Crawford Notch is a major pass through the White Mountains of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

, located in

Hart's Location Hart's Location is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. Since 1948, the town has been one of the first places to declare its results for the New Hampshire presidential primary and U.S. presidential elections. The population wa ...

. Roughly half of that town is contained in

Crawford Notch State Park Crawford Notch State Park is located on U.S. Highway 302, in northern New Hampshire, between Bretton Woods and Bartlett. The park occupies the center of Crawford Notch, a major pass through the White Mountains. The park includes the Willey H ...

. The high point of the notch, at approximately above sea level, is at the southern end of the town of Carroll, near the Crawford Depot train station and Saco Lake, the source of the

Saco River The Saco River (Abenaki: ''Sαkóhki'') is a river in northeastern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine in the United States. It drains a rural area of of forests and farmlands west and southwest of Portland, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean ...

, which flows southward through the steep-sided notch. North of the high point of the notch, Crawford Brook flows more gently northwest to the Ammonoosuc River, a tributary of the Connecticut River. The notch is traversed by

U.S. Route 302 U.S. Route 302 (US 302) is an east–west spur of U.S. Route 2 in northern New England in the United States. It currently runs from Montpelier, Vermont, beginning at US 2, to Portland, Maine, at U.S. Route 1. It passes through the states of Verm ...

, which closely follows the Saco River southeast to North Conway and less closely follows the Ammonoosuc River northwest to Littleton.

History

Originally called White Mountain Notch, it became known to European settlers when found by Timothy Nash in 1771. The 1772 boundaries of Hart's Grant reflected its shape. It was named for the

Crawford family Crawford may refer to: Places Canada * Crawford Bay Airport, British Columbia * Crawford Lake Conservation Area, Ontario United Kingdom * Crawford, Lancashire, a small village near Rainford, Merseyside, England * Crawford, South Lanarkshire, a ...

, who were trail-builders and hostelers there in the 19th century. The Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike from

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

was extended through the notch to Lancaster in 1803. The turnpike and later Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad through Crawford Notch opened a new route through the White Mountains for settlers of the area to the northwest to reach Conway on the way to the trading ports on the coast. A well-documented historic event within the notch was a

rockslide A rockslide is a type of landslide caused by rock failure in which part of the bedding plane of failure passes through compacted rock and material collapses ''en masse'' and not in individual blocks. Note that a rockslide is similar to an avalanc ...

that killed the entire Samuel Willey family in August 1826. The family fled their home during the storm to a prepared shelter but were buried by the slide and died in a mass of stone and rubble. Their home was untouched. Mount Willey, on the west side of the notch, is named in their memory. The event in part inspired a short story by

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

titled '' The Ambitious Guest''. Further down the notch, Nancy Brook and Mount Nancy are named for an earlier tragedy. In the Carroll portion of the notch, the

Appalachian Mountain Club Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is the oldest outdoor group in the United States. Created in 1876 to explore and preserve the White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., with 12 chapters stretching from Ma ...

has built and operates the Highland Center Lodge and Conference Center (on the site of the Crawford House Hotel, a 19th-century grand hotel which burned in 1972), and has renovated the Queen Anne style Victorian-era Crawford Notch

Maine Central The Maine Central Railroad Company was a U. S. Class I railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. By 1884, Maine Central was the longest railroad in New England. Maine Central had expanded to ...

train depot as a bookstore. The depot remains a stop on the scenic "Notch Train" of the

Conway Scenic Railroad The Conway Scenic Railroad is a Heritage railway, heritage railroad in North Conway, New Hampshire, United States, owned by Profile Mountain Holdings Corp. The railroad operates over two historic railway routes: a line from North Conway to Co ...

, operated seasonally from North Conway.

Points of interest

*Grave of Samuel Bemis, first photographer of the American landscape *

Mount Willard Mount Willard, elevation , is a mountain located in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The summit is located in the town of Hart's Location in Crawford Notch State Park Crawford Notch State Park is located on U.S. Highway 302, in ...

, open summit near center of notch with views of the notch's structure

Notes

External links

* NH State Parks web page
19th century landscape paintings of Crawford NotchHighland Center Lodge at Crawford Notch
{{Authority control Landforms of Carroll County, New Hampshire Landforms of Coös County, New Hampshire Notches of New Hampshire Appalachian Mountain Club Carroll, New Hampshire Hudson River School sites

History

Points of interest

See also

Notes

External links