September History, White Mountains – When it comes to White Mountains history, two significant events took place in September. One event took place took along Route 3 near Lincoln on a September night in 1961. And the second event, which happened in 1964, involves President Lyndon Johnson making conservation history. Included here are a few more interesting events.

Ordination Rock in Tamworth is where Rev. Parson Samuel Hidden was ordained on September 12, 1792, and became the first settled minister in Tamworth. He is buried in the cemetery located next to Ordination Rock.

Named in honor of Henry W. Ripley, the 100 foot Ripley Falls in Crawford Notch is one of the more picturesque waterfalls in the White Mountains. In the book “The Connecticut by Daylight” by Thursty McQuill, published in 1874, is a copy of an entry made in the Old Crawford House register. Dated September 10, 1858, the entry verifies Henry W. Ripley and Mr. Porter found two unique water features on Cow Brook (today’s Avalanche Brook). And though they were aware of the brook’s name, they call it Ripley’s Brook, and the ravine the brook is in they call Porter’s Ravine.

In September of 1875, William G. Nowell, a 19th-century trail builder, named Snyder Brook for Charles E. Lowe’s dog (ref: 1915 Appalachia Vol.13). Lowe was also a 19th-century trail builder and mountain guide. Lowe and Nowell are credited for building Lowe’s Path in 1875-1876, one of the oldest trails in continuous use in the White Mountains.

The Jim Liberty Cabin (above) on Mount Chocorua occupies the site of the Chocorua Peak House. David Knowles and Newell Forrest acquired the Peak House site in 1892 from Jim (Dutch) Liberty. They replaced the original Peak House that Jim Liberty built with a three-story Peak House. It opened to the public in 1892. And even though the Peak House was anchored to the rock with steel cables and chains, it was blown off the mountain during a windstorm in September 1915. It wasn’t rebuilt.

Originally opened by the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) in 1938, the Nancy Brook Trail was destroyed in September of 1938 by the Great New England Hurricane. In 1960 crews from Camp Pasquaney, a boys camp on Newfound Lake, rehabilitated it under the direction and supervision of the WMNF.

There were two trestles built at the Franconia Brook crossing (above) along the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad. Each trestle serviced different areas of the railroad in today’s Pemigewasset Wilderness. Built in the early 1900s, probably 1905, and abandoned in 1947, the second trestle No. 7 serviced the Upper East Branch of the railroad. There is some discrepancy as to when the last log trains traveled over this trestle, but it may have been in September of 1947.

One of the more fascinating stories linked to the White Mountains took place in September 1961- the Betty and Barney Hill Incident. Supposedly, while driving south on Route 3 near Lincoln, on the night of September 19-20, 1961, Betty and Barney Hill had a close encounter with an unidentified flying object (UFO) and two hours of "lost" time. This was the first widely reported UFO abduction report in the United States. To make this incident more interesting, the now abandoned Lyndonville Air Force station in Vermont supposedly reported an unidentified flying object sighting just a few hours before the reported abduction of Betty and Barney.

On September 3, 1964 President Lyndon Johnson made conservation history when he signed the Wilderness Act. Written by The Wilderness Society’s Howard Zahniser, the signing of the Wilderness Act created the National Wilderness Preservation System, and 9.1 million acres in 13 states were immediately designated as wilderness. Today the Wilderness Act / National Wilderness Preservation System protects over 109 million acres across the United States. Official wilderness has the highest level of protection for federal lands.

There are six designated wilderness areas in the White Mountain National Forest; the Caribou-Speckled Mountain Wilderness, the Great Gulf Wilderness, the Pemigewasset Wilderness, the Presidential Range – Dry River Wilderness, the Sandwich Range Wilderness, and the Wild River Wilderness.

To license any of the photos in this blog article for publications, click on the photo. And you can read more about the White Mountains here.

Happy image making..

Connect with us on Facebook | Historic Information Disclaimer | White Mountains History

Bibliography:
Donovan, Erin Paul. “Ripley Falls, Crawford Notch.” ScenicNH Photography LLC, 25 Jun 2019, https://www.scenicnh.com/blog/2019/06/ripley-falls-crawford-notch/.

Donovan, Erin Paul. “Snyder Brook Waterfalls, White Mountains.” ScenicNH Photography LLC, 19 Jul 2019, https://www.scenicnh.com/blog/2016/07/snyder-brook-waterfalls/.

Donovan, Erin Paul. “East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, Trestle 7.” ScenicNH Photography LLC, 08 Apr 2017, https://www.scenicnh.com/blog/2017/04/east-branch-lincoln-trestle-7/.

Donovan, Erin Paul. “Definition of Wilderness, White Mountains.” ScenicNH Photography LLC, 29 Jul 2017, https://www.scenicnh.com/blog/2017/07/wilderness-definition-white-mountains/.

Erin Paul Donovan

Owner of ScenicNH Photography LLC

Erin Paul is a professional photographer, writer, and author who specializes in environmental conservation and historic preservation photography mainly in the New Hampshire White Mountains. His work is published worldwide, and publication credits include: Appalachian Mountain Club, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Backpacker Magazine, and The Wilderness Society.