72 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



foot of an aged tree near " Nancy's bridge," not many hours after she 

 had ceased to breathe. 



Early Settlements. 



President Dwight, of Yale college, visited the notch in 1797, and 

 again in 1803, and has left in his "Travels" an appreciative description of 

 the White Mountain scenery, besides some account of the early settlers 

 of this region. The two prominent names are those of Eleazer Rose- 

 brook and Abel Crawford. Mr. Rosebrook was a pioneer from Grafton, 

 Mass., whence he removed to Lancaster about 1772 ; he finally settled at 

 Monadnock, now Colebrook. Here he was fully thirty miles from any 

 inhabitant, with no path to his cabin excepting blazed trees. During the 

 revolutionary war he removed to Guildhall, Vt., in order to place his 

 family in the neighborhood of settlements, being absent from them most 

 of the time in the military service of the frontier. In 1792, he sold his 

 fine farm on the Connecticut, and once more sought the wilderness, — 

 removing, in the depth of winter, to Nash & Sawyer's location. Here he 

 soon built a large two-story house, at the base of what was known as the 

 Giant's grave, occupying nearly the same site as the present Fabyan 

 house. He also built a saw-mill and grist-mill, and large barns, stables, 



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Fig. 8. — giant's grave. 



