Abandoned mill towns dot White Mountains (NH)
There are dozens of villages like Thornton Gore in the White Mountain National Forest, abandoned by settlers in favor of homesteads in the West, life in New Hampshire's growing cities or a steady wage in factories to the south. The forest has reclaimed hundreds more neglected sawmills and the sites of countless logging camps, pushing birch tress and frost heaves up through once sturdy and seemingly permanent structures.
"This was something in its day,"said antique book dealer and history buff Rick Russard, pointing to the channel through which the brook was diverted, called the millrace. "Somebody built it. Then they walked away from it. And then they died, and it fell apart. And nobody cares."
Aside from hobby historians like Russard, the Forest Service staff and a handful of others, most people know little about the long-abandoned villages. In some places, that's intentional, to avoid vandalism. But mostly, the Forest Service staff is overloaded by the number of places to be documented and marked, while new remains are constantly being discovered.
Read entire article at Concord Monitor
"This was something in its day,"said antique book dealer and history buff Rick Russard, pointing to the channel through which the brook was diverted, called the millrace. "Somebody built it. Then they walked away from it. And then they died, and it fell apart. And nobody cares."
Aside from hobby historians like Russard, the Forest Service staff and a handful of others, most people know little about the long-abandoned villages. In some places, that's intentional, to avoid vandalism. But mostly, the Forest Service staff is overloaded by the number of places to be documented and marked, while new remains are constantly being discovered.