SKETCH
OF
DUNBARTON,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
BY MISS ELLA MILLS.
MANCHESTER, N. H.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION,
1902.
Sketch of Dunbarton, N. H.
BY ELLA MILLS.
Dunbarton is a town "set upon a hill which cannot be hid." The highestpoint of land is on the farm of Benjamin Lord, north of the Center, andis 779 feet above the sea level. From that spot, and from many otherplaces nearly as high, the views of hills and mountains are beautifuland grand beyond description.
The twin Uncanoonucs are near neighbors on the south, Monadnock,farther off on the south-west, and Kearsarge twenty miles to the northwest. On the northern horizon are seen Mount Washington and other peaksof the White Mountains.
The longest hill in town is the mile-long Mills hill, and midway onits slope live descendants of Thomas Mills, one of the first settlers.Among other hills are Duncanowett, Hammond, Tenney, Grapevine, Harris,Legache, and Prospect Hills.
No rivers run through the town, but there are numerous brooks wheretrout fishing is pursued with more or less success.
No body of water is large enough to be called a lake, but Gorham Pondis a beautiful sheet of water and on its banks picnics are held.Stark's and Kimball's Ponds have furnished water power for mills, thelatter, owned by Willie F. Paige, is still in use. Long Pond, in thesouth part of the town, was the scene of a tragedy in 1879, when MosesMerrill, an officer at the State Industrial School, Manchester, wasdrowned in an ineffectual attempt to save an inmate of that institution.
One portion of the south part of the town is called Skeeterboro,another Mountalona, so named by James Rogers, one of the firstsettlers, from the place in Ireland from whence he[2] came. 1 East of theCenter is Guinea, so called because some negroes once lived there. Thevillage of North Dunbarton is also called Page's Corner; and not faraway to the eastward is a hill known as Onestack, because one largestack of hay stood there for many years. A brook bears the same name.
Those who know Dunbarton only in the present can hardly realize that1450 people ever lived there at one time, but that was the census in1820. The first census, taken 1767, was 271. In 1840 it was 1067; in1890, only 523. The last census gave about 575.
The first settlement was made in 1740 2 by James Rogers and JosephPutney on the land known as the "Great Meadows," now owned by James M.Bailey. They