May. 1932) SURVEY OF FREMONT AND BOSCAWEN 5 



Boston and Maine Railroad. It was originally a part of Exeter, but, 

 with Brentwood, was set off in 1742. Later, in 1764, it was separ- 

 ated from Brentwood and incorporated as Poplin. The name was 

 changed to Fremont in 1854. 



The land is rolling-, and in some sections flat enough to form 

 swamps of considerable extent. There are few hills of any size. The 

 brooks seldom flow rapidly, and are frequently swampy. The town 

 is drained chiefly by the Exeter River, which passes through the 

 southwestern section, swings around through adjoining towns, re- 

 enters in the northwest section, and passes diagonally through town 

 to the southeast, where it flows into Brentwood at the Fellows Co. 

 mill. The only brook of any importance is Red Brook, which drains 

 Spruce Swamp and most of the central eastern section of town. It 

 flows southward into the Exeter River. The northeastern section 

 is drained by a series of brooks which form into the Piscassic River. 

 Except where the river is dammed, there is only one body of water, 

 Loon Pond, which is located in the northwest corner. 



The topography under these conditions does not materially hinder 

 mapping, except for the swamps. While most of the town is wood- 

 ed, this does not badly interfere with walking, for there are few" 

 areas of thick brush or juniper. Here again the swamps, with 

 thickets of blueberry bushes, offer the chief obstacle. 



The type of ownership has a very important influence on the map- 

 ping. Original!}- Fremont was allotted b}- rangeways running ap- 

 proximately N 29 degrees E half a mile apart, the area between be- 

 ing divided into lots. While so little remains of these lots that their 

 original size is a matter of record only, the present property lines do 

 frequently run parallel to the original la3'out. This makes the direc- 

 tion of lines regular, and much easier to trace. Some of the range- 

 ways are still property divisions and form the skeleton of the survey 

 for these sections. 



Individual holdings are usualh' either large, or comparatively 

 small. There are relatively few between 27 and 75 acres. Fifteen 

 percent of the landowners, exclusive of corporations, own 60 percent 

 of the land. Small properties are either home sites, usually with 

 well established bounds, or woodlots. For the most part the latter 

 are bounded clearly by differences in growth or by monuments, and 

 rarely by fences. The worst problems in town, however, grew out 

 of a mass of small lots, the owners of which had cut the wood and 

 allowed the "useless" land to die a natural death, as far as bounda- 

 ries were concerned. Not infrequent!}" the owners have died, leaving 

 tlie land to non-resident heirs who are interested in them only at tax 

 time. By the time the timber or wood is ready to cut again, the 

 lines are quite like!}- to have disappeared entirely. Often some 

 neighbors will remember the lot, but all too frequently they say, "If 



old Mr. were alive, he could show you the whole thing", 



or, "If this had been done twenty-five years ago, there would have 

 been nothing to it". It is difficult to say what would have been the 

 condition twenty-fi^'e years from now if the facts now known had 

 not been recorded. 



