Stories in the History of New Hampshire's Lakes Region and Pemigewasset Valley

Stories of memorable people, places and events reveal the history of New Hampshire's Lakes Region and Pemigewasset Valley. Tectonic upheavals and volcanic forces make the mountains, and glaciers carve the valleys. People hunt caribou on the open tundra of 12,000 years ago and later paddle the rivers and lakes. They fill the shores with their villages, until disease and warfare sweep them away. New settlers enter the empty land to farm, and to use its water power. Settlers cut the forest and build sailboats, horseboats and steamboats. Artists and writers discover the scenery and tourists swarm to the lakesides, riversides, and mountains. Stagecoaches give way to railroads and the first fragile airplane, while factories make railroad cars, gloves, socks and towels. Sleek passenger steamboats compete to dominate Lake Winnipesaukee. Children eagerly gather in the country's first summer camps, while wealthy landowners build mansions, and the land is dotted with one-room schools, cross-roads villages and country stores. People live through hard winters and floods, hurricanes and wars. There are hard times for farmers, and later, for factory workers, but they adapt to change and create new livelihoods and lifestyles. Many historic illustrations make past times vivid, and modern photos reveal pieces of the past that are preserved in the present.