TOUR 8A: From JUNCTION WITH US 302 (Bethlehem) to ECHO LAKE, 9.9 m., State 18.

Via Franconia.

All accommodations in summer, limited in winter.

Paved road; open in winter.

THIS short route leads through one of the most beautiful sections of the State. State 18 branches south from US 302 at a junction, 2 miles west of Bethlehem.

The highway ascends between the fine stone walls of the Glessner estate, to a four-corner junction in the Glessner Woods, 0.6 m. Right is a natural Stone Couch.

       Right on a dirt road from this point is St. Mary’s in the Mountains, 0.5 m., an Episcopal boarding school for girls.

Left at 2.9 m., across the Indian Brook Valley, forested Scragg Mountain (alt. 1780) appears to fine advantage, with the ski runs clearly traceable.

At 3.7 m. the Franconia Range comes into view (L), its superb summits topped by many-peaked Lafayette (alt. 5249).

The highway gradually drops down into a beautiful intervale, through which meanders the small Gale River.

FRANCONIA (alt. 940, pop. 539), 4.6 m., is a serene little village, with a number of small cottage-type houses under fine trees, set, in a great basin around which are hills that slope to towering mountains. Gale River runs through the village.

The town was first granted in 1764 under its present name, but as no settlement was made in fulfillment of the terms, it was regranted in 1772 as Morristown. Litigation ensuing from these conflicting grants delayed settlement until 1774, when Captain Artemas Knight and others came here. The town was incorporated in 1782 under its original name.

Franconia’s most rapid development occurred when iron ore was discovered in this area in 1790. Under the name of the New Hampshire Iron Factory Company, the industry (see below) flourished until the close of the Civil War.

Most of the farms and homes in the town have been owned by the same families since the land was cleared and settlement began. Many of the houses have fine collections of old furnishings and relics. Agriculture and catering to summer and winter tourists are the chief activities of the year-round residents.

President Grant rode through Franconia’s main street, in his famous coach trip of less than an hour between the Profile House in Franconia Notch and Bethlehem, in 1869 (see BETHLEHEM, Tour 8, sec. b).

Franconia early attracted summer visitors, especially literary people. Among them were Nathaniel Hawthorne, John Greenleaf Whittier, Washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edmund Roth, Jacob Abbott, W. C. Prime, Annie Trumbull Slosson, Lucy Larcom, and Bradford Torrey.

Robert Frost made Franconia his home for a number of years, and Ernest Poole, a resident, used this region as a background for several of his novels. Ella Shannon Bowles, author of numerous books on hand craft, is also a resident.

The town is a notable center for both summer and winter recreation, having eight important ski trails.

Right from the main street is visible across Gale River the Old Mill (see below), a stone structure gray with age, the only survivor of the extensive plants here in the mining days (see below).

Right on a street across the river is Dow Academy, a frame Colonial-type structure, and a successor to one built in 1884 and opened the following year. The academy was the gift of Moses Arnold Dow, who was born in Littleton but brought to Franconia at an early age. After several unsuccessful magazine ventures, on a capital of five dollars he founded the Waverly Magazine, a venture that proved very successful. It is said that his policy was to print everything sent in. Desiring to honor Franconia, he presented it with a model educational institution, and paid the yearly expenses; at his death he left a large endowment. A co-educational institution, its present enrollment is limited to local students.

       1. Right from the center of Franconia village on State 117 is a junction, 0.1 m., with a path. Left on this path 300 yards to the Old Mill, a ruined stone structure, divided into four sections for various processes in the smelting of iron ore. It is all that remains of a large industry that flourished here from 1808 to about 1865, when the opening of the Pennsylvania field and improved methods of transportation ruined the local industry. Interest in this industry began in 1790 with the discovery of iron ore on Ore Hill (see below), one time considered one of the richest veins of iron in the country. Coal being unavailable, charcoal was used instead, and the remains of charcoal burners are to be found on neighboring hills. One is near the highway in Lisbon (see Tour 8, sec. c).

       The highway gradually rises with (L) a fine view of the Franconia Range. Here in the late spring is usually visible the Snow Cross on Mt. Lafayette, an unmelted accumulation of snow in crevices at the source of Lafayette Brook near the summit.

       At 1 m. on State 117 is a junction with a paved road. Right on this road is PECKETTS, 0.3 m., an aristocratic summer and winter colony, and a notable center for skiing. Nick’s Memorial Library, on the hotel grounds, a small river-stone structure, specializes in late books; it contains complete sets of the works of Robert Frost, Ernest Poole, and others, whose books are especially associated with Sugar Hill.

       At 2.3 m. is a junction with a paved road. Left on this road 0.1 m., to the Old Forge, a blacksmith shop built by Moses Aldrich shortly after he settled here in 1774. Within are the original huge bellows, anvil, and other equipment. In addition there is an excellent collection of old furnishings largely from this region. In 1909, Professor Charles F. Richardson of Dartmouth added a room to the original structure and used it in summers for a study until his death in 1913.

       At 0.5 m. on this side road is the Sunset Hill House, from whose grounds is a view considered by many to be the most impressive in this area obtainable without climbing high peaks. The horizon in all directions is a serration of mountain summits. Right is the long, flat Starr King Range; then right to left, the Presidentials.

       At 1 m., also, on this side road is Hotel Lookoff, where is another superb view that is a slight variation of the outlook from the Sunset Hill House. South of the hotel is Ore Hill (alt. 1980), one of the sources of iron ore for the Franconia mining industry (see above). The hill is largely composed of gneiss, in which are rich veins of iron. The old shafts and adits have largely been covered with undergrowth.

       SUGAR HILL (alt. 1277), Lisbon Township, 3 m., a little hilltop settlement superbly situated, derives its name from the sugar maples that crown this elevation, and shade its streets. The village, scattered along the upper western ridge of the hill, has three churches, a few shops, and a number of summer homes. Surrounding the village are many beautiful estates.

       The early history of the village is concurrent with that of Lisbon (see LISBON, Tour 8, sec. c). Town meetings were at one time held alternately here and at Lisbon.

       Sugar Hill was a hotbed of Millerism in the first half of the 19th century. A man of inferior education, William Miller (1782–1849) became a Baptist clergyman in 1833 and began prophesying the impending end of the world, finally setting the fatal day as October 22, 1844. Many believed in him so firmly that they harvested no crops that year, and either sold their livestock or gave it away. They prepared themselves by six weeks of prayer and fasting and on the last day gathered either in the cemetery or at the church, clothed in white flowing robes and ready for their ascension. On the day before the world was supposed to end, one man went out into the field to give a final exhortation to some ‘unsaved’ neighbors. Worn out with fasting and prayer, he sat down on a haystack and went to sleep. The recreants then removed most of the hay and touched a match to what was left. The Millerite awoke with a start, shouting, ‘Hell — just as I expected.’ One man fell from the ridgepole while dressed in his flowing robes and broke his ankle; others, hearing a neighbor’s dinner horn, thought it was Gabriel’s trumpet. Some gathered in the cemetery were sure they heard bones rattling in the graves.

       On still, clear days Sugar Hill people declare they hear the ‘Bungy-Jar’; or as some express it, ‘The Bungy-Bull is a-bellowing.’ ‘Bungy-Jar’ is the south wind beginning to blow through Kinsman Notch 12 miles south; it invariably presages a storm, the weird sound increasing in intensity until the storm arrives. The term is said to have arisen in early days when many people, finding they could not farm successfully near Kinsman Notch, moved to better land; those left behind would remark that the deserters had ‘bunged out.’

       The Richardson Library, on the main street, a low frame structure, was erected through a gift of Professor Charles F. Richardson (see above). It contains many of his books as well as others contributed by summer residents; among the volumes are many first editions and richly bound sets.

       At 3.3 m. are five corners. Right on State 117, around the Cemetery where some of the Millerites gathered (see above).

       The highway following Salmon Hole Brook continues to Salmon Hole Bridge, 8.5 m., where is a junction with US 302 (see Tour 8, sec. c), 2.5 miles north of Lisbon.

       2. Right from the eastern end of Franconia village on State 116, partly following the Ham Branch, to a junction with a marked trail at 3.5 m. Left on this trail 2.5 m. to Bridal Veil Falls on Coppermine Brook, that has its source high on the southern slope of Mt. Kinsman. The falls, semicircular in shape, are about 75 feet in height. Partly cascades and partly rapids, at times the stream of water is so thin and transparent that the rock walls are clearly seen through it. This trail is also a ski trail. At 4.6 m. on this road is a junction with the marked Mt. Kinsman Trail. Left on this trail 2.25 m. to the Kinsman Flume, a deep canyon through which a small brook cascades — a miniature of the larger flume in Franconia Notch. This trail continues to the summits of Mt. Kinsman — the northern, 3.5 m.; and the southern, 4.5 m. State 116 continues to a junction with State 112, 8 miles west of North Woodstock (see Tour 9).

At 4.9 m. an impressive array of mountain peaks is visible. Straight ahead is Garfield; then (L to R), Lafayette, Profile (Cannon), the Three Graces, and Kinsman. Left of Garfield are the Twin Mountains.

At 5.8 m. on State 18 is a junction with a paved road.

       Left on this road at 0.5 m. is the Forest Hills Hotel; from its grounds is a fine view of the entire Franconia Range (R), and of the Presidential Range (L). The Richard Taft ski trail is visible on the slope of Mt. Profile (R).

At 7.3 m. begins the so-called Three Mile Hill, a beautifully wooded avenue, partly following Tucker Brook. The road rises over 800 feet in two miles; the steepest part is known as Hardscrabble.

State 18 continues to a junction with US 3 (see Tour 3, sec. c), at ECHO LAKE, 9.9 m. (see Tour 3, sec. c).