References to Indian trails originate from previous discussions with Professor David Stuart Smith.
Mentions of the Sutton “grain trek” originate from a discussion with author and historian Jack Noon.
Early Town Planning
We’re starting to explore why our town looks the way it does today—how and why roads, houses, and town centers ended up where they are, and why some disappeared. This will just skim the surface as it’s an overview, and the research is ongoing. All contributions and input are welcome! The changes in our town need unraveling, like peeling back the layers of history.
Old trails turned into surveyed roads, town populations shifted, dams were constructed, industries and commerce evolved, mills sprang up elsewhere, railroads came and went, floods occurred, and flood control measures were implemented—all transforming our town. Once-busy roads became unused and appeared to go “private,” or maybe they actually did. New roads often rendered older ones obsolete. Buildings were relocated. Bustling town hubs rose and later quieted down. Cemeteries were either relocated or became isolated.
To clearly explain, you’d need to delve into the town archives to trace how roads transitioned from their original design to use, then to disuse, and eventually to being considered or confirmed as private roads. It’s definitely a hot topic, as you can imagine.
Looking at our town today, it’s easy to see the Crossroads and Salisbury Heights as “town centers.” While the founders didn’t predict this exact layout, they wisely designed a flexible plan that allowed for multiple clusters. According to the map, they envisioned several potential town centers. Interestingly, the creators of the herringbone lot layout may have never even visited our town, as they were based in Kingston and Portsmouth.
The Salisbury Property Platt Map of 1825, created by the Central NH Power Company, is an incredible resource. It displays landowners and the herringbone pattern of lots branching off three distinct Rangeways that divide the town into four horizontal sections. By 1825, some lots would have been subdivided, though these are not shown on the map. It’s believed that the map highlights the earliest owners and their lots to clarify boundaries; however, newer roads have been overlaid on it, which didn’t originally exist. Verifying whether the names on the 1825 map are the original or earliest owners would require accessing actual records from that time. Until then, it’s reasonable to assume its accuracy.
The map also indicates that each district had areas reserved for a minister and a school, suggesting that each section of town might have had a common center. The early plans for the range roads, from which the lots extended, were laid out about 15 years before they were officially constructed, Old College Road.
To begin with, the following serves as an excellent introduction to Range Road.
Salisbury’s Three Range Roads
Info from History of Salisbury by John Dearborn, 1890:
What are the Rangeways?
- Three roads provided the earliest access from the old river road that brought early exporters north. The town of Salisbury, once known as Bakerstown and later Stevenstown, stretched to the Merrimack River about 60-70 years before that part of town became Franklin. It remains uncertain how much of the North Rangeway was ever completed.
- The transportation routes through the town, stretching from the river to the slopes of Mt. Kearsage and beyond, are fairly straight and spaced out evenly for the most part.
- Access points were provided to all the long lots arranged in herringbone patterns along the Range Roads (Rangeways). The lots bordered each Rangeway, sometimes on two sides, ensuring guaranteed access.
- In the 1600s, the New England ideal in Massachusetts and Connecticut focused on keeping settlers together in village lots. However, New Hampshire town planners often rejected this approach, and our town is a great example, with lots spread broadly across the entire area along the Rangeways.
Original South Rangeway
Officially surveyed in 1768, though likely explored much earlier.
The South Rangeway runs in a fairly straight line, starting south of Webster Place in Franklin. This stretch passes through the NH State Forest and then across private land. It meets what is now Route 127 at Stirrup Iron Brook, near the curve in the road behind a small white cape just before Gerrish Road. The first lot in the area was owned by Philip Call.
The South Rangeway runs westward, passing through the crossroads of Route 127 and Route 4, then past Cooks Pond to the junction at Battle Street and Hensmith. From there, it continues as Warner Road, while Route 127 (Battle Street) turns south toward Webster.
The route passes through Smith’s Corner in the floodplain, at the junction of South Rangeway Road and Mills Road/Couchtown Road, just beyond Little Road. Little Hill Road, which comes up from Boscawen, might have been an early trail used by Native Americans and the first settlers in this part of Salisbury. It likely provided access to the meadow area where the Maloons settled early on. Alternatively, they may have traveled up Couchtown Road, which was probably just a rough trail at the time. Before settling in the meadow at Smith’s Corner, the Maloons lived along Old Province Road in Boscawen/Webster, in a section called Dublin Lane, located between Little Hill Road and Couchtown Road.
Just before reaching the Tucker Pond area, the Rangeway seems to head off into the hills, but it’s actually Warner Road that splits southwest toward Warner as it exists today. From there, the old South Rangeway climbs onto the highlands along the slopes of Mt. Kearsarge, leading into what was once called the Watson district of Salisbury. This area used to be more populated and even had a schoolhouse.
Center Rangeway
This Rangeway existed before 1768 and served as one of the routes settlers used to travel north from the river road past the old fort settlement. They would then turn onto Punch Brook Road or a nearby path.
If the founders intended this to be the main road into Salisbury from the east, connecting to the established river road, things shifted quickly as Boscawen (Contoocook Plantation) grew. Settlers traveled from Boscawen via Little Road, Mutton Road, and possibly an early version of Old College Road north-south. However, it was certainly used in the earliest times.
There’s no sign of settlement in this part of the Center Rangeway near the river. It’s believed that settlers moved away from the river, possibly as far as North Road, to avoid the threat of lingering Indian raids. This section of the Center Rangeway, which might now be Punch Brook Road, stretches from just north of Webster Place and crosses Route 127 just west of Smith’s Corner in Franklin, near North Road. Around this spot, Ebenezer Webster had his mill.
The ascent up Searle’s Hill from the junction of South Rangeway and Route 127 is incredibly rough, as it likely always has been. By 1790, this area, which once featured a large Meeting House, a Parsonage, several homesteads with barns, a fine granite quarry, a schoolhouse, and an orchard, was mostly but not entirely abandoned.
In 1790, the church was relocated to the flatlands, initially near Parsons Corner (Whittemore Road and Center Road area). After much debate, it was eventually reconstructed at the South Rangeway and Old Coach Road, where it still stands today, with only a slight reorientation at some point.
It then descends from the peak of Searle’s Hill down to Thompson’s Corner, the area where Center Road, New Road, Raccoon Hill Road, and Searle’s Hill Road (Center Rangeway) converge.
After Thompson’s Corner, where Searle’s Hill Road, Center Rangeway, and New Road intersect, it becomes Center Road as you head toward Route 4.
East of Route 4, the road briefly passes through what appears to be a private driveway before continuing as Loverein Hill Road. A small section of Loverein Hill Road is public, but the remainder leading to the river, which is not federally owned, is currently regarded by nearby property owners as private. Further research is necessary to clarify this matter.
For a time, the residents of Perrystown (Sutton) took their grain to the Webster mill on Punch Brook (South Rangeway), which served as both a sawmill and a gristmill. Farmers likely traveled along Gore Road, now part of Warner, connecting to the Center Rangeway or South Rangeway near Salisbury’s western edge, before heading down into the valley toward Ebenezer Webster’s Mill. This Rangeway appears to have been frequently used for a short period, possibly explaining the early construction dates of Chestnut Cottage on the Center Rangeway.
Sutton expanded its town center, and as new settlements emerged, other routes became more favored. The Center Rangeway is no longer a functional connector road in much of western Salisbury. However, it was once home to Salisbury residents, had a school, and the cemetery in the area was known as the “Watson District.”
North Rangeway
Never fully completed, it seems to trace the path of Montgomery Road in the eastern section, with a remnant located off West Salisbury Road that now serves as a trail.
The space between the Rangeways seemed to be a bit more evenly distributed than what the map suggests.
Timeline
1734-Boscawen was first settled in 1734 and quickly developed a meetinghouse, sawmill, gristmill, and a ferry across the Merrimack River. A garrison provided protection, but guerrilla attacks during the French and Indian Wars resulted in casualties and captives. It is believed that the Maloons and Beans likely traveled to Salisbury from this interior direction around 1748.
1738- Tracing settlement patterns can be speculative and better suited for scholars, but we do know that in 1738, the town, originally named Bakerstown, was first laid out with some lots assigned to Proprietors. However, the settlement requirements were not fulfilled on the first and second attempts.
1740- The River Road, designed as a highway, became another route for settlers moving into Salisbury, following the primitive range roads about 15 years later.
According to John Dearborn, page 54, History of Salisbury, before 1754, eight families resided in the township of Stevenstown (its second name). Several of these families lived near the Fort on the Merrimack, close to the Webster family graveyard along Route 3.
Page 291 of the History of Salisbury details the river road that runs along the west bank of the Merrimack and Pemi rivers, extending into Coos County.
1748- Approximately, Nathaniel Maloon & Sinkler Bean settled in the western section (crossroads of Mill Road and South Rangeway-Warner Road in the floodplain now) at his time. This tells us that there was likely a 2 two-directional influx into the township at that time. The road the Maloons migrated up from was called the Province Road, which went to Charleston Fort no #4 and was used by Rogers Rangers in the French and Indian Wars. By 1743, 10 families lived at Fort No. 5, the northernmost British Settlement along the Connecticut River in NH until the French and Indian Wars in 1754-1763. The Maloons come from their homestead on Province Road on the Dublin Lane, just the Province Road (a section of Little Hill Road, Boscawen). For more reading on History: The Province Road.
1749- The Grant of Stevenstown involved the Proprietors. When the earlier Proprietors planned the settlement, they divided it into lots of 100, 80, 60, and 30 acres, reserving some land for public roads. However, the Grant did not result in a proper settlement.
1753- The proprietors decided to construct four houses, with Stephen Call’s located in the Old Fort area by the river.
1754 -(Prior) Eight families lived in Salisbury.
1753- James Tappan, one of the earliest proprietors of Bakerstown, arrived in Stevenstown (Salisbury) and built his house on North Road, which still stands today and is likely the oldest house in town. North Road branches off the old Center Rangeway and predates the formal construction of the Rangeway Roads, suggesting the existence of primitive roads. In 1753, Tappan settled on North Road, which was probably just a small path off what would later become North or Center Rangeway, as North Road wasn’t formally built until 1770. Salisbury’s history highlights this road as a well-traveled thoroughfare, possibly connecting the established river road inland, likely via the Center Rangeway (Punch Brook Road or nearby, rather than Smith Hill), to the growing settlements of East Andover, and further north into Hill, Bristol, and Hebron Alexandria as those areas were being settled. These settlers likely lived along trails branching off primitive “trail” roads.
1753- Approximately, the Meloon family was abducted from their residence on South Range Road (Flood Plain-Smith’s Corners-Mill Rd) by Native Americans.
1758-1760 Henry Morrill lives in the Smith Hill Road area. The Rangeways remain unsurveyed, though they are used as paths from the river road. Smith Hill Road itself wasn’t officially constructed until a later time.
1760-By 1760, houses began appearing in South Road Village (Crossroads), near the heights of the Joseph Fifield House (built in 1755), on Loverein Hill Road and Center Range west of what is now Route 4, around Humphrey House near the tolls, and at the Old College Road junction with what later became Route 4.
1761- In 1761, the Webster Sawmill was constructed on Punch Brook, close to the yet “unbuilt” rangeway.
1761- Ebenezer Webster relocates to North Road in Salisbury (Stevenstown).
1763- North Rangeway surveyed. Only a few sections were ever built.
1763- South Rangeway surveyed by William Calef
1764- In Kingston, NH, a committee is formed to determine the location for the Meeting House. The chosen site is Mt. Pisgah (Searle’s Hill), with ten acres on the north side of Searle’s Hill designated for the purpose.
1765- Before an early map of Merrimack Valley, there seems to have been a Meeting House. However, in 1765, when the people of Stevenstown petitioned Kingston regarding their settlement, they stated that they had built a fort and were planning to build a meeting house. They may have previously constructed one out of logs, though there’s no reason to believe this was the case. The Searle’s Hill Church is considered Salisbury’s first church.
By 1767– The tavern at Andrew Pettengill’s Crossroads.
1767- The Population of Salisbury is 210
1768- Center Rangeway Road was fully surveyed, though operational before. “Chestnut Cottage” was already built by about 1760, on the Center Rangeway, and may have served as a traveler’s stop heading from the heights to Province Road to Sutton and Charlestown.
1761-1769-Hanover, NH, receives a charter for the establishment of Dartmouth College.
1770- Grain is transported out of Salisbury to Sutton (Perrysville) for a brief period..
By 1770, roads northwesterly, Wolfeboro Road, were built from Wolfeboro, NH, to Dartmouth College. A branch of the Old College Road exists in Salisbury.
Province Road already exists, going from Boscawen through Salisbury to Sutton to Fort # 4, Charlestown, and the road to Hanover.
1768- Approx- Meeting House/Church is built with a parsonage. Settlers arrive. In 1773, Reverend Searles came to Mt. Pisgah, later known as Searles Hill, Salisbury, NH, to preach and farm. Has an orchard. 1768-abt 1788
1768- Salisbury is founded, and the first meeting is at the home of Andrew Pettengill at what is now The Crossroads. Homes have already been built in this area since about 1760.
1769 April 7, 1769, Legal voters for the New town of Salisbury meet at Andrew Pettengill’s Tavern (gray house crossroads) serves as a town Meetinghouse.
1770- North Road is formally constructed. Starts at Shaw’s Corner and goes to Andover. According to Dearborn, this was the second road to the North Country. Perhaps the first is the Merrimack/ Pemi River road. “This was for many years a thoroughfare for the northern section of the country,” however, families have already settled on North Road since 1753
1774 -A Cross Rangeway likely existed, linking South Rangeway near the Stirrup Iron Pond to the Center Rangeway just west of Salisbury Meeting House on Searle’s Hill. It is barely a trail now. Likely replaced by the Bog road.
Bog Road- Cross Rangeway links South Rangeway with the Center Rangeway. Once well-traveled.
1775- Deacon Moses Sawyer settles on the Center rangeway
1781- Raccoon Hill Road
Date unknown, Calef Hill Road– connected to Water Street, Boscawen. Date unknown, Calef Hill Road link to Water Street, Boscawen, likely much earlier. Was this a major road? It seems an older house existed here and was moved to the South Range Road, which had assumed more of a town center.
Mills Road -Center Road Village to West Salisbury- (West Salisbury Road). Both Scribner’s Corner and Smith’s Corner are very early settlements.
Cross Range Road (Hensmith) connects South and Center range from Center Village to Battle Street at the heights. However, it goes by the Baptist graveyard, not where it is today.
1784- Old College Road plans submitted. Old College Road
1790- Reuben True House/Bell Tavern is built and accommodates travelers on the Fourth NH Turnpike toll road after 1800..
1804- Fourth NH Turnpike constructed.
1819- Mutton Road off the junction at the Crossroads- South road, Village to Corser Hill to Hopkinton.
Water Street, now called Rabbit Road, commences near the Academy- note Rte 4 in this section did not exist a the time, and goes to Water Street in Boscawen.
1823- Shaws Corner to northeast to Franklin (Rte 127)
1825-The town is divided, for Franklin’s petition for a new town was presented to the Legislature in 1825. The petition was bitterly opposed by the towns that would have to give up parts of their lands, the result being that several years would elapse before the matter was settled.
The people who wanted a new town persevered and, as a result, Franklin, the Town, was incorporated on December 24, 1828. It would become a city in 1895.-historyoffranklin.org
1849- The “New Road,” now known as Stirrup Iron Road/Gerrish, runs alongside Stirrup Iron Brook, descending Switch Hill towards the Merrimack River and connecting to Route 3. Although it existed earlier, it was constructed or perhaps just improved to reach Gerrish Station in 1842 for transporting and collecting goods and mail.
1869- New Road
1950s- “The Crank” at the Crossroads is remedied with a small straight extension through the farmlands of Rene Beaudoin into the crossroads junction sometime in the mis 1950″ S (1955?