Charleston

by Rick Russack

Charleston (not to be confused with Charlestown) existed to the north and east of Lake Tarlton, or Eastman’s Pond as it was identified on early maps[1].The Lake Tarlton Road runs between Warren and Piermont, on the west side of the Lake. The road to the approximately a dozen farms in the Charleston area originally looped around on the east side of the lake. The settlement was on the Warren/Piermont border.

It appears that the first settlement was about 1791 when the town of Warren decided to build a road on the east side of the Lake. The community had it’s own school by 1795. There were two mills, both along Eastman Brook and a bobbin mill is mentioned. There was an iron mine in the area, known as the Cross Iron Mine. It’s mentioned in the two Geological surveys conducted by the state: the first by Charles Jackson in 1844, and the second by C.H. Hitchcock in 1874. Jackson comments that about 100 tons of ore had been removed. It appears to have been abandoned by the time of Hitchcock’s visit. There was also a whetstone quarry, and factory, not far from the iron mine, which once supplied raw material to the Pike Whetsone Company. Prior to being sold to Pike, in 1884, it was operated by Charles Dodge[2]. Cellar holes and a cemetery remain.

[1] Robert Fillion, Charleston, 1994, Woodsville, NH

[2] [2] Robert Fillion, Charleston, 1994, Woodsville, NH