by Rick Russack
A precise date for the opening of the road is not known. The first Treasurer’s Report informs us that in March 1807, Isaac Stokes of Bartlett, the first toll collector, turned in tolls of $500.06. I would guess this entry indicates that toll collecting began in late 1806 and an entry in Rosebrook’s daybook, may support this. On Dec. 24, 1806, Rosebrook recorded a charge to the Directors of the turnpike for two days work, to “set up gate and look over job”. That may refer to the tollgate. Where that tollgate may have been is not known nor is it known if there was more than one tollgate. It would seem unnecessary-once a traveler entered the turnpike from either end there weren't any side roads that could have been used to avoid paying a toll. The Treasurer’s Report also tells us that Abel Crawford was the toll collector in 1810 and 1811. It would seem logical that Abel would have collected the tolls at his Both Abel Crawford and his father-in-law were stockholders in the road and Rosebrook was a Director. After completion of the road, Abel and his son, Ethan Allen Crawford, recorded numerous, frequent charges for work done on the road. Another storm in 1828 did more heavy damage and came even closer to finishing the road. This time the Directors refused to spend the money to repair the road. Ethan Allen Crawford, who had inherited the Rosebrook place in 1817, decided to take action on his own. He was a stockholder in the Turnpike and undoubtedly, traffic on the turnpike was his major source of income. He prepared a “Power of Attorney” and got the signatures of twenty-two other stockholders so when he went to the Turnpike’s Annual Meeting in September he had enough votes to require the Directors repair the road. The work, again, was done in time for the winter traffic.
The Tenth NH Turnpike through Crawford Notch in the White Mountains, incorporated by the NH Legislature in December 1803, ran westward from the
The intent of the investors was to build a road that would facilitate trade between the seacoast and the upper Connecticut River Valley. It would allow farmers in western Vermont, Lancaster and Jefferson NH to sell their excess produce and trade with Portland merchants.
It's builders were leading citizens of the day and they envisioned a system of turnpikes that would extend from the Connecticut River in Littleton to Portland, with a link to Jefferson and Lancaster. Shortly after the Tenth NH was incorporated, Obed Hall of Bartlett, and Stephen Wilson of Lancaster, were among the incorporaters of the Jefferson Turnpike. Hall and Wilson were also incorporaters of the Tenth NH. Their charter from the state, specifically said that the Jefferson Turnpike was to run from the western end of the Tenth NH through Jefferson and on to the Lancaster Meeting House. The Jefferson Turnpike was completed in 1811. The Littleton Turnpike was to run from the western end of the Tenth NH to a bridge over the Ct. River in Littleton. (This road presented some difficulties and it's directors repeatedly petitioned the legislature for extensions and changes to the original plan).
Two members of the Crawford family were instrumental in the building of the Tenth NH Turnpike. Eleazar Rosebrook, Abel Crawford's father-in-law, was one of the contractors for building the road, as was Abel Crawford. Contracts between Rosebrook and the Directors of the Tenth NH for building specific portions of the road have recently been uncovered. (See the Eleazar Rosebrook page for details of the construction contracts for building this road.) They spell out, in great detail, the work that had to be done on certain sections of the road; how the new road was to be built, how wide it was to be, how it was to be graded, how the bridges were to be built, and how much Rosebrook was to be paid. The costs of Rosebrook's services were based upon the difficulty of building particular segments of the road. He was paid by the rod (a unit of measure 16 1/2 feet long). The contracts relate to portions of the road in Hart's Location and Rosebrook agreed to do the work for between $6.75 and $10. per rod. Abel Crawford's day book has also been uncovered recently. It includes numerous charges to the Directors of the 10th NH Turnpike Corporation for various services. Abel Crawford was also a toll collector for the road.
The August 1826 storm that killed five members of the Willey family also did major damage to the Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike. An article in a
By 1830, the road was in good enough condition that it could accommodate stagecoach travel. Newspaper advertisements indicate that
As time went on, the road was continually improved. By 1830, there was stage coach traffic three times a week between Littleton and Portland. Tourist traffic increased, Ethan Allen started guiding visitors up Mt. Washington, the small, rustic taverns grew into hotels and by the end of the century, some of those hotels developed into Grand Hotels. The building of the Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike made all this possible.
There's much more to the story of this road and it continues into the 20th century. The road through Crawford Notch was designated part of the Teddy Roosevelt Highway in the 1920s, That highway was the first transcontinental highway (or at least that was the plan. See the article on the TR Highway in the Spring, 2008 issue of Historical New Hampshire, published by the NH Historical Society.)
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Additional photos of the Tenth New Hampshire
Suggested Reading:
Two books deal with early roads in depth. In addition, nearly all of the individual town histories have chapters on roads.
"On The Road North of Boston" by Donna-Garvin and James Garvin discusses the taverns and travel conditions as well as providing a great deal of information on the roads and turnpikes.
"The Turnpikes of New England" by Fredric J. Wood contains information on the New Hampshire turnpikes, as well as other New England states. It's particularly useful in that it makes clear which turnpikes, although chartered, were never actually built.
