In New Hampshire, as in other parts of New England, the first roads were winding and narrow bridle paths that were often slow-going, according to Bill McAuley, curator at Francestown’s Heritage Museum and author of a book that documents the Second New Hampshire Turnpike, which he presented to the Select Board in February 2020.
In his research for the book about the turnpike, which still exists today, albeit with asphalt and no tolls, McAuley says he was amazed at that the industriousness of those involved in its construction.
“It only took them two years to hack that thing,” he says. “You look at the widening of (Route) 93 and that went on for years. That’s what intrigued me the most.”
Today, there are 3.9 million miles of roads throughout the United States, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Most people probably take the construction of these roads for granted. After all, the roads people drive on to get from Concord to Portsmouth or Manchester to Boston – or to most anywhere today – are typically smooth and seemingly timeless. And yet, at one time there was nothing there but wilderness.
McAuley’s book, “A Journey Along the Second New Hampshire Turnpike,” asks readers to imagine they are on a stagecoach leaving Boston and heading for Montreal sometime in the early 19th century. The ticket cost $10 and shortly after departure, the rain starts, forcing passengers to close the leather flaps on their windows and hope for the best.
What follows focuses on a short stretch of the Second New Hampshire Turnpike that facilitated the merchandise, produce, livestock and some of the people who traveled through Francestown and helped to shape the town’s cultural and historical heritage.
Historical background
McAuley lays out a timeline of the turnpike system, beginning with the end of the Revolutionary War, when the “self-sufficient economies of towns began to fall victim to specialization and division of labor.” This, he says, led to the beginning of a network of primary and secondary highways that could carry goods between towns and villages.
In 1791, post routes were established in New Hampshire, and by 1796 the First Turnpike, connecting Concord and Portsmouth, was chartered. In 1799, the Second New Hampshire Turnpike charter was granted, connecting Amherst with Claremont and points north. The road was completed by 1801 at a cost of approximately $80,000.
“This road was completed by 1801; with shovels and axes they built a 50-mile road through the wilderness in one year,” McAuley writes in his book.
Arrival in Francestown
Francestown was incorporated in 1772 and named after the wife of colonial Gov. John Wentworth, Frances.
Arriving in Francestown 12 hours after departure from Boston, the passengers, McAuley imagines, are looking for rest.
“But don’t get too comfortable,” he writes in his book. “The stage leaves again at 4 a.m.,” heading for Vermont.
Unlike other towns where the turnpike had little impact, the stretch of turnpike that ran through Francestown had a significant impact on the town, McAuley says, because it allowed products such as soapstone and many others to be carried to markets along the route and to cities in Massachusetts.
Soapstone in Francestown
Soapstone, also known as “freestone,” as it can be cut freely with ordinary tools, was a boon for Francestown in the 19th century. The Francestown deposit of soapstone was considered the best in the world as it lacked flaws, hard spots and rusty markings and it was prized for its ease of cutting and shaping as well as its heat retention according to the Francestown Heritage Museum newsletter.
Soapstone was quarried in Francestown and soapstone products were manufactured there as well.
In the early 1800s in Boston, soapstone was selling for $36 per ton, while the next-best available soapstone was sold for only $20 per ton. The quarry, which excavated upward of 4,000 tons of stone per year at its height, was near Bible Hill Road.
By 1811, the stone was sold in Boston to a shop on Milk Street, taken from the quarry to Boston by ox team. The trip to Boston and back took six days and there were teams constantly on the journey.
Wagonloads of soapstone traveled south and east to a mill in Nashua through New Boston, which Francestown was a part of before its charter, and before railroads in Greenfield were established.
In 1865, The Francestown Soapstone Company was formed and took over the quarry. Production was greatly increased with the introduction of a 12-horsepower steam engine derrick for lifting stone from the quarry and loading it. By 1869, the quarry was 80 feet deep and 30 workers were employed.
The annual output was approximately 4,000 tons per year. They began to expand the size of the product and started providing stone for a newly invented bakery oven that was nine feet in diameter. There was a factory in Nashua for manufacture of soapstone products, and the quarried stone was taken by six-team horse-drawn wagons to the railroad station in Greenfield for rail transport to Nashua.
By 1890, both Francestown Soapstone and Union Soapstone remained the only viable operations and each employed approximately 50 workers. The quarries were now about 134 feet deep and it was becoming problematic, as this was well below the water table and there was a constant struggle to remove water from the quarries. Also about this time, the demand for soapstone products was decreasing and the price being paid for the stone was also decreasing.
In 1891, the quarrying of soapstone in Francestown came to an end. However, there was a good deal of previously cut soapstone available and the mill in Mill Village continued operations.
In 1905, as demand continued to wane, the Francestown Soapstone Company declared bankruptcy. This forced the closing of the Mill Village mill. So rapidly did this take place that a stone slab was left on the saw table cut halfway through and completed stoves were left in the mill awaiting shipment.
Notable people
In the 1830s, when Francestown’s population reached a peak of about 1,500 people, Abbot Downing Coaches, made in Concord (such as the one found at the museum in Francestown) would have carried notable figures to and from places like Francestown Academy. The academy was attended by such figures as Franklin Pierce, who later became president of the United States; and Levi Woodbury who would become a Supreme Court justice, United States senator, the ninth governor of New Hampshire and cabinet member in the Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren administrations.
The carriages also would have made stops for those traveling north and south at the many taverns and banks that emerged in Francestown in the 19th century.
Tolls and scales
Francestown was the only town along the turnpike with two tolls, McAuley says. One existed in the village and another at the northern end of town near Gibson’s Tavern, where people would have been leaving town and heading to Deering. One toll was for head of livestock, driven by horses and oxen, which were the main draft animals.
McAuley recalls a funny story he heard about Gibson’s Tavern, today the Toll Booth Tavern at Crotched Mountain Golf Club, that paints a picture of how intimately connected the road through Francestown intersected with everyday life.
“A guy called us up when they rebuilt Gibson’s Tavern, and told us he was on the crew,” McAuley says, adding that most taverns also had hotels attached to them and that during the renovation project, the front door was removed and the man had saved the strap hinges, which were extraordinarily large. “I asked how big the door was and he explained that doors back then were large enough to be able to get a casket to fit through.”
The products that went through Francestown would have included the “necessities of life,” McAuley says. “Anything the people needed to live, including grain and lumber.”
These are just some of the products and people that traveled along the Second New Hampshire Turnpike through Francestown. For those interested in learning more about the town and its history, McAuley recommends a stop at the Heritage Museum. The museum is home to an antique fire truck, a hearse, stage carriages and a wide variety of agricultural tools in the basement.
McAuley says he enjoys learning the history of Francestown, but that becoming the museum’s curator was a “pure fluke” tied to Allan Thulander, a state representative from Francestown whose family, McAualey adds, has done a lot for the town. Thulander had been attempting to create a transportation museum in town and at the time, McAuley, an engineer by trade, said the town had old a lot of vehicles, stages, wagons and hearses that were in people’s barns.
“Allan was going to make a transportation museum,” McAuley says, adding that before this happened Thulander died and the building sat vacant for over a year. “I live next door and went to the Select Board asking if I could open it up and they agreed.”
The Town of Francestown owns the Heritage Museum. The other museum, which sits next door and is known as the “Beehive,” is a nonprofit that is operated by the Francestown Historical Society.
People can meet McAuley at the museum on Fridays from 3 to 5 p.m.