Day 23, Trip to East Coast, Wed. Oct. 11, 2023 

We drove the last day from Weare, New Hampshire, following what was known as the Currier and Ives Scenic Byway. That whole Byway is longer than what we traveled, but we did a good portion of it. The day was overcast so photography was not high on the agenda since reflections and colors were quite dull. ** (See comment at end) Is important to remember that in this part of the country, in New Hampshire, many towns were established when this was part of the Massachusetts Colony so British rule was the order of the day. 

There are five small towns or villages that we visited, that were between the rural roads which we drove. Every once in a while we would take a side road leading maybe to a pond or bridge or in one case very large dam. More about that later. Very few birds as we saw 5.

First pond of many , little housing.

A  second pond of many

The Hopkinton Town Hall

 

The towns were Hopkinton, (1735), Warner (1774), Webster (1869) and Salisbury (1768), all about 1500 to 5500 population. Each has a town hall for meetings that was still used today (no city halls and usually aldermen reps.), as well as narrow streets with many Elizabethan and Colonial style housing. Some were three and four stories tall. Most churches were wooden structures (New Hampshire HAS wood!), with tall gothic type steeple and crosses on the top. Almost all towns were hilly. Between the towns we noticed many swamp and bog areas that were seemingly isolated and unpopulated. Most homes were along the roadways or on the spur roads that turn off the main roads. Many of those spur roads were dead end. The rolling hills probably has much to do with that. One by one I will take each town and describe a feature of it. 

We will start with Hopkinton. This town has three distinct communities with the residences in the center of the town. Contoocook is the town’s business hub and just north. Finally, West Hopkinton is the agricultural center of the community. So you see how it is divided and can be confusing to the casual visitor. It also has the State Fair (Labor Day), a historical Railroad station, and the oldest covered railroad bridge in United States. We did see that. (See photo). Contoocook is a derivative of the Indian tribe Pennacook, who lived here. There are about 5900 people in Hopkinton..

One of Ruth's barn and a 1939? Chevvie Truck?

Worlds oldest remaining  covered RR Bridge (see sign)

Accompanying photo of covered bridge

 

The second stop was in Warner established in 1774. Warner ,New Hampshire, incorporates 4 other villages under its jurisdiction. (Davisville, Lower Village, MelvinMills, and Waterloo.) Just 434 people live in the Central Village. It was first established by the governor of Massachusetts (Belcher) in order to defend against the French to the north. It was the last town established under British rule before the Revolution .(See my note on the history of Weare from yesterday.) 2900 people live in the community. A tornado destroyed much of the town in 1831. Four people were killed.

The spillway in Contoocook (River)

We laughed as well. It goes over the Blackwater R.

Rapids on The Blackwater R.

 

Webster was the next town on our list on this Scenic Byway tour. Webster, New Hampshire. Takes its name from Dan'l Webster who was born just up the road in Franklin, New Hampshire. It is actually a part of the town called Boscawen. Established, again during the French invasions, it had a ferry crossing the Merrimack River, and lots of industry because of the current for power. The town had a level surface and the good soil was noted for its apple,s pears, and cherry orchards. The original postage stamps started here at the same time as 11 other places in the nation. That was 1847. Remember that Daniel Webster was also a US Congressman, senator, secretary of State, and unsuccessful presidential candidate.

The Blackwater Dam used for  flood control.

Fill for the Blackwater Dam . River is by tree line.

Home near  Webster.

Covered Bridge near Hopkinton

New Hampshirers get ready for winter. Many of these.

 

Finally, we visited Salisbury, which was incorporated just before the Revolution in 1768. As part of Massachusetts it was established after Capt. Baker and named “Bakerstown”. (1750’s) When it became New Hampshire it was re-granted by the Masonian proprietors, and was given three different names until 1768 when it became Salisbury. Its population in 1820 was 2016 and in 1920 dropped to 390. Today it boasts 1422 people. ***(I will look up the Masonian Proprietors) 

Well ,there’s a sum of the area and none of these towns are very far apart from one another anywhere from 6 to 10 miles in the rolling countryside of southern New Hampshire. There is very little farming and we only saw cattle or cows two different times. The land is it just not amenable to tilling the soil. The stone fences give a hint as to why not because they are almost on every piece of land. 

 Happy Halloween!!!!!

Window peeker!

Watchin' for the mail!!!

"Let's get to work in the field's guys"

"Avast mates , thar she blows"

 

Tomorrow we move further west to just outside of Schenectady New York. At a Campground by a Marina more than likely attached someway to the Hudson River. I hope you can join us there and again I thank you all for reading.––

Jim Disclaimer, ***some of the photos today had a “blue” caste and we hope to fix that tomorrow. *** 

'Masonian Proprietor'..John Mason was granted (As vice chair of the Plymouth Colony) 10,000 acres which included some of the present New Hampshire. His colleague was given 60 miles of land inland from the coast similarly. Whew!