152 



there is no other which combines so many natural attrac- 

 tions. From Lowell up through Nashua, Hooksett, into 

 and beyond Concord, the ride is along the banks of the 

 beautiful Merrimac, which Whittier has immortalized in 

 verse, and which finds its outlet into the ocean at New- 

 buryport, through the northern part of the county of 

 Essex. Very soon after, the region grows a few shades 

 more hilly, and attractive scenery is developed between 

 Northfield and Tilton ; thence to the western border of 

 Lake Winnipiseogee, passing and stopping at Laconia, 

 Lake Village, Weirs, and Meredith, a region whence 

 came a considerable number of thrifty and energetic New 

 Hampshire people who have settled in Salem within a 

 score of years past. The party dined at the Pemigewas- 

 sett House at Plymouth. Advancing northward, the hills 

 grow bolder, but the soil appears indifferent till the valley 

 of the Connecticut is reached at Haverhill, where the ride 

 along the banks as far as Woodside presents a more luxu- 

 rious aspect of soil and vegetation. Thence ten miles to 

 Littleton, where the stages connect with the Franconia 

 Mountains. Wing Road is a few miles farther on, and at 

 this point the course sharply diverges from the north 

 to an eastwardly direction over the Mount Washington 

 Branch Road, which runs along the valley of the Am- 

 monoosuc through scraggly woods relieved by frequent 

 clearings. The clear tracts are extremely picturesque, 

 and from the hotels dotted among them very fine views 

 of the mountains may be obtained. 



In the immediate vicinity of Fabyan's, where the night 

 was passed, are a grave stone and monument to the 

 memory of Ethan Allen Crawford, who built and main- 

 tained the first house at the White Mountains. He died 

 June 22, 1846, at the age of fifty-two. He was born, 

 .therefore, eighty-three years ago, and within that time 



