Back Roads NH

Bow Town Pound // 1821

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In farming communities all across New England, disputes inevitably arose when one person’s livestock left their land and damaged another person’s crops. New England laws required farmers to fence their fields and keep farm animals from straying, but some inevitably got out. The solution was to build pounds where stray cattle, horses, sheep and swine were rounded up and kept by a town-appointed pound keeper who would round up the roaming animals and keep them there, charging by the day until an owner releases the animal and pays the fee of any damage done. The old town pound in Bow, New Hampshire, dates to 1821 and features tall stone walls, high enough to prevent taller livestock from jumping out. As towns like Bow shifted away from agrarian culture, these structures crumbled back into the earth. Luckily for us, some sommunities preserved their pounds and in Bow, the local community restored the town pound in 2011.

Clinton Grove Academy // 1874

Buildings of New England3 Comments

Clinton Grove Academy of Weare, New Hampshire was the first Quaker seminary in the state when it was founded in 1834 by Moses Cartland (1805–1863). Moses Cartland was a Quaker abolitionist who served as the first Principal of the school and for fourteen years after. He later would move to Lee, NH, and aided those who escaped slavery in the south, sheltering them and assisting them on their way north to Canada. The original Academy here served as a private high school and included a classroom building, boarding house, barn and sheds. Students came from as far away as Ontario, Nova Scotia, Minnesota and Texas to study here under Mr. Cartland. In 1872, the Academy complex burned. It was quickly rebuilt as one structure here, in 1874. This building served as a district school until the 1930s. Today, it looks like the building is largely vacant, anyone know what its purpose is?