WINDHAM, N. H.
BY LEONARD A. MORRISON.
Author of the "History of the Morrison Family," and "History of Windham, N. H."
CHAPTER I.
Like all places settled by Scotch people, this town has an instructive history, and the characteristics and sterling qualities of its early occupants still find manifestation in the worthy lives and high character of their descendants and successors. A halo of romance always clings to this strong, peculiar, rugged race, whose strength and tenderness are harmoniously blended. The recording pen loves to linger in delineating them, their works, their high purposes and lofty aims. All these will be briefly touched upon in this and succeeding articles.
SITUATION.
The location of this town is like that of the hub in a wheel, the Merrimack river being two thirds of the circumference. It is bounded on the north by Londonderry and Derry, on the east by Salem, on the south by Salem and Pelham, and on the west by Londonderry and Hudson. It lies thirty-five miles north-west from Boston, Mass., and thirty-three miles south-east from Concord, N. H.; Manchester and Nashua, N. H., and Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill, Mass., being the close surrounding cities and markets, and all within the distance of a few miles.
The area is 15,744 acres; and seven ponds and lakes lie wholly or partiallv within its limits.
The most important are Cobbett's and Policy. The former is two miles in length and covers 1000 acres. Its situation is beautiful. The land on either side rises into swelling hills, whose sides, in places, are thickly covered with wood, and in others the pastures or well cultivated fields of the farms extend from the "Range" to the water's edge. It takes its name from Rev. Thomas Cobbett, of Ipswich, Mass., who had, in 1662, a large tract of land laid out upon its borders.
Policy pond is two miles in length, covers 1017 acres, and is partially in Salem. Its beauty can hardly be surpassed, and the words of Quaker poet Whittier are very applicable:
"O'er no sweeter lake
Shall luovning break, or noon-cloud sail;
No lighter wave than thine shall take
The sunset's golden veil."
Gaentake or Beaver river is the principal stream, and flows from Tsienneto lake in Derry and empties into the Merrimack river at Lowell, Mass.
One of the curiosities of the town is Butterfield's Rock. It is situated on a lofty eminence, and is a large bowlder of granite or gneiss, and rises twenty feet in height, its sides measuring sixteen or eighteen feet. It rests upon a small base and is almost a rolling stone. It came from a distant locality. On the ledge which supports it are fractures or distinct marks of the great ice sheet, which ages ago, in the glacial period, overspread the country, and of whose carrying force the rock is an exhibition, as it was brought to its present position by the glaciers, from its home miles away in the north-west.
SCENERY.
The scenery, like that of most New Hampshire towns, is varied and attractive. The diversity of the landscape is such that the eye never tires in beholding its beauties. The grand old hills, "rock-ribbed, and ancient as the sun," the valleys, the lakes, the streams of water, or broken masses of granite promiscuously piled together, all have their fascination, and to native as well as to stranger eyes are charming. From some of our lofty hills the
