Thornton Gore cemetery from Tripoli Road

[Mohamed Ellozy]

On Monday (12/21) I wanted a short snowshoe trip without much elevation gain. So I decided to visit the Thornton Gore cemetery, on the abandoned north part of the Thornton Gore Road about ¼ mile south of Tripoli Road.

Tripoli Road was well packed by snowmobiles, and I cannot say that it felt like real snowshoeing. A bit beyond the pay station I reached a gated road that leads to the Thornton Gore Road:

The road was completely free of growth, implying recent activity. Shortly it joined the Thornton Gore Road, wider and also completely free of growth:

Just before reaching the cemetery there was an area with tons of flagging ... probably explains the good state of the roads. Is any logging planned in the area?

The cemetery is abandoned but not completely neglected, as shown by the excellent state of the "Who Passed this Way" sign:

and the flags by the graves of veterans:

Shortly beyond the cemetery the road reaches Eastman Brook, which I had no desire to attempt to crosss ... maybe after a real hard freeze:

A few more pictures here.

 

[pocahontas]

What an interesting place
& trip report

I never even knew this cemetery existed..
& right down the road from our place in Thornton

We'll have to check it out sometime!

Thank you!

 

[audrey]

Thanks for the report. Cemeteries are so much fun! (?) I have on my list to locate the ones marked on the Pawtuckaway map.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Cache in Thornton Gore cemetery

A few weeks ago (before Tripoli Road was closed) I was walking along it when a car stopped, and its occupants asked me where the cemetery was. Gave them directions and thought little about it.

Later I wondered ... how had they heard about it?

A search for thornton gore cemetery provided the answer ... there is a cache there. Could it have been set by a VFTTer?

While on the topic ... there is a track on wikiloc of a hike to the Tripoli Road area from the south, using the old Thornton Gore Road: Thornton Gore, NH from Gore Road to Tripoli Road via forest roads. To me the interesting thing is that it crosses Eastman Brook. Maybe the crossing is obvious if you come from the south, but coming from Tripoli Road a couple of times it seemed totally uncrossable, and I did not see any sign of a trail on the other side. Any information would be very welcome!

[Added]
Looking at the wikiloc track more carefully I see something fascinating. The track coming from the south stops at Eastman Brook, turns back a bit and heads east to other old logging roads. It then reaches Tripoli road and goes south to the cemetery, just as I do. It then spends about ten minutes looking for a crossing.

Definitely worthy of further exploration
[/Added]

 

[NeoAkela]

I only recently heard of this spot just this past October. Went in via a trail from a campsite further up Tripoli which soon joined the old road. Just before the road hits Eastman brook, another smaller path veers somewhat NW towards Talford Brook, where there is a beautiful carved cascade and remains of an old mill. A very tranquil spot. I was pondering about how many tourist roadside campers were unaware that a graveyard was just a hundred yards or so from their pitched tents.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

... where there is a beautiful carved cascade and remains of an old mill.

From the man who finds cascades Thanks, will explore further.

Photos of cascade and/or mill?

I was pondering about how many tourist roadside campers were unaware that a graveyard was just a hundred yards or so from their pitched tents.

It is almost totally unknown ... proof is that even you only heard of it a few months ago.

I have friends who told me long ago that they used to ski from the Thornton-Gore Road to Tripoli Road, and many maps show the old road going south from Tripoli Road. One year I saw ski tracks coming out of the woods through the campsite (the route you took) and obviously followed them a bit ... not sure why I did not follow further. If I had I would have seen where they crossed Eastman Brook.

I cannot find my mountain bike map of the Pemi District right now, but it definitely has a route from Mill Brook Road to Tripoli Road, with a portage across a brook (Johnson Brook? Eastman Brook?). Also the wikiloc track that I refer to in my previous post connects to Hicks Mountain Road. Lots of places to explore south of Tripoli Road!!

 

[NeoAkela]

I have one of the cascade:

I had some shots of the old foundations, but I think they are on a storage drive somewhere.

I did look at some bike-trail maps that show quite a bit of possibilities using Hix Mountain Road & Thornton Gore Road in-between Mill Brook and Tripoli. Definitely an area to explore further!

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Just before the road hits Eastman brook, another smaller path veers somewhat NW towards Talford Brook, where there is a beautiful carved cascade ...

That, of course, made me return today to look for your cascade

 

[Sidekick]

Thornton Gore Mill

I have been to Thornton Gore many times. I posted the track on Wikiloc referred to in a previous note. We wanted a longer hike that day so we followed the old jeep trail to logging roads back to Tripoli Road and then down to the cemetery. The road on the south side is easy to find after crossing the brook but isn't very obvious from the north side of the brook.

The old mill site is on Talford Brook. There is an old side road on the right (coming from Tripoli Road) a bit after the cemetery that goes right to the mill. Here are a couple of photos of the mill site.

 

[NeoAkela]

That, of course, made me return today to look for your cascade

All those blowdowns - that poor cascade! Nice to see the spot in winter dress, though - thanks, Mohamed!

Thanks for posting those mill photos too, Sidekick.

 

[Sidekick]

For those interested in some history of Thornton Gore check the following link.

http://whitemountainhistory.org/Thornton_Gore.html