Fortunately, people take photographs. They are an aid to telling a story. During the Bicentennial year of 1976, a small book which details the “Village of West Concord, New Hampshire 1726-1976″ was published. What a treasure trove of stories, photos, and details about the early residents of West Concord, the part of Concord, New Hampshire that is separated from “East Concord,” by the Merrimack River.
Interesting structures in West Concord include the Town Pound, built in 1830, where loose animals were impounded. There is a story of a pig on the loose who was rooting up everyone’s gardens. He was kept captive until his owner could be told, as he walked home from work. The enclosure, built of un-mortared granite slabs from Rattlesnake Hill, has now stood for 176 years.
Across the street, The Poor Farm, (house shown above), took in financially destitute community members. There used to be acreage with this house, an actual farm where work was expected from the residents. The only remaining remnant of the operation, the old house, fell into disrepair and remained uninhabited for years. Now, it has been renovated and provides housing again.
I like to envision what life was like when the street past my house was not paved, and when horse and carriage frequented the thoroughfare, not fast moving traffic. Our house is like a clickback to the past. Until recent times, five other buildings stood on our property: a greenhouse, an outhouse (hard to imagine its use in very frigid weather that we get); two chicken coops, and a wooden shed where the horse buggy was kept.
As I look around at the original houses in West Concord, it is easy to see their grace. They were not just dwellings. They were, in a sense, statements. We are trying to preserve the house as we found it, although we realize that others have made changes over the years, some of which we wish had not been done…like the removal of the main kitchen hearth, and the installation of several “state of the art” metal cupboards on one kitchen wall. Luckily, other features, like the wood floors throughout the house, and the wainscoting in the living room, remain. The smaller slat wood floors are downstairs. The “less desirable” wide Hemlock floor boards are in less trafficked areas…upstairs! Some of the kitchen cabinets, in one corner, were constructed of old Indian shutters, saved from a time when attacks by Native Americans were a threat to local residents.
Today, life has changed and will, no doubt continue to change, in the name of progress. More’s the pity. The house above, formerly inhabited by eight generations of the Abbott family for a total of 246 years, was sold in 2004 to a developer. He is currently building 79 attached homes in 13 buildings on what used to be flat fields and a community garden. Each unit is expected to sell in the range of $400,000. to $500,000.
Talk of tearing down the old house, an historic landmark, caused an uproar among local residents. Then, there was mention of moving it. Without a buyer, it now provides office space for condo sales.
Change is the order of the day as all of southern New Hampshire becomes so overdeveloped, the wildlife does not know what to do with themselves, their former habitat removed, and trees torn down.
I long for the old days: the contra dances in a building now up for sale to install condos; the Grange suppers of my youth; the simpler times when a man’s word was as good as gold, and when man lived closer to his sources of food by actively engaging in agriculture, fishing, and hunting.
The one thing that I am most curious about is the report that after the former resident (of our 1821 house) died, at the age of 98, and his daughter was cleaning out the “attic,” she found a pile of quilt blocks. They reportedly had various kinds of fabrics, silks and other dress fabrics. Since no one knew “what to do with them,” either they were thrown away or given away. From the description, they sound like Crazy Patchwork. Somehow, I wish I hadn’t known this….
Pat, wishing you a good day!
