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' A HANDBOOK OF



NEW ENGLAND



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Published

The Best Private Schools, 1915
American Private Schools, 1917, 1918, 1919-1920.
1920-1921, 1921-1922

New England, 1916, 1917

In Preparation

Colleges and Universities

A Critical Study and Appraisal

The Middle States

Uniform with New England

Boston

A Citizen's Handbook



^argent'0 l^anDbook Series



A HANDBOOK OF



NEW ENGLAND



AN ANNUAL PUBLICATION




PORTER E. SARGENT
BOSTON



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Copyright, 1921, by
PORTER E. SARGENT



SEP 1 9 1921



PRESS OF GEO. H. ELLIS CO. (INC.) BOSTON



0)CIA624716



TO THOSE
WELL-INFORMED AND PUBLIC-SPIRITED

NEW ENGLANDERS

WHOSE CORDIAL COOPERATION HAS MADE POSSIBLE
THIS BOOK



IN PREPARATION
For the 1922 Edition.

Local Authorities and others interested are re-
quested to send notification of errors and important
omissions that will be of assistance in making the
1922 Revision more accurate and better proportioned.

Information on towns not already included in the
Handbook will be welcomed for New Routes that
are being worked up.

Photographs for illustrations of notable old houses,
antique doorways and important monuments, town
and local maps, uncopyrighted, or with permission
to use in compiling new maps will be appreciated and
acknowledged.



TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTORY



PAGE



New England in the Large 15

Generalizations on Many Topics.

Old New England 18

A Geological Interpretation and Retrospect.

The New England Climate 24

Tributes of Poets, Pessimists, and Philosophers.

The Flora of New England 25

Characteristic Trees, Shrubs, and Plants.

Aborigines and Slavery 27

The Indian Lords of the Soil and their Fate.

The New Englander 30

His Character, his Conscience, and his God.

The Language of New England 32

Usages and Survivals, on the Map and on the Tongue.

The New England Village 35

As a Social Community; Origins of Democracy.

Roads and Highways 38

From Indian Trails to Boulevards.

New England Architecture 41

Colonial, Georgian, Roman, Gothic, and Municipal.

The States of New England 47

Their Individuality and Origin.

Maine 47

New Hampshire 49

Vermont 5^

Massachusetts 53

Rhode Island 55

Connecticut 57

How to use this Handbook 59

(7)



TAMIJ-: OK CONTKNTS



ROUTES

I'A'iK

1. Nkw Yokk via Si'kin(;fikij) to Moston 6o

jj 1 New York to New H.'ivcm 6r

$2 N(;w II.'ivcM 1<> Il.'irl foni i lo

i^ .'i H,'irlf(<r(l to Sprin^^licld 124

ft 4 Spri/ij^dcM lo Wor( cslcr J37

§ f) Won (slcr lo lio.loii i^r

2. Nkw IIavkn via Nkw London to Boston 164

ft I New II.'ivcu lo New l/onrion 164

ft 2 Nrw London lo I'rovidcnc c 182

ft .'i I'rovidcni (• l(j lioslon 212

li. Nkw Yokk via Wii.i.iMANru: 10 TJosion 224

ft I New York vi;i l);inl)ury lo II;irlford 224

ft 2 H.'ulford vi;t. Willini.inl i( lo lio.lon 239

4. Nkw Yokk via mik IIijd.son to Ai.hany

Wnil I'^NIKANCK KoiJIKS INTO NkW I''<N(;KANI) 'J'./\y>

ft I N<!W York to TouKhki^cpsic i?48

ft 2 I'on^dik(('|)si(' to Alh.'iriy 260

5. Nkw Yokk to iiik lirKKSiiiKKS and MoNrKKAi, 264

ft 1 New York to rittslicld 264

ft 2 rillsfirld to Willi.'iinslown 2H8

ft .'{ Willi.'iinslown lo M.'UK IicsUt 2()^

ft 4 M.'iix licslcr to Kutl.ind ^joo

ft r> Riillaiid lo Hurlin^';lon ,^02

ftO iiiirlin^lon lo Monl rc.'il ,^ii

ft. NOKWAKK TO Ll'K IIMKII) AND 'I"oKKIN(;TON 314

7. Stka'H'Okd to Waii^kiuiky and Winsikd ^18

H. Sai.ismijky to (!anaan, Winstij), and IIakikokd ^y.>j

'.). Dkkmv to Nkw Mii-foKD, (Ioknwakk, and (!anaan ^^t)

10. 'I'liK ("onnkcticut Vam.ky K0UTK8 331

ft I West li.'uik: S.iyhrook lo Il.irlford 332

L.'ist it.'ink: Old Lyme lo Il.irlford 340

ft 2 L.'isl H.'ink: ll;irlfor<l lo S|)rin^licld 345

WcHt H.'ink: Il.irlford to Sprin|<(icld 341;

ft .'i W<!Ht H.'ink: Sprin^'ificid to (irccniicid ;^i5o

i'!;ist H.'ink: .S|)rin^';(icld lo Millers l''.'ills .^O.t;

ft 4 West H.'ink: (irccnlidd lo Hrllows I'.'ills .^7,^

IOhhI H.'ink: Millers I'.'ills lo ('li.irlcslown ^80

ftf) WcHi Hiink: liellows I'.ills to While Kiver J( I. ^^86

l'!;isl H.'ink: Cli.'irleslown lo W<'sl Leb.inon 301

ft <) W<*sl H.'ink: While Kiver j( I. to Colehrook :\()()

I'i.'ist H.'ink: West Li-h.-inon lo Hrel Ion Woods /|os

ft 7 lOuHt H.ink: Hrel ton Woods to (.'olchrook ,po



TABLE OF CONTENTS



PAGE

11. Norwich to Willimantic and Worcester 412

12. New London to Worcester and Concord, N.H. 416

§ 1 New London lo Worcester 416

§ 2 Worcester to Concord, N.H. 423

13. Albany via Pittsfield and Springfield to Boston 431

§ 1 Albany to Pittsfield 431

§ 2 Pittsfield to Springfield 437

14. Pittsfield to Ashfield and Northampton 445

15. Albany via Greenfield to Boston 451

§ 1 Albany to Williamstown 451

§ 2 Williamstown to Greenfield 459

§ 3 Greenfield to Boston 465

16. Providence to Taunton and Plymouth 481

17. Providence via Fall River to Buzzards Bay 483

18. Providence to Newport 489

19. Providence to Worcester and Ticonderoga 494

§ 1 Providence to Worcester 494

§ 2 Worcester to Brattleboro 498

§ 3 Brattleboro to Manchester 501

§ 4 Manchester lo Ticonderoga 503

20. Boston and Cambridge 505

21. Round about Metropolitan Boston 507

22. Boston to Weymouth, Hanover, and Plymouth 512

23. Boston to Bridgewater and Mansfield 516

returning via Walpole and Norwood

24. Boston to Wellesley, Framingham, and Grafton 518

returning via Medfield and Dover

25. Boston to Harvard, Princeton, and Clinton 531

returning via Hudson and Sudbury

26. Boston to Bedford, Groton, and Ashby 539

27. Boston to Billerica and Lowell 541

28. Boston to Reading, Andover, and Haverhill 543

29. Boston to Wakefield, Peabody, Topsfield,

Georgetown, and Haverhill 548

30. Boston to Plymouth and Provincetown 551

§ 1 Boston via Cohasset to Plymouth 551

§ 2 Plymouth to Provincetown 581

31. Boston to Buzzards Bay and Chatham 596

§ 1 Boston to Buzzards Buy 596

§ 2 Buzzards Bay to Chatham 604

32. Boston to Fall River and Newport 613



lO TABLE OF CONTENTS

PACE

33. Boston to Fitchburg, Keene, and Rutland 639

§ 1 Boston to Bellows Falls 639

§ 2 Bellows Falls to Rutland 641

34. Boston to Concord, N.H., Lake Winnepesaukee,

Bretton Woods, and the White Mts. 644

35. Boston to Portsmouth 672

Via the Newburyport Turnpike and the Lafay-
ette Road.

36. Boston to Portsmouth and Portland 674

§ 1 Boston to Newburyport 674

§ 2 Newburyport to Portsmouth 713

§ 3 Portsmouth to Portland • 721

37. Salem via Danvers to Lawrence 741

38. Newburyport to Lowell and Littleton 745

Via Amesbury, Haverhill, and Lawrence.

39. Wells to Concord 753

40. Portsmouth to Keene 754
4L Brattleboro to Bennington 759

42. Portsmouth to Dover, Ossipee, the White

Mts., Gorham, and the Dixville Notch 761

43. Plymouth, N.H., to Lake Sunapee, Claremont,

Manchester, Vt., and Saratoga Springs 772

44. White River Junction to Lake George 779

Via the Ottauquechee valley and Rutland.

45. White River Junction to Montpelier 782

46. Bretton Woods to Montpelier and Burlington 784

Via St. Johnsbury and Waterbury.

47. Burlington to Bethel 789

48. Franklin, N.H., to West Lebanon 793

49. Bretton Woods to Bangor 794

Via Bethel, Rumford, and Skowhegan.

50. Portland to Sebago Lake, North Conway, Craw-

ford Notch and Bretton Woods 796

5L Portland to Poland Spring, Bethel, Gorham,

AND Bretton Woods 803

52. Portland to Auburn, Farmington, and Rangeley 807

returning via Skowhegan to Bangor

53. Portland to Augusta, Bangor and Houlton 811

Via Auburn, Belgrade Lakes, and the Kennebec.



TABLE OF CONTENTS II

PAGE

54. Portland along the Maine Coast to Calais 8i8

§ 1 Portland to Ellsworth 8i8

§ 2 Ellsworth to Calais 836

55. Brunswick to Gardiner, Augusta, and Quebec 838

Via Waterville, Skowhegan, and Jackman,

56. Newport to Dover and Moosehead Lake 841

returning via Kenduskeag to Bangor



DIRECTORIES

Directory or Hotels, etc. 845

New England Schools 856
New England Summer Camps for Boys and Girls 863

Famous Products of New England 868

Art Industries of New England 888

Great Enterprises of New England 890

Foremost Financial Institutions 898

Highway Construction 908

Index 911

Sargent's Handbook Series 928



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

The Tom Paine House, New Rochelle 64

The Historic Burr Mansion, Fairfield 83

The Center Congregational Church, Hartford 118

The Romantic Old Ely Mansion, Longmeadow 127

"The Puritan," Springfield 132

The Salisbury House, Worcester- 147

Artemas Ward House, Shrewsbury 153

NORUMBEGA ToWER, WeSTON i6o

The Old Stone House, Guilford 167

Old Town Mill, New London 178

The Weaver, Peace Dale 193

The Sullivan Dorr House, Providence 206
The Fairbanks House, Dedham, 1636, the oldest

wooden house in america 2 20
The Van Cortlandt Mansion, Van Cortlandt Park 224
Door at Farmington 237
The Historic Philipse Manor House, Yonkers 251
"Rosewood," Lakeville 270
Jonathan Edwards Church and Monument, Stock-
bridge 280
The Meeting House, Lenox 287
"For God and Country." The Old First Church

AND Battle Monument, Bennington 297

The Old Governor Wolcott Mansion, Litchfield 316

The Webb House, 'Hospitality Hall,' Wethersfield 338

Skinner Memorial Chapel, Holyoke 352

Williams House, Deerfield 361

Doorway of the Eleazer Porter House - 368

Rockingham Meeting House, Saxton's River 379

Old Church, Peterborough 427
The Boyhood Home of Charles Dudley Warner,

Charlemont 463

The Wayside, Concord 476

The De Wolf-Colt Mansion, Bristol 491
The Fifth Meeting House, Lancaster. Designed

BY Bulfinch 534
Princeton from Jones Hill, looking toward Mt.

Wachusett 536

Austin Phelps House, Andover . 54 5

The Parson Capen House, Topsfield 549
The Quincy Mansion, known as the Dorothy Q.

House, Quincy 556

The Old Ship Church, Hingham, 168 i 560

The Standish Cottage, Duxbury 572

Old Windmill, Eastham 590

(12)



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 13



The Stark Monument, Manchester, N.H. 652

Old Powder Mill, Marblehead 682

Custom House, Salem 690

Sargent-Murray-Gilman House, Gloucester 696

The Balch House, Beverly, 1638 700

The Whipple House (1650), Ipswich 704

The Warner House, Portsmouth 718

Fort McClary, Kittery, Me. 723

Longfellow House, Portland 735

The Page House, Dan vers 742

Whittier's Birthplace, Haverhill 748

Old Weeks House, Greenland 754

State Capitol, Montpelier 786

Edgecomb Blockhouse, Edgecomb, Me. 824

Fort George, Castine, Me. 831



LIST OF MAPS

Key Map of New England, inside front cover.

New England Railroads 46

Plan of Bridgeport 87

Plan of New Haven 98

Plan of Hartford 117

Plan of Springfield 130

Plan of Worcester 148

Exit Routes from New York City 163

Plan of Providence 204

Route Map of Rhode Island Region 223

The Berkshires 290-1

Route Map of Connecticut Region 324-5

Plan of Northampton 355

The Connecticut Valley 364

Middle New England 442-3

Plan of Concord, Mass. 475

Entrance Routes to Boston 511

Plan of Fall River 622

Plan of Newtport 630

The White Mountain Region 671

Plan of Salem, Mass. 686

Plan of Newburyport, Mass. 710

Plan of Portland, Me. 738
Key Map of Eastern Mass., inside back cover.



PUBLISHER'S NOTE

To the 1921 Edition

The first edition of the Handbook of New England, pubKshed in
1916, was hailed as the first book to deal with New England as a
whole, since Timothy D wight published his four volume "Travels in
New England and New York" a century before. The visitor to
New England has made generous and appreciative use of the Hand-
book, but most enthusiastic in their welcome have been New Eng-
enders themselves.

This 19 2 1 edition has been revised throughout. Much mattet no
longer of contemporary interest has been excised and new items of
interest introduced. The figures of the U.S. Census for 1920 have
been introduced in all statistics. The first half of the book has been
largely rewritten. In the 1922 edition the latter half of the book will
be completely rewritten and many additional routes described.

The Automobile Blue Book Company has done this publication
the honor of illegally using a large amount of material extracted
from the 191 7 edition, for its volumes on New England and New York.
Judge Augustus N. Hand of the United States District Court, in his
opinion granting an injunction against the Blue Book for infringement,
recognizes that "Sargent designed and perfected an elaborate guide-
book somewhat resembling Baedeker . . . which is interesting and
which has been accumulated at great pains and by original research."
Action on this infringement resulted in judgment and an award in
favor of the Sargent Handbook. The latest edition of the Blue Book
shows, however, that the Sargent Handbook is still regarded as an
inexhaustible source of information for the Blue Book "Points of
Interest."

A Handbook of Boston, with motor routes into the surrounding
country for fifty miles, is in preparation for publication. This will
relieve the pressure on the present volume so that many additional
routes together with new material and new maps may be introduced
in the 1922 edition of the New England Handbook. Another Hand-
book planned will cover the New England Coast from the yachtsman's
point of view. A Handbook of the Middle States on the same plan
is still in preparation and other volumes of this series are planned.



(14)



NEW ENGLAND IN THE LARGE

New England may be tucked up in a corner of the United States,
but it has been the cornerstone of the nation, veritably "the head-
stone of the corner," It is more than a provincial section, more than
an arbitrary division of six States, more than a body of tradition.
New England has always been an influence, a force that continues
to make itself felt throughout the country and beyond.

The New England settlers were pioneers and their descendants
have never ceased pioneering. The expansion of New England has
largely made the West. The first settlers of the Northwest Terri-
tory and Texas were New Englanders. It is New England's energy
and wealth, her capital and brains, which have largely developed
the resources of the country.

The New England district is the most distinctly marked physio-
graphic region of North America. Except for a narrow isthmus
less than three miles wide between the headwaters of the Hudson
and Lake George, it is separated from the rest of the continent by
the Champlain, Hudson, and St. Lawrence valleys. From Albany
to New York only one bridge, at Poughkeepsie, spans the river, so
that an invading force holding the Hudson and Champlain valleys
could completely isolate New England.

Nature thrust New England out into the ocean in such a manner
that the Pilgrims on their way from Holland to the Delaware were
lured to a landfall by the beckoning arm of Cape Cod. Storm-bat-
tered and fog-bound in the harbor of Provincetown they entered
into the famous compact in which the wanderers "do solemnly
and mutually in the presence of God and of one another covenant
and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic for our
better ordering and preservation." And so the character and his-
tory of New England was determined. The Puritans followed,
"the seed sifted from a whole nation for this planting." So it
was that New England became a Puritan land, a land of dis—
senters, a land of pioneers.

From the first, New England has led the nation in education.
She had the first Colonial grammar school, the first college, the
first free elementary school, the first academy, the first high school,
and the first normal school. Today New England's schools and col-
leges are still first. Her teachers have been educational mission-
aries. Even in Colonial times the Connecticut school master taught
school all over the country.

New England has led in the founding of the nation's educational
institutions. The academies and colleges in the Northwest Terri-
tory, Oberlin, Knox, and Beloit, were established by New England-
ers. Millions of dollars have been contributed to the South for
the support of Hampton, Berea, Fisk, and Tuskegee. In the last
half of the nineteenth century, George Peabody of Danvers, John F,
Slater of Norwich, and Daniel Hand of Guilford gave over $5,000,000

(15)



1 6 NEW ENGLAND IN THE LARGE



for education in the South. Rockefeller has merely followed in
their footsteps. New England's educational influence spreading
beyond the nation's borders founded the Huguenot Seminary in
South Africa, and Robert College at Constantinople, which has been
such a potent influence in the making of modern Bulgaria. Amer-
ica's four greatest educators of the nineteenth century, Horace Mann,
Henry Barnard, William T. Harris, and Charles W. Eliot, were
New Englanders. The pioneers in woman's education, Emma
Willard, Mary Lyon, Sarah Pierce, Catherine Beecher, were all of
New England.

During the first three quarters of the nineteenth century, the
number of distinguished men New England produced was out of
all proportion to its population. Though no longer in the same rela-
tive position. New England is still in the ascendant as a producer of
American leaders. Of men worthy to be included in "Who's Who"
New England shows the largest number in proportion to population,
with Vermont first for the States and Cambridge for the cities.
Scott Nearing in his "The Younger Generation of American Genius,"
restricting his study to 2000 born since 1869, finds that Cambridge
has 47.5 to the 100,000 population, closely followed by Nashville,
Tenn., with 34.5; Columbus, O., with 26.5; Lynn, Mass., with
24.8; and Washington, D.C., with 20.2.

The population of New England according to the 1910 U.S. Census
was 6,552,681, about one third that of New York, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania combined. 40.3 per cent were of native parentage,
31.7 per cent of foreign parentage and 28 per cent foreign-born, or
nearly 60 per cent were of foreign-born parents. With 7 per cent
of the population of the country, New England contained 13.6 per
cent of the foreign-born, 25 per cent of all the Irish, 16 per cent of all
the Greeks, and 30 per cent of all the Turks.

"Bleak New England" is a phrase that has been parroted from
Puritan times. It may have seemed bleak to the grim Puritan who
toted his gun to the meeting house and suspected a tomahawking
savage hiding behind every tree, — when muttering witches rode on
restive brooms, or swung from the gallows. But to any sunny-
minded person New England is not bleak, was not, and never will
be. In simple and varied natural beauty, few portions of the Foot-
stool can compare with it.

On her summer climate and scenic beauty New England realizes
heavily. Together they are responsible for the tremendous numbers
of summer visitors, resulting in a summer increase in the population
of probably 25 per cent. Caring for summer visitors brings New
England an annual income of over $60,000,000, — greater than the
annual income yield of Alaska's gold mines.

The whole coast from the Connecticut shore around Cape Cod,
along the Massachusetts and Maine coast to Mount Desert, is one
almost continuous summer pleasure ground lined with cottages,
residences, estates, and hotels. The Litchfield hills, the Berkshires,
southern New Hampshire, Vermont, the upper Connecticut valley,
the White Mountains, have innumerable summer colonies. Alto-
gether the capital invested in summer homes and summer resorts
in New England represents hundreds of millions.



NEW ENGLAND IN THE LARGE I?

The "barren rocky soil of New England" is another legend that
has been prevalent since the first perfervid patriotic orators used
it to magnify the virtues and sacrifices of the Pilgrim forefathers.
The conception is fundamentally untrue. Nowhere on the face of
the earth are there richer agricultural lands than the meadows of
the Connecticut, Farmington, and other New England rivers.
Nowhere else in the United States can a tobacco crop be produced
that sells for $5.00 per pound, and for a whole State averages a net
yield of $565 an acre.

The acreage valuation of New England's farm land according to
the 1910 U.S. Census was $24, as against $95 in lUinois and $82 in
Iowa. This is evidence of the cheapness of the land rather than of
its low worth when properly cultivated. Every acre of improved
farm land in New England produces annually a product worth $7
more than a similar acre in Illinois or Iowa. The value of New
England farm property in the past decade has increased nearly 75
per cent and the increase will continue.

The agricultural crops of New England according to the 19 10
Census were worth $141,000,000, an increase of 48 per cent over the
previous decade. New England excelled all other divisions in the
United States in the average yield per acre of corn, wheat, vege-
tables, and tobacco. Dairying is the largest single agricultural
business in New England. There are probably 100,000 farmers
producing milk for sale and the annual value of dairy products is
about $50,000,000.

The "decadence of New England," a popular fiction a decade ago,
was based largely on the abandoned farm. Most of these have since
been snapped up and made over into summer recuperating places
for professional and business men.

New England has been the nursery of American literature, art,
and music, and now that these have grown to man's estate they still
thrive rather better on their native soil than elsewhere.

But New England is an industrial community. The output of
the factories far exceeds in value all other products. Early initiative,
innate inventiveness, waterpower, seaports, and an abundant sup-
ply of foreign cheap labor, coupled with New England thrift and
capital and a willingness to risk it on any paying venture, have kept
New England to the fore.

The textile center of the country, its cotton and woolen mills rep-
resent an investment of $630,000,000 with an annual output of
$523,000,000. New England makes half the shoes of the country
and is the leading shoe and leather center of the world. The great-
est jewelry and silverware producing center is in New England. It
is the home of paper-making.

New England still remains 'new'; still has great potentialities,
and the capital, brains, and energy to realize on them.



OLD NEW ENGLAND

A Geological Interpretation and Retrospect

Cut off by the Hudson, Champlain, and St. Lawrence valleys, the
New England section of North America is one of the most distinctly
marked of all the many geographic regions of the continent. It
presents a variety and detail of physical features paralleled only
in northern Kuroi)e. This peculiarly varied surface of New England
has been the result of a long combination of geological events.

The New England district has been more frequently and for a
longer aggregate time above the level of the sea than any other part
of the region south of the Great Lakes. This has resulted in the
erosion of the unchanged later rocks, thereby exposing the deep-
lying metamorphic and crystalline rocks. The topography and the
consequent diversified areas of fertile soil have nowhere more com-
pletely controlled the history of a region than in New England. The
site of the earliest settlements, and the later growth of industries
and centers of population, have been determined and controlled
in the most intimate way by the geological history.

To the visitor coming to New England from the Mohawk valley
of central New York where the rock strata lie horizontal, or from
the Appalachian region of Pennsylvania where there is a distinct
order to the folded strata of the parallel mountain ridges, the varied
scenery of New England presents a peculiar charm. Usually seen
from the limited point of view of valley or lowland, it produces an
impression of tumbled hills and rock ridges, of lakes and rivers, —
without order or system. Something of its charm lies in this element
of the unexpected. But there is, perhaps, an even greater satisfac-
tion and pleasure to be gained in seeing the country more discern-
ingly as revealing a harmony and order of successive events through
geologic time which have made it what it is.

The trained eye of the geologist or geographer, looking over the
landscape of New P3ngland, sees it with a vision extending back into
time long before history began. The sculptured forms of the hills