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WhiteMountainHistory.org          Telling the story of 200 years of White Mountain History Table of Contents White Mountain Maps 25 Early Maps 30 More Scarce Maps 1805 Town Survey Maps Fire Insurance Maps Franklin Leavitt Maps Leavitt's Manuscript Map National Forest Maps About Us Donate How You Can Help Subscribe Using This Site Contact Us Resources and Links Abandoned Towns Carrigain Charleston Chickenboro Gale River Settlement Hastings, Maine Hazen Johnson & Little Canada Jonesville, Jericho, Etc Livermore Passaconaway Peeling Pike New Hampshire Thornton Gore Twin Rivers Veazey Whitcherville Wildwood Willowdale Zealand Bits and Pieces 1 Bretton Woods 1884 Christian Science Church Cog Railway Crawford Notch Dartmouth College Early Movies Early Turnpikes Jefferson Turnpike Tenth New Hampshire Winnipissiogee Turnpike Fabyan Guard Cabin Fire Lookouts Fire On Mt. Washington First Land Purchase Franconia Iron Works Glacial Ridge Road Historical Markers Historical Societies Share Our History Art of Homesteading Bath Historical Society Bethlehem Heritage Campton Conway Public Library Franconia Heritage Lincoln and Woodstock Lisbon Area HS Littleton Region Madison Tamworth History of Scenic Areas J.W. Black Photographs Kearsarge Peg Mill Livermore Tripoli Co. Logging Railroads Bartlett and Albany RR Bebee River Railroad Conway Lumber Company East Branch Railroad East Branch and Lincoln Gale River Logging RR Gordon Pond Railroad Rocky Branch Railroad Saco Valley Railroad Sawyer River Railroad Swift River Railroad Logging Railroad Costs Veazey Lumber Company Woodstock Lumber Company Outlook Magazine PaleoIndians Personalities Dr. Samuel Bemis English Jack Eleazar Rosebrook Evan Kelley James E. Henry Joseph Seavey Hall The Crawford Family Print Shop P & O Railroad Profile & Franconia RR Redstone Granite Site Preservation Stickney Chapel & Tomb Summit Hotels Tourism and Hotels Crawford House Fabyan House Glen House Metallak Hotel Mt. Pleasant Hotel Mount Washington Hotel Profile House Sinclair House Transportation Stage Coach Travel Videos & Slide Shows Watercolor Album, c.1862 Waumbek Junction Weeks Act White Mountain Music Sitemap The People, Places and Events that made White Mountain History Visit White Mountain Prints and Graphics, our separate website with over 300 images Use the "White Mountain Maps" link at the left to learn about White Mountain Cartography and examine over 100 rare, early maps of the White Mountains. An easy way to see what's on this site: A Table of Contents fully linked to all pages. There are over 70 Photo Albums with more than 1,500 photos . Or use the search box lower down this page. Subscribe to our periodic newsletter that will keep you informed of additions to this site. Donate to help support this website and our work. Read our Mission Statement and learn more about us. Before heading out to explore Historic sites, please read Preserving Historic Sites RECENTLY ADDED 11/18 First Lands Purchased for the WMNF 10/3 History of the Christian Science Church at Fabyans 5/14 Hastings, Maine , an abandoned logging town, is now part of the White Mountain National Forest 11/5 The Glacial Ridge Road 7/17 The Livermore Tripoli Company was the only company in the White Mountains to mine Diatomaceous Earth 7/13 We've added 3 more pieces to the White Mountain Music section. One written for the Glen House and two for the Crawford House. Also a video of an Edison Photograph. 6/26 The section on Abandoned Towns has been expanded and now includes information on over 20 towns. Start at the Abandoned Towns page 6/25 Dartmouth College Might Have Been in Landaff. Read the background of what might have been. 3/24 White Mountain Music Listen to music that hasn't been heard in the last 100 years . 3/22 History of Scenic Areas in the White Mountain National Forest 2/28 A Short Audio Slide Show about the Early Summit Houses on Mt. Washington 2/22 Waumbek Junction 12/14 Metallak Hotel . It blew down before it was completed. Why? 11/10 Fabyan Guard Cabin 7/2 Cog Railway 6/25 Profile and Franconia Notch Railroad 5/30 Summit Hotels and Structures There were structures on several mountain summits 5/29 Bits and Pieces Interesting, little known bits of White Mountain History 5/22 Fabyan House , updated history and several documents relating to building the hotel. 3/19 All Eight of Franklin Leavitt's Maps of the White Mountains, as well as receipts for printing some of the maps and other maps he drew. 2/26 The Tenth NH Turnpike, with details of how early turnpikes were constructed. 2/20 Three Manuscript maps by Franklin Leavitt (the only ones known to exist) have been added along with with scarce examples of his poetry. 2/12 We added a page with links to each of our Slide Shows and Videos 1/15 Video of the final demolition of the last of the paper mill buildings in Lincoln. The end of an era. 12/11 Early Movies on Mt. Washington 1904 Auto Race up Mt. Washington 1905 First Glidden Tour 11/29 History of the Profile House with over 70 photos 10/24 Water-Powered Print Shop at the Mt. Washington Hotel. On the 2010 Seven To Save List 8/23 Redstone Granite Quarries, with two Photo Albums including over 80 pictures 7/31 Bretton Woods, 1884 uses photographs and maps to show the many buildings that once existed and the changing landscape The White Mountains of New Hampshire were not settled until the late 18th century, long after the sea-coast and most other parts of New England. It was not until the end of the French and Indian War, in 1763, that towns were granted and settlers arrived. Most arrived with few possessions; many arrived on foot, and most had little, if any, extra cash. They found rugged mountains, many rivers, lakes and streams, and virgin forest covering nearly the entire area. The mountains made travel difficult; there were only a few ways through. The first European settlers had to clear land for homes and farming, build rough homes, build mills to grind their grain and saw lumber for their buildings, and build roads. By the first quarter of the 19th century, many prosperous, but small, towns existed and the population was rapidly expanding. Much of the prosperity came from utilizing the abundant forest resources. Over the next 100 years, enormous changes took place. The Industrial Revolution forever changed the rural nature of the area. Tourism developed into a major industry. 1838 Bartlett Print of the Willey House (Courtesy of Douglas Philbrook Collection, colored by Andrea Philbrook.) Today's visitors to the White Mountains, and the White Mountain National Forest, see a healthy, green forest. But where today we just see trees, there used to be whole towns that are now abandoned , there were hundreds of old mills, dozens of mines, miles of logging railroads , granite quarries , charcoal kilns, lime kilns, early hiking trails and shelters, early roads and turnpikes , and much, much more. Visitors interested in exploring, first-hand, some of this history have much to choose from. They can walk the streets of abandoned towns , examine cellar holes and wonder about who once lived there; they can find numerous mill sites and dams; they can climb Mt. Washington on the oldest, continuously maintained hiking trail in the Untied States, built by the Crawford family in 1819; they can walk for miles along old railroad lines, they can ride tourist railroads that still travel on some of the old track; they can ride the Cog Railway-or as it's sometimes called-the Railway to the Moon; they can drive on a long section of an early 19th century turnpike ; they can visit sites where Grand Hotels once stood and they can visit three that survive; they can drive the Auto Road to the Summit of Mt. Washington; they can visit a unique granite mansion, and, if they'd like, they can visit the quarry in the woods where the granite was cut; they can visit one of the few horse cemeteries in the country, they can visit a Pet cemetery on the grounds of ...