USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > The history of Concord : from its first grant in 1725, to the organization of the city government in 1853, with a history of the ancient Penacooks ; the whole interspersed with numerous interesting incidents and anecdotes, down to the present period, 1885 > Part 49
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ANCIENT TRAVEL.
For more than eighty years Concord was the great thorough- fare for travel from the northwestern and northern parts of New- Hampshire and adjoining portions of Vermont, to Portsmouth, Salem, Newburyport and Boston, which were the principal mar- ket places. Wagons in summer and sleds in winter, loaded with produce of various kinds, were drawn to market by oxen or horses. The former were the more common as late as 1780. From Plymouth to Portsmouth the road run through Sanbornton, Canterbury and the northeast part of Concord. In that section of the town, Mr. John Hoyt, father of Jacob, built a log house (in which Jacob was born) and kept a tavern that was very cel- ebrated in that day. The oven in it was so spacious that a boy twelve years old could go in and turn round. Mr. Hoyt charged half a pistareen, or about nine cents, for keeping a yoke of oxen over night. One night thirty-three teams, or sixty-six oxen, put up there. The barn was large and well filled with hay, which was chiefly cut from a meadow of natural mowing belonging to the farm. Mr. Hoyt also raised his own stock - cattle, sheep, &c., and his table was well supplied with fresh meat ; but travel- ers usually carried their own bread and cheese. This tavern was kept there from 1780 till Mr. Hoyt's death, in 1805. Wolves and bears were common in that section, within the memory of his son Jacob, now eighty-three years of age.
Much of the travel to Portsmouth through Concord main
* See notices of him in Biographical Chapter.
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village passed over "Kimball's ferry" or over " Merrill's ferry," to Newburyport, Salem and Boston. Since 1800 the travel in the winter with loaded sleighs, drawn by two horses, was so great that it was not uncommon to see fifteen, twenty, thirty and more passing through Main street in a line, at a time. As Concord was a convenient stopping place, consequently good taverns were established in sufficient number to accommodate the travel. At the north end were Mann's, Hannaford's, afterwards Barker's, tavern ; George's, Herbert's and Stickney's. In the middle of the street Kinsman's, Osgood's, Gale's, Hutchins's, and at a later period others; at the lower end of the street was Butters's. These were well kept and well supported. The stables were very capacious, tables were amply furnished with provisions and cider, while the bar was always well stocked with every sort of spirituous liquor.
After the boating business was established at Concord, immense quantities of produce of every kind were conveyed to Boston market by boats; and goods in return, taken from the landing place and conveyed into the interior in heavy loaded wagons, drawn by four, six and eight horses. Thus business continued till the opening of the Concord railroad in 1842.
ANCIENT MASTING.
Concord was formerly famous for the noble mast trees which it furnished, not only for his " Majesty's royal navy,"* but at a later period for ships and vessels of various kinds built along the sea- board. The best masts were drawn from the northwesterly sec- tion of Horse-hill, conveyed to the Contoocook river, at what is now called the Mast-yard, thence floated down to the Merrimack river direct, or they were drawn by teams from the Borough to the sand-banks, or below Sewall's falls, and there thrown into the river. The first mast-master we have particular knowledge of was Lieut. John Webster. He once lived in a small house on the spot where Samuel A. Kimball, Esq., lives, and carried on masting operations in Concord and neighboring towns. Mr. Timothy Walker remembers that Lieut. Webster cut a mast in Northfield which measured thirty-eight inches diameter at sixty
* In early times the large white pines suitable for masts were marked as they stood in the forests, " G. R."
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feet from the butt, and took one hundred and four oxen, or fifty- two teams, to draw it.
The next famous mast-master was Capt. Reuben Kimball. The manner in which he carried on the business was as follows : Taking a strong team in the winter, of twenty yoke of oxen or more, with sleds and an adequate number of men, he went into the woods and camped. His men were divided into sections for particular parts of the work, called swampers, teamsters, choppers, peelers and tailsmen. The swampers cleared the way ; choppers cut down the trees ; peelers peeled off the bark ; teamsters drove the oxen ; and two tailsmen walked by the side of the hind team, and in case at any time the tongue of the sled, in passing a hollow place, run so high as to lift the hind oxen up by the neck, then the tailsmen seized the tails of the oxen and drew them outward, so that in coming down the tongue of the sled would not strike them.
In going on to the ground the mast-master usually rode on horseback and gave his orders. In drawing the logs on a sled the mast-master, or other principal man, road on the sled and thence gave out his orders.
Among other mast-masters of olden time the following are well remembered : Ezekiel Carter, of the West Parish, John Brad- ley, Esq., and Jonathan Eastman. The late Jeremiah Pecker was extensively engaged in rafting logs down the river.
ANCIENT PORK BARRELS.
Mr. Joseph P. Stickney has now in use in his cellar, two pork barrels that were brought into Penacook by his ancestor, Lieut. Jeremiah Stickney, about the year 1731; which have been in use every year since, and still appear to be sound. They were made of what is called heart-pine ; require to be hooped once in about twenty years. Their remarkable preservation so long is attributed to the salt and brine which are constantly in them.
AN ANCIENT PEAR TREE.
Standing on the farm of Nathan K. Abbot, and a few rods south of his house, is a pear tree that is known to have stood over ninety-five years. It grew up a seedling, but the fruit, which ripens in September, is large and of excellent quality,
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nearly equal to the modern " Bartlett pear." It bears more or less every year, but abundantly every other year. Besides sup- plying the family with pears, it is estimated that at least four hundred dollars worth have been sold for cash. When the tree was owned by the late Thomas Abbot, his practice was in the season of the fruit to invite his friends to visit him and "eat pears," which they did do with good relish !
THE OLD HAY SCALES.
The old hay scales, as they were called by way of eminence, were located in the valley southeast of the Town Hall, and of which the annexed cut presents as good a view as could be obtained by a des- cription from memory. These scales were the wonderment of boys throughout the vil- lage thirty-five and forty years ago, and the process of weighing loads of hay always attracted more or less of them, who watched the movements of Mr. Ayer* with the utmost interest. Great skill was requisite in the driver, in order to check up his cattle when the cart-wheels reached their assigned position ; but they very often shot over, and then he was compelled to drive around - making a wide radius, and entering the establishment with greater caution than before. When the load reached its exact position, the cattle were detached, the cart tongue suspended by a chain, one end of which was made fast beneath the roof, and the crank turned by which to raise the load from the ground. Then the crank was made fast, when Mr. Ayer went into the little projection at the east end, and, looking first at a printed table upon the wall, and then working upon his slate, summed up the weight, to the amazement of the boys and the satisfaction of the owner of the hay. The whole affair was a perfect puzzle to vil- lage urchins, and will not soon be forgotten. ยก
* James Ayer. + N. H. Statesman.
DESCRIPTIVE AND PERSONAL.
In the preceding chapters we have given, in chronological order, whatever pertains to the civil affairs of the town, with numerous miscellaneous incidents and anecdotes relative to ancient and modern times. The limits assigned to our work require that the remaining portions, embracing, each, a distinct subjeet, should be more con- densed, in matter and form.
No. 1. PHYSICAL HISTORY.
The most striking physical features of Concord are its Rivers, Ponds and Streams ; its Diluvium Plains and Granite Ilills.
The Merrimack river, which, properly, is formed by the confluence at Franklin of the Pemigewasset and Winnepiseogee branches, re- ceives on the northern line of the town the Contoocook river from the west, and thence flows, gently and gracefully meandering through the whole length of the township, dividing it near the centre into eastern and western sections. Above Sewall's Island is a considera- ble fall, but no available water power is afforded until it reaches Turkey and Garvin's Falls. Subject to freshes, or overflowings of its banks from heavy rains and sudden melting of snows, the whole adjacent interval is sometimes covered with water, as far as the eye ean reach. These freshes more commonly occur in the spring and autumn. After a great rain the river attains its greatest height in about twenty-one hours. Sometimes extensive damage is done to bridges, mills, lumber, &c., but the freshes, by their alluvial deposit, enrich the intervals for a future erop.
Within the past fifty years great changes have taken place in the bed and course of the river. In 1853, at the request of the New- Hampshire Historical Society, Dr. William Prescott made an exam- ination and survey of these changes, assisted by Richard Bradley and Jonathan Eastman, Esqs. In his report to the Society Dr. Prescott
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DESCRIPTIVE.
specifies these changes, which he attributes to three causes: 1. To abrasions, or the wearing away of the bank on one side of the river, and a corresponding filling in of the other. 2. To freshes. 3. To artificial operations along the river. By the first process the channel becomes more and more crooked; long curves and short bends are formed, until only a narrow neck of land remains at some point, which is cut through at the next great overflow, thereby forming a new channel, while the old one is left, either dry or studded with stagnant pools. In this way, no doubt, in ancient times, Horse- shoe pond and the Frog ponds were formed. Previous to 1825 the river, passing the bluffs at Sugar Ball, had flowed in a remarkably circuitous channel along the banks by Fort Eddy, sweeping casterly, southerly and westerly, so as to form a respectable ox-bow. A great freshet, in 1826, swept away a large mass of bank on the east side, and in 1828 it cut a channel directly through from Sugar Ball, form- ing, on the west, an island, now owned by Richard Bradley. The first week in January, 1831, the river swept straight across Hale's Point, cutting off the old ferry road. Other changes are visible above and below Farnum's eddy ; in the vicinity of Squaw lot ; above and south of the Free bridge, where the whole width of the channel has been changed from east to west,* and at the curve in the vicinity of the Frog ponds, where much new and valuable land has been formed on the west side, by washings and deposits from the eastern bluffs.
In the construction of the Northern Railroad, in 1846 and 1847, Farnum's eddy was filled up and rubbled, thus throwing the current of the river to the east side. At Sewall's Island, where the river flowed around it, the whole course was turned east. At Goodwin's Point, around the west end of which, close under the great sand bank, the river formerly flowed, about forty acres were cut off by exca- vating a new channel on the east side, and forming an island. In excavating this channel the workmen, at the depth of about twelve feet, struck upon a bed of vegetable matter, consisting of leaves, twigs, branches and trunks of small trees, the form of which was perfect, and the limbs and bark distinct. This vegetable deposit was imbedded in a stratum of fine, blue sand, from one to three inches in thickness. Hence it is inferred that this place was, at some re- mote period, the bed of the river; and that, in fact, the whole of what now constitutes our rich and beautiful interval, has been pro- duced, or manufactured out of the adjacent uplands, by the ceaseless action and deposits of the river. t
The Contoocool river rises in or near Rindge, N. H. ; flows north- erly, nearly parallel with Merrimack river, through Peterborough, Antrim, Hillsborough, Henniker and Hopkinton, about fifty miles, and as it approaches its junction with the Merrimack -from the
* Moses Shute, Esq., says he used to drive cows along the west bank of the Merrimack, when a boy, and since then the river has washed away its entire width, adding valuable land to the farms opposite.
t See the whole of Dr. Prescott's valuable Report, in the archives of the N. II. Historical Society, with a Map. To him I am indebted for the substance of the above.
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
" Mast Yard" to its mouth -it runs through, and, indeed, consti- tutes a fertile section of Concord, and affords fine mill privileges for more than a mile in its course, at the Borough and at Fisherville.
The Soucook river rises in Gilmanton, and, entering Concord near the line between Loudon and Chichester, furnishes the water power at "Dickerman's Mills," so called ; thence constituting the boundary between Concord and Pembroke, it flows east of the " Dark Plain," affording mill privileges along its course, till it empties into the Merrimack below Garvin's Falls. This river, after it enters Con- cord, is very crooked and rapid, requiring seven bridges to be main- tained for convenience of crossing it.
The Ponds in Concord are -1. Turkey Pond, in the south-west part of the town, containing about one hundred and seventy acres, by survey of Capt. Benjamin Parker - so called from a fancied re- semblance in its form to a turkey, with its ample body and bended neck. Surrounded with bogs, the waters of this pond are of a dark color, imparting their hue somewhat to the fish with which it abounds. Northerly of this principal pond, and united with it by a small stream, is Little Turkey pond, which, in the summer season, is a place of delightful resort by people from the main village. The outlet of both is Turkey river, a considerable stream, affording valuable mill- sites. Here was the first grist and saw-mill ever erected on the west side of Merrimack river.
2. Horse-shoe Pond, at the head of Main street -in form resem- bling the shoe of a horse - was, no doubt, anciently the bed of Mer- rimack river. It encloses a fertile tract of land, owned by Joseph B. Walker, Esq. The house lots west of this tract were, in the orig- inal survey, called the "Island range." This pond is crossed by the track of the Northern Railroad. The outlet and inlet of it is called Wattanummon's brook. Connected by the brook with Merrimack river at the east end, the water in the pond rises and falls according to the flow of water in the river. This pond abounds with perch and pickerel, larger than are found in any other place in town.
3. Long Pond is a beautiful sheet of water, in the west part of the town, one mile and three fourths in length, half a mile in the widest part, and its mean or average width 752 rods. As lately surveyed by George Abbot, Esq., it contains an arca of two hundred and sixty-five acres. Its greatest depth, as measured by Reuben K. Abbot, in the summer of 1852, was eighty-four feet. Fed by streams that gush from neighboring hills, the water in the pond is cool, pure, clear as crystal, and abounds with perch and pickerel, whose color is bright and sparkling. Only one trout was ever caught in this pond ; it weighed about five pounds. From the north end issues a never- failing stream, that affords valuable mill privileges. It is said that no person was ever drowned in this pond. Should the city of Con- cord, in its main village, ever require "Croton," or "Cochituate water," like the smaller cities of New-York and Boston, we cannot doubt it will be supplied from Long Pond.
4. Little Pond, on the hill easterly of Long Pond, lies quietly in
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DESCRIPTIVE.
a basin, concealed from view by a thick grove on the west and south, and by an overshadowing hill on the north.
5. On the east side of the river, towards the Loudon line, is Turtle Pond, supposed to derive its name from the unusual quantity and size of turtles found there. It is nearly surrounded by bog and swamp land. When the pond is frozen over there is occasionally heard issuing from it a deep, low, groaning sort of sound, which elderly people in the neighborhood describe, by saying - " The pond has the belly-ache - there will soon be a change of weather." Its waters are discharged by Mill-brook, through the valley, southerly, into the Merrimack, furnishing excellent water privileges in the East village for mills and factories. On this stream the first grist and saw-mill in Concord was built, in 1729.
6. Snow Pond, north-west of Turtle Pond, on the westerly side of Oak Hill, derives its name from an early settler by the name of Zerobbabel Snow. According to a recent survey, by Capt. Benjamin Parker, it contains about twenty-five acres. Jacob Hoyt, Esq., says that near this pond Mr. Snow, on a hunting excursion, was treed by a pack of wolves just at night. He fired away at them all the balls he had, and then cut off buttons from his coat and discharged them ; but the wolves kept round the tree till broad day light next morning, when they went off, and he escaped. On the north-west issues a small stream, sufficient to carry a shingle-mill. Uniting with Hack- ett's brook, this stream flows into the Merrimack river above Sewall's falls bridge.
North-east of Snow's pond, in a deep valley at the base of Oak Hill, on the Concord and Loudon line, is a pond measuring thirty- one rods across it, called Hot-hole Pond, the bottom of which, it it is said, has never been reached.
The Interval land that borders Merrimack river, from a quarter of a mile to a mile in width, is distinguished for its extent, beauty and fertility. Though of unequal quality in different places, yet, taken together, it yields bountiful crops of grass, corn, oats, potatoes, and sometimes wheat. The soil throughout is a rich alluvial, believed to be equal to any on the Connecticut river, within the limits of New- Hampshire, except that at the "Ox-bow," so called, in Haverhill. Large solitary trees of elm and walnut, scattered over the interval, add greatly to the beauty of the prospect, as surveyed from adjacent uplands.
On the east side of the Merrimack the " Dark Plain," extending from Turkey Falls to Mill-brook, about five miles in length, and from the eastern bluffs of the Merrimack to the Soucook, three miles, was formerly covered with a heavy growth of pitch-pine. Though the growth on this plain has been repeatedly cut off and burnt over, it still remains a "dark pine plain ;" thin, sandy soil, incapable of much improvement by cultivation. When the pine growth is cut and subdued, shrub oaks spring up ; or, what is much better, a rich growth of blueberry and whortleberry bushes. Opposite to this plain, on the west side of the river, is another, extending from Tur-
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key falls to Main street, and from the banks of the Merrimack south- westerly, to the Iron Works. In the West parish is a plain, which extends from the burying-ground, near the meeting-house, to Fisher- ville northerly, and from the banks of the Merrimack to the Contoo- cook river west. One portion of this is dry, sandy soil, and another portion wet, heavy bog.
Of the up-lands in Concord there is considerable diversity of quality, generally uneven, rough and hilly ; of hard, granite soil, a large part covered originally with a heavy growth of hard-wood ; but, when cleared and cultivated, forming excellent farms and good pas- tures. On the east side, northerly of the Dark Plain, is a tract of hard-wood and pine, of gravelly soil and not very productive. The tract bordering Turtle pond is valuable for pasture and tillage. West- erly to Oak hill is a growth of hard maple, from which sugar is manufactured ; and a chestnut orchard, belonging to the Potter family, annually yields from sixty to eighty bushels of chestnuts, which sell from $2,50 to $3,00 a bushel. Westerly and northerly of Oak hill - which is famous for its heavy growth of hard wood -in what is called "Snaptown," and " the Mountain" districts, are some of the best upland and most productive farms in the town.
On the west side of Merrimack river the " Horse-hill" district is especially noted for its rich pastures, and for the excellent dairies which furnish the market with butter and cheese. The whole of the West parish district is an uneven tract, composed of wood, pasture and arable land ; which latter, cultivated by the patient and persever- ing industry of hardy yeomanry, richly rewards their labors. More attention is paid to raising fruit in this section than in any other part of the town. Not only excellent apples, but peaches, pears and plums, of various kinds, are raised here. Owned by the Flanders family is a valuable chestnut grove. The Abbots, Carters and Far- nums, now living in the West parish, retain and cultivate the old homestead farms which have descended to them from their ancestors. Mr. Stephen Carlton supplies the market with the best of early veg- etables and fruit, and Dea. Fra Rowell with the purest of milk - sending in on Saturday evening a generous supply for the Sabbath. What is true of the seetion westerly of " Long Pond" is applicable equally to the "Little Pond" district, where beautiful and productive farms are seen. The scenery in the vicinity of Long Pond, especially in summer and autumn, is highly picturesque, beautiful and attractive.
The remaining sections in the westerly part of the town, including "Beech," "Dimond" and "Stickney Hill," present a fine growth of wood and timber ; are rich in pasture, and, under cultivation, fertile. The section known as the "Bog Road," formerly the " Great Swamp," now cleared and cultivated, yields an abundant reward for the labor bestowed upon it. The "Iron Works" section is well cultivated and productive.
Granite is found in every part of the town in ledges, or cobble- stones on the surface, in inexhaustible quantities, but varying in quality and texture in different locations. West of the Main village is a hill
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DESCRIPTIVE.
range, of the primary formation, running from north to south, about three miles in length. This is covered with a thin soil, overgrown with wood of every variety, but beneath the surfaec composed of granite ledges. The range rises to its highest point in the geograph- ical centre of the town, about two miles from the main village, where it is computed to be five hundred and eighty feet above the high water mark of the river. The more northerly section of this range belongs to the town farm ; the central portion to John and Simeon Abbot, and to Moses H. and Benjamin Farnum; the southern and "Sum- mit ledge," as it called, belonged to the estate of the late Charles Walker, Esq. It was purchased in 1834, by Luther Roby and Wil- liam Green,* by whom, under the superintendence of Mr. Roby, it has been extensively wrought.
Near the Summit, on the eastern declivity of this range, are local- ities known as the old Rattlesnake Dens. Particular rocks have also received names from circumstances connected with them ; such as "Sheep rock," "Old Phebe," "Sow rock," "Raccoon" and " La Fay- ette." Mr. Simeon Abbot and Mr. Luther Roby have furnished some interesting and amusing facts and anecdotes, derived from tra- dition and personal observation. Mr. Abbot says : "My father bought thirty-six acres of the hill, which I and my brother John now own, for fifty cents an acre, or $18. He sold a single rock, called the ' Phebe Rock,' to Gass and Johnson, for $110. They sold it on a contract, at the State Prison, for $1540. It was wrought there for the New-Orleans market, and sold for $6000." This ' Phebe rock' lay upon the surface, and derived its name from the Phebe bird, which built its nest annually under its lofty sides. On this the first experiment of scam shot blasting was tried. Joseph Parker and Jacob Badger were the managers. Having made a seam by means of wedges through the depth of the rock, they began at the outer edges and poured in sand, which, running obliquely, filled the crevice sufficiently for the purpose. They then deposited a keg, or twenty-five pounds of powder, in the middle, overspreading the same with sand and pressing it down as hard as could safely be done. For a fuse they inserted a thistle-stalk, and then set a slow match of tow, extending a considerable distance. The explosion produced a shock like a little earthquake ; the huge mass was thrown over, to the amazement and joy of the beholders ! When split and worked up it was found to contain 11,000 feet of dimension stone, beside a large quantity of cellar and refuse stone. The "Sow rock" contained six thousand feet, and was so called from the fact that a sow found a secure retreat under its sides for a litter of pigs in rattlesnake times. The " La Fayette rock" was so named about the time Gen. La Fayette visited this place, in 1825. Its splitting qualities were so remarkable that the workmen frequently exclaimed, as the pieces were split off - " as true as the leaves of the Bible" - meaning exact and regular. From this portion of the hill the stones were obtained for the first grist- mill built in Concord, in 1729, by Nathan Symonds.
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