OUTDOOR SIGNAGE & EXHIBITS
yesham Pond Dam
>FORMING LANDSCAPE
rain
nd reservoirs for
enth-centur
powared industries
Pond Dk
J-ccra reservoir on
rook in western
m hare, the
where wooler
Jenware Factories
pe micl-1800:
.g the Flow
sfiemmat9
ieee
Pond, upstream
yaw. Around
ser flooded!
slong the brook to
1 Pond
wwrvis Symonds
ster T. Symonds
Phere and ran
hop cand sewn just
lroad station anal
The Early Dam
In 1869, Dublin resident James
wm forthe
y.P
INTO SCENIC TOWNS AND PONDS
eaeee tom
Pictiee iet eaten
The Railroad
Soon after the Chesham Pond Dam
Railroad acquired lend abutting the
dam to cross Minnewawa Brook. The
bridge abutments wera incorporated
into the dam as the side was of the
Siete interes
Sree
Sas
Outdoor Exhibits for
Preservation Company
and State of NH
Hydropower Becomes
Electric Power
invtraccey
Por
cas one of the reservoirs for the Minnewer
P plnin Merb me
rt of Pubs mpany of NH
ow Eversource) what in 1926
ed more than thirty
hydroelectric plants, but they were no mat
for the output of the fossil-fuel bi
power stations of the 1950s,
‘At ona time, PSNH ow
Return to Nature
iby the NH Department of
mm Bureau
a
hon ed tay imgn hl
Saat cea
Mendums Pond Dam
THE HIGHEST STONE AND EARTHEN GRAVITY DAM IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
Little River Big Pond
Mendums Pond on the Little River
isthe second largest body of water
inthe Lamprey River watershed. It
overs appronimtely 265 aces whe
‘ep ptm Mean Hci stows whe
From Mill Power
to Hydropower
Mendums Pond, like other large
Captain Nathaniel Mendum
(1690-1771) of Portstmouth
any cory phan ty cers
Then in 1825, the Newmarket Manufacturing Company aequired the
water rights and built @ new dam around 1840, The cotton factory in
Newmarket’s iconic stone mills was about ten miles downstream on
the Lumprey River. A system of reservoirs throughout the watershed
released water in dry periods to ensure ah even flow year-round, The
Newmarket Mills operated from 1822 to 1929, and at its height included
seven mill buildings and the largest weave room in the world.
In the early 1900s, as factories were being electrified, the rights to
Mendums Pond and other water resourtes were aequired by the
Lumprey River Impravement Company, a subsidiary of New Hampshire
Gas & Electric that produced hydro-electric power.
Durable and Dependabl
he 1927 Old Lake Shore Road
bridge type.
{1200 photoshow he usta sik ofthe ris
pesca vw ofthe bs frei epee
Castin Place
By the 1920s, the highway department
-gan to use standardized plans fo
bridge designs, with reinforced concrete
slab bridges 4 popular design choice for
smaller crossings. Their small size made
them simple to design and build and
economical to construct because their
concrete parts could all be cast in place.
Design features of this bridge included
‘a continuous reinforced concrete slab
spanning the erassing, a reinforced
conerete center pier with concrete.
‘abutments, ond wing wall
‘two spans was somewhat atypical farthis
Earth and Stone
ims is the highest stons
ie)
é =
ace Epes shoreline has offered be
‘king to the publi
ruction of
ints temisienekineweraejeanedmicedy)
one hundred proper
=: Pastebin on th ond
A New Face
The dam not only ma
oF ge
the Set
the
Bridges to the Past
‘ou can see the path of the road that crossed
over the old Darrah Bridge, just upstream
from where you are standing onthenew
Bedford Road Bridge, completed in 2020, The
former Darrah Bridge was one of two matching
bridges on Bedford Road built by the Town of
‘Merrimack in 1923. The other, the Robbins Bridge,
crossed Baboosic Brook about a mile northwest
of here. They were both concrete-encased steel
stringer bridges, one ofthe most widely-used
bridge types of the early twentieth century. The
contractors were Winslow & Cummings of Nashua.
‘The partnership of stonemason Arthur F. Winslow
and former road superintendent and blacksmith,
Ovid F. Cummings built roads and bridges in the
region from the 19205 through the 1940s,
Robbins Bridge over Baboosle Brook before
Rrwasreplaced in 2008, NorhEct Eth Mechahict
The Meandering Brook
‘The course of Baboosic Brook is so winding that
Dependable Design
The concrete encased steel, multiple
girder bridge type was promoted by high-
‘way departments and engineering ma-
nuals of the early 19005, a5 an easy and
economical replacement for traditional
timber stringer bridges.
‘The Darrah Bridge, aswell as the Robbins
Bridge, exemplified the type with parallel
beams, castin-place reinforced concrete
deck and concrete railings. Concrete
there are nine thin the Town of,
metal from corrosion
Merrimack, According to
New Engfand, Baboosic is a Native American word
referring to a sluggish current (Huden 1962}. The
brook originates in Baboosic Lake on the Am-
herst town line and ends atthe Souhegan River
where itjoins the Merrimack River.
Old Lake Shore Road Bridge
vances in
manufacturing made rolled steel -beams
widely available and new motorized
heavy construction equipment was used
to move them into place.
CONNECTING TRAVELERS TO NEW HAMPSHIRE'S LAKES REGION
through the ranks
ch he held far the
Railroad Fuels Growth
Accrossing of Gunstock River in this
inclided a schoolhouse and scattered
farms, patter
IRecemig adh mod pointe ate
iin 1890 of the 17.5-mile long Lake Sree TE oeEeorae gS
Shore Railroad, along the south side
of Lake Winnipesaukee.
Increased development led to
Tourism
By 1910, the state had begun upgrading
sad system, part of the nation-wide
Winnipesaukee Road Highway which
extended thirty-nine miles from Route
16 in Rochester to Route 3 in Laconia/
Lalor tole ruch ofthe 1205 to
Vilage Inow Lokeportf on Paugus Bay. ofthe route
he 1920s, increased automobile oto tothe north
troffic required a new bridge better Gna sure howe The section River
sited tthe highertraffe volume, Sono Tew wed typo she i Beary Oe Lae Shore Rod
BaileyDonovan,
digsuierreapancsiloa ae
me ridge
Inthis top super
‘The 1923 Darrah Bridge stood fornearly a
century, [twas Inthergéns but
remafned fn place until 2019 when cofistru
began on the new Bedford Rad Bric
Darah rte underside with concrete ene
the metal girders
Drawing ef “/-Beams Encased in Concretev
Slab Floor” sits and Sets 55
IIc
