Monadnock Records of Three Centuries

    “This road was opened to Troy on Monday last.  We passed over the road on the first up train in company with several gentlemen of this town and the towns along the road, and had a very pleasant trip.  The whole superstructure and finish of the road is probably equal to any in New England, and the curvatures are few and well constructed for great speed, with safety.  We noticed one place where the track was straight for five or six miles.  The engines on the road were manufactured by Messrs, Hinkley&Drury, of Boston, and are powerful machines.  The cars, manufactured by Messrs, Davenport & Bridges, are elegantly finished and very commodious.  The Directors have secured the services of an experienced and gentlemanly conductor, Mr. Gale, and also of experienced engineers.  We congratulate the government of the Company on their success in making arrangements in every respect to satisfy the reasonable expectations and desires of the public.”

[Sept. 6]

“Were on top of the mountain 1P.M.   The cars left Troy, four or five miles off, at three.  We reached the depot, running at last, at the same instant the cars did, and
reached Concord at a quarter after five, i.e. four hours from the time we were picking blueberries on the mountain, with the plants of the mountain fresh in my hat.”

“June 2,[1858].  8.30 A. M. – Start for Monadnock”

    “Beween Shirley Village and Lunenburg I notice, in a meadow on the right hand, close to the railroad, the Kalmia glauca in bloom, as we are whirled past.  The conductor says that he has it growing in his garden.  Blake joins me at Fitchburg.   Between Fitchburg and Troy saw an abundance of wild red cherry, now apparently in prime, in full bloom, especially in burnt lands and on hillsides, a small but cheerful lively white bloom.”

    “Arrived at Troy station at 11.5 and shouldered our knapsacks steering northeast to the mountain – some four miles off, in top.”

“June 4, Friday, At 6 A.M. we began to descend, ,,southward, taking the road to the State Line station and Winchendon, through the west part of Rindge.”

[Aug. 4,].  “ 8.30 A. M. – Start for Monadnock.  Begins to rain at 9 A. M., and rains from time to time thereafter all day, the mountain-top being constantly enveloped in clouds,,,”

    “According to the guide-board it is two and one-fourth miles from Troy to the first fork in the road near the little pond and schoolhouse, and I should say it was near two miles from there to the summit, -all the way uphill from the meadow.

[Aug 8] “at 5 P.M.- I heard a cock crow very shrilly and distinctly nearly in the evening of the 8th.  This was the most distinct sound from the lower world that I hard up there at any time, not excepting even the railroad whistle, which was louder.  It reached my ear perfectly, to each note and curl, from some submontane cock.”

    “There was a good view of the mountain from just above the pond, some two miles from Troy.”

“Aug. 9 at 6 P.M. leave camp for Troy, where we arrive, after long pauses, by 9 A.M., and take the cars at 10.5.”

July 2, 1866

“I went with Annie Keyes and Mr. Channing on Wednesday, 27th June to Troy, N.H., thence to the Mountain House on wagon, and, with Edward and Tom Ward who had come down to meet us, climbed the mountain.”

“The eye easily traces the valley followed by the Cheshire Railroad, and just beyond it the valley of the Connecticut River, and the Green Mountain chain; in the north, the White Hills can be seen; and, on the east, the low mountains of Watatic and Wachusett.”

    “Standing alone, commanding a region of less hills and meadows, its austere outlines clear of the forest growth that maskes the features of most of our mountains, it is seen at its best from the towns of Fitzwilliam and Troy, which look on its most abrupt and bare crags”.

    “Little Troy, now engulfed in the rain, was as if it didn’t exist.”