rise majestically, forming a vast amphitheater for which Pickett's Hill provides an excellent grand- stand. The village is nestled at the foot of the hill in full view.
The scene taken as a whole is wonderfully pictur- esque and inspiring. Probably it would be hard to find another place where so slight an elevation would yield so extensive and charming a view as is this out- look from the top of Pickett's Hill.
The scenic features of the town as a whole compare very favorably with those of other towns in this region. The high mountains, deep valleys, green meadows and crystal streams of our town have been admired and praised by tourists, travelers and nature lovers for generations. One enthusiast, writing three quarters of a century ago of the valley of Baker's River, speaks as follows:
"This river in its ceaseless meandering; the beautiful meadows on its banks; the uplands gracefully sloping from the borders of the intervale to the mountain sides; the unbroken mountain chain on either side, the great variety of mountain tops, now higher, now lower, now covered with a luxuriant growth of forest trees, now a barren ledge; the well-cultivated farms all along the river bottoms and on the hill and mountain sides, having good and in numerous instances, neat and tasteful dwellings, the fields, now yield- ing their generous burdens to the scythe and cradle, or promising a rich autumnal harvest to repay the toils of the husbandman, - all present to the eye of the traveler a view delightful and exhilarating."
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FEATURES AND ATTRACTIONS THE FIRST FRAME HOUSE AND SOME OTHERS
The first frame house in town was built at a very early date, and deserves mention.
In the year 1772 Phillips White, who was a sort of a rich uncle for the early settlers, decided to build in the town a house for his own account. It does not appear he expected to live in it himself, but it was to be kept for the use of the families then moving into the town, in order that they might have a place to live in until they could put up a cabin on their own land. He hired Capt. Reuben Whitcher as head architect and general superintendent. Captain Whitcher lived then in Chester, and this appears to have been his first trip to the town where nearly all his subsequent life was spent, becoming there the founder of a family that has endured until the present time. This house built by Captain Whitcher for Phillips White originally stood near the railroad bridge on a little terrace lying to the east of the track. A part of the ground on which it stood was washed away in the flood of November, 1927. Some of the foundation stones of this house were washed out at this time and slid down the banks, where a few of them can still be seen. It is very doubt- ful if many who now do see these stones know any- thing of their interesting history.
The house itself was peculiar in plan and appear-
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
ance; it was about 20 x 28 feet square and two stories high. Thus it was in the language of a woman who often saw it, "All tall and no big" (Mrs. Temperence Clifford). The frame was hewed from small pines; all joists, studding and braces were of red oak and split from the log. The boards came, no doubt, from Hackett's Mill on the Pond Brook. The building was never clapboarded, but the cracks were battened. There was never any lathing or plaster; very few nails were used; the floor boards were pinned down with wooden pins; the doors hung on wooden hinges and fastened with a wooden latch. This house was then on the main path or trail through the town. It stood on this site for some fifty years or more. It was then cut down to one story and moved to the brick yard lot, and was then called the old brick yard house. The Rowen's and others working in the brick yard used this house until about 1860, when it fell into decay. After being moved the house was lined with brick as a helper to keep out the cold. The building has now utterly disappeared. The cellar hole can still be easily found near the top of the brick yard hill.
The oldest building in town at the present time is no doubt the two-story house in the village known as the Page house and now owned by Mrs. Sutherland. This house has been somewhat rebuilt at times and is probably a good deal changed in both outward and
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THE WILLIAM WHITE HOUSE
inward plan and appearance. This building dates from about 1790 and was built by the Page family.
. The oldest house in town today in practically its original exterior condition is the house in the hollow built about 1794 by William White for his own use and now owned and occupied by Harry Turner. This house has its original chimney with three fireplaces, all laid in clay mortar. It was never painted outside, and the original clapboards, split from old growth pine and shaved, are still in evidence. Some of these clapboards reach above the chamber windows clear across the gable. The windows had seven-by-nine- inch panes of glass. The house was probably at the time it was built the most pretentious one in town, and used as a hotel by Mr. White. The present ell and woodshed were not a part of the original buildings.
The second two-story house to be built was the old Stevens house on the East Side, where Lois Stevens lived at the time of her death. This house was built around 1788.
The next one was the Page house in the village previously described. Aside from the Page house, there is no reason to think there is now a house stand- ing in. the village built before 1810. One of the best preserved of the older houses is the Haines house near the bridge, now owned by Mrs. Briggs.
This house has some fine panel work and fancy
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
casings and stair rail, all made by hand, a tribute to the ingenuity and patience of the workmen who did it.
The Doctor Whipple house was built about 1810 or soon thereafter.
The only brick house ever in the village was the Alanson Haines house, which now forms the front of the Wentworth Hotel, the wooden ells or wings of this house were built by Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Burnham when they were keeping boarders there. The red house at Gove's, the farmhouse of Charles H. Brown and Eugene Brown's house are some of the older houses still in use. The two latter places were built by the Aikens. The house now owned by Mrs. Max Whitcher was formerly the home of Jonathan Eames and was at first of one story, painted red with white trimmings. This place and most of the adjoining land was owned by the Eames family for more than sixty years. During all this period the race of Eames was counted as being among the most substantial and best educated of the town's inhabitants.
The house on the state road now owned by Frank Downing was built about one hundred years ago by Capt. Uriah Colburn and was the original home in town of the Colburn family. The fine house on the Dufour farm was built about 1860 by the Smarts for their own use and was the Smart homestead for at least fifty years, perhaps more.
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SOME OF THE CARPENTERS
The reader may perhaps like to know who were some of the carpenters who framed, built and finished all these buildings. No one can say precisely who built them all, but it is easy to mention several families who were famous locally as carpenters and woodworkers. Several of the Clark race were in this class of workmen. Daniel Clark, Jr., was one of the charter members of the Wentworth Mechanics Society chartered in 1832. Newell Stanyan, Sr., was a carpenter, as was his son Newell, Jr. Another of his sons, Jonathan, was a mechanic of marked ability. He had a good knowledge of machinery and was for years the leading millwright of the whole region. He built sawmills, gristmills and factory buildings, and in- stalled the machinery in several cases. His services in this line were in great demand in Wentworth and vicinity for many years. Others of the Stanyan race were very well known carpenters and mechanics.
After all has been said, the family in town who from first to last have been more distinguished as workers in wood than any other, is the Gove family.
Capt. Ebenezer Gove, the pioneer, did woodwork- ing of all kinds; some articles of furniture made by him are still in existence, and their workmanship does him credit.
Many of his descendants followed for more or less of their lives the trade of a carpenter. The Gove family
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
seemed to be able to produce in the little old shop, still standing on the Charles Gove place, any kind of a product made of wood. They were sash, door and blind makers, coopers, wheelwrights and cabinet- makers. It is literally true that every article made of wood used by the inhabitants of the town, from the time they were infants in the cradle to the coffins that were a part of the last scene of all, were produced in that old shop, both of the articles above mentioned being included. They made the old wooden cider mills, of which there were several in town, including one of their own. The large wooden screws of the cider press were home made and threads cut by hand. Many buildings designed and built by William Gove, usually called "Uncle Bill," are still standing in various parts of the town.
John F. Stevens did much carpenter work and built for himself. the house in the upper part of the village now owned by Thomas Huckins.
Arthur L. Kimball worked with the Goves on many buildings. He was nicknamed "Cooper Kim- ball" because he produced many sap buckets and other coopered articles. Several houses built by the "Cooper" are now standing, among them being the substantial two-story house on the Plummer farm, built in 1879.
Jonathan Stanyan was the architect and master
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SOME OTHER HOUSES
workman of the Elmer Brown house, built about 1877. Newell Stanyan, Jr., worked on many different buildings in town and also built at least two sets of buildings for himself.
The most pretentious house ever built in town was no doubt Judge Sargent's residence, which stood on the corner where the Buffalo Road begins, on the spot now occupied by the cottage house of Delbert R. Jessaman. This splendid two-story house and con- tents burned in February, 1868.
Another imposing house was the so-called Perrin Chase house in the village.
After Judge Sargent's house burned, the Chase house probably became the finest in town of its class. This house, later owned by John A. Davis, who with his family were living in it at the time, was burned in the great fire of 1921.
The fine old house near the upper end of the Com- mon known as the Deacon Dean house was de- stroyed at the same time. This house was built around 1820, probably, and was the only three-story house ever built in Wentworth.
The house on Ellsworth Hill owned by Myron Downing is, as its appearance would indicate, one of the most ancient houses now standing in town. It was built probably around 1810 by one of the Ellsworth race.
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
The historic Jewett house at Brown's Mills, used by the Browns for a long time as a boarding house, is a typical square unpainted two-story building and about the only one of that type now standing in town. It is well over one hundred years old. In its day it was no doubt considered a model of its kind.
OLD BRICK YARD
Before closing this chapter mention should be made of the old brick yard where the bricks were burned that entered so largely into the construction of these old houses. Great quantities of brick were used to build the numerous fireplaces and ovens, and the huge chimneys with two to four flues which were a part, and no small part either, of the early houses. More or less of the land in what is called the Buffalo Road district is underlaid with a deposit of excellent clay. The small brook which runs back of Harry Turner's buildings was called by the first settlers the Clay Brook, as it cut through more or less of these large clay beds on its way to the river.
As this was and is the largest and best clay deposit in the whole region, the town brick yard was natu- rally located on the banks of this brook and at the foot of the so-called Brick Yard Hill.
Here a brick-making industry was carried on from
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OLD BRICK YARD
the time settlement of the town fairly began until about the date of the close of the Civil War.
Bricks made and burned in this yard were carted to all portions of the town and into surrounding towns in many cases. This old brick yard was, in summer, a busy place. The Rowen family, also the Saunders race, were prominent for years as brick makers. The Rowens built a house, which still stands back in the fields from the Plummer place, so that they could live near their work. This house in later years became known as the Blodgett place and is now occupied by Alex Bowlan and his family.
One of the last men to carry on business at the brick yard was Josiah Norris, who then lived on the old Benjamin Woodbury farm, in later years the home of the late Mrs. Ezilda King.
Norris was perhaps the last man to burn a kiln of brick in Wentworth. The old brick yard lot was owned for many years by Joshua S. Blaisdell. After his death his heirs sold the property to Harry M. Turner, who still owns it. But the brick-making industry which flourished in the hollow for so many years is now no more, perhaps forever.
CHAPTER VII
WENTWORTH IN THE LEGISLATURE, STATE AND NATION --- LIST OF SELECTMEN, 1779-1929- TOWN CLERKS - TOWN TREASURERS
WENTWORTH IN THE LEGISLATURE
The Fifth Provincial Congress convening at Exeter, Thursday, December 21, 1775, assumed the preroga- tives of a legislature and adopted a temporary con- stitution which lasted until 1783. Under the pro- visions of this constitution the members of the leg- islature were elected for a term of one year, and convened on the third Wednesday of December .*
Under the State Constitution which became oper- ative in June, 1784, the members of the legislature were elected on the second Tuesday of March for the term of one year and met on the first Wednesday of June following, until and including the session of .1878.
Beginning with the session of 1879, the members were elected on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, for the term of two years, and met biennially on the first Wednesday of June follow-
* Plymouth History.
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WENTWORTH IN THE LEGISLATURE
ing, until and including the session of 1889. Since then, beginning with the session of 1891, the legisla- ture has met biennially on the first Wednesday of January following the state elections.
Previous to the year 1805, the state had no estab- lished capitol. The legislature met, as agreed, at Portsmouth, Exeter, Dover or elsewhere; there was one session at least at Amherst and another at Han- over.
The first mention of the town of Wentworth being represented, is in the memorable year of 1776, when Israel Morey of Orford represented a class of six towns, one of which was Wentworth. During 1777, '78, '79, '80, the town does not appear to have been represented. But in 1782, Wentworth, Warren and Coventry were classed, and Major Enoch Page of Wentworth was declared elected. To Mr. Page, therefore, belongs the glory of having been the first resident of Wentworth to sit in the legislature, which that year had two sessions, one at Exeter and one at Concord. In 1783 Obadiah Clement of Warren was elected from the same class of towns. Mr. Clement was a leading citizen of Warren, and kept the first hotel in that town. Political honors were appreciated apparently then as now, for Mr. Clement assured his admiring constituents after his election that "he felt complete."
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