Ghost towns

[sierra]

Ghost towns are scarce in Nh, to much overgrowth and developement. If you really have the interest the west, CO inpeticuliar is loaded with exsisting ghost towns. I have seen many of them and they are fantastic to visit. Although, when in one Ghost town, pretty far out in the backcountry, I got an wierd feeling while in one of the buidings, I left right away.

 

[JOD]

Mt Cilley, Woodstock, NH

this is a fun excursion Woodstock, NH history,

I made the trip there this past memorial day. It took me two tries to find it. We bw'd from rt 118 the first day and walked right through the village without knowing it until I talked to my father who'd been there ~20 yrs ago. He came with us the next day, and wham there it is. We found quite a few cellar holes, old wells and culverts on what was once "main st." All in all, very cool. I've heard a few stories from the older locals as to why the village was abandoned.

Jim

 

[cp2000]

this is a fun excursion Woodstock, NH history,

I made the trip there this past memorial day. It took me two tries to find it. We bw'd from rt 118 the first day and walked right through the village without knowing it until I talked to my father who'd been there ~20 yrs ago. He came with us the next day, and wham there it is. We found quite a few cellar holes, old wells and culverts on what was once "main st." All in all, very cool. I've heard a few stories from the older locals as to why the village was abandoned.

Jim

Interesting..........

A friend of mine told me about this and since I couldnt find any info about it I just wrote it off as bs.

 

[Jim lombard]

Unknown Village

I stumbled across one while hiking through the Ossipee backcountry in October 1984. At the time one of my friends decided to scout out the area looking for deer. We found what looked like an apple orchard out in the middle of the woods at least 2 miles from the nearest paved road. From there we could easily see what looked to be an old road lined with rocks. We counted at least 12 cellar holes and at what seemed to be a cross-roads there was part of a wagon, wheels and all.

It was a creepy, dark place. By afternoon we found a large cellar hole with a cemetary out in the back. It was small, maybe 20 headstones all toppled over and cracked. We ate lunch there, managed to right a few of the stones and spent the afternoon finding all sorts of neat old things and plenty of deer sign.
By dusk we'd found a good place for him to set up a tree-stand in an old apple tree. I was really wanting to get out of there and all that long walk out I felt like I was being watched. Tom also said he felt the same way.

I've never been back there again. I'd love to know if it was part of the village of Ossipee or it's own little town.

Oh and Tom never did go back there to hunt.

 

[Periwinkle]

...We went up the Smarts Brook trail but branched off to the onto a couple snowmobile/X-country ski trails and took us to a couple cellar holes surrounded by clearings and old apple trees....There were also a couple grave sites along one of the ski trails marked by surveyors flourescent tape, very cool. ...It's pretty interesting finding cellar holes, grave sites in the middle of the forest.

I spent many a happy day searching the area you described. I was fortunate enough to score an orienteering map from a neighbor, which made finding all the cellar holes a fairly easy task. A few are readily visible from the trails. The grave sites are no longer marked by tape, but can be seen from the trail as well. That was a pretty interesting find -- one of the graves was marked "Foss". Just the week before I visited the graveyard, I had climbed an "unnamed" peak across the road and found a sign placed there, calling it Foss Peak. Very coincidental timing.

 

[Puck]

I really love this thread. Or anythread that deals with old artifacts. We see these things as objects. The cellar holes were once homes central to somebody's life. It was thier universe. Back then people didn't travel far. The stopping of a logging operation or failure of a farm or better opportunities had these people moving to other parts of the country or the state. So the cellar hole that you now look at was the birthplace of persons great-great grandmother who now lives in lets say Gary Indiana. The person buried in these graves has desendents who have may be totaly unaware who thier ancestor was.
When I walk through the Pemi and see the old tracks, and sleigh runners I can easily imagine the men hard at work, long cold hours. Away from thier families for long periods.

 

[TDawg]

Well said Puck, right on point.

 

[Ridgewalker]

We need to take advantage of this, well said cantdog. I am proud of a heritage that gose back to the Upton family that were the last private owners of the House of Seven Gables in Salem.
In 2003 my Aunt Betty died at 96, she was the last living person in the family to have raised by one of the occupents of the H7G. I am a big history buff and prior to her death, she made a scrap book of the Uptons and the Haywoods. This scrap book breathes a new life on what it was like to live then in turn of the century Salem. As I read through the geneology of the family I put it together that her great-grandfather Henry O. Upton born 1836 and died 1919. Aunt Betty was born 1907, making that she would of known him well.
As I am currently penning the book AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL I too relized that one person could know people from previous generations.The Houltons who are the main charecters who shared their lives with their grandparents. Take for instance Capt. Houlton's grandfather he was born in 1679 and expired in 1768. Houlton's great-grandfather lived from 1632-1715. Capt. Houlton had four generations of people he could speak with about their lives when they were young.

 

[funkyfreddy]

love these kind of threads.....

as they make me want to get out even more! If you take the time to really explore the Pemi and not just bag peaks you will find all kinds of spooky stuff back there. I've also heard lots of stories about strange paranormal encounters that took place in the NH woods.

Once I camped in the Pemi and had a dream about someone leaning on a shovel and watching over me while I slept. The next morning i woke up and went down to the stream to pump some water, had a De Ja Vu while I was pumping and then turned to see a rusted old shovel blade sticking up out of the stream bed. These kind of synchronicities have often happened to me in the backcountry and have made me often question what we commonly call "reality". At times it seems to change like the weather......

By the way, there's some really interesting stuff in the Hudson valley as well. If anyone feels like exploring some send me a PM or an e-mail. Thanks, Fred

 

[bill bowden]

Love the information

Will visit Monson center tonight. As a a very minor matter; the websites that say you must go through Hollis to reach Monson center are mistaken. Federal Hill Road proceeds from Emerson road in Milford NH past the "Mileaway Restaurant" because it was a mile away from Monson and site of the Monson Town Meeting (no meeting hall). anyway, Federal Hill road goes up (you guessed it) Federal Hill and provides occasional views to Temple and Pack Monadnock Mountains to the west. Near the height of land, it becomes gravel and there is a turnoff to the left which ends at a steel gate, usually marked by a wreath as well. the road continues into Hollis, ending at state highway 122 near silver Lake State Park.

 

[cp2000]

This Book has quite a bit of info. I bet if you encourage people to share some knowledge of these towns here in addition to book rec'ds you'll get even more.

-Dr. Wu

I got around to getting this book( Logging railroads of the white mountains) from the Plymouth State library and must say its quite spiffy. Some of the pictures such as the summit of Owls Head on fire and the picture of the entire Pemi wilderness completly bald are shocking. Worth getting no doubt.

 

[Stan]

Another thread offers some good theories on "peakbagging levels". This thread is a good example of those who've done that and seek a different experience while hiking, bushwhacking etc. Thanks.

This link was provided to me when I inquired about Mt. Cilley recently. It is fascinating but I don't know if it is a duplication of one of the other links.

http://www.americanroads.net/NHghosttowns.html