History

To begin with a deep look at the history of this lot, we note that generations of the original settlers occupied this land for 11,500 or so years. Because this land was not much favored for growing crops or settling in villages, we believe that while the hunting may have been very productive here, little other activity took place. Thus for the first hundred years of European settlement here in the Western World, little changed in these hills for the indigenous people. However, through disease, warfare, and treaties the area became “open” to the new settlers as the British royal owners began laying out towns further and further from the Atlantic Coast.

The early history of this site is documented on page 1 in “History of the Town of Canterbury” by James Otis Lyford, 1912. So here we go, back to Lyford’s rendering of the original 20 May,1727 charter of the town given by the representative of King George I when Royal Lieutenant Governor John Wentworth gathered 199 men at the meeting house at Oyster River Falls in the town of Durham. By the end of that meeting these men became the Proprietors (owners) of 121 square miles of frontier country, later known as Canterbury, Loudon, and Northfield. That day Paul Gerrish, Paul Wentworth, and John Smith were appointed to be the first selectmen. However, the next step needed to open the land to occupation by people of European ancestry didn’t occur until four years later, 27 May 1731, when the Proprietors “drew lots”.

That meant that the numbers 1 thru 199 were placed in a container and each man drew a number, which became his lot. This was the selection of the “40 acre Home Lots”. The record shows that by then the survey and division of the prime land of the town had been completed. While the team that surveyed and marked out the lots on the ground were charged with making the lots to be 40 acres each, either by happenstance or choice, when we look at a modern map we can see that sometimes the acreage was not actually 40 acres. So while we do know who the first Proprietor of this site was, we can state with no certainty the actual size of the lot. Without further research there is no explanation for this discrepancy.

More History

In the Case of the Sugar Shack, it sits on Lot #65 of the 100 acre division, land that was originally granted to the Proprietor named “Parsonage”, which means it was pledged to the not yet found or named or hired minister. This was one of the three lots given to the minister, an agent of utmost importance to the practices of the time, and supposedly was where he would build his house. Hint: he didn’t!

What We Found, and Conclusions

This site is on a flat location near Pickard Brook, over 950 feet from a town road. It is in a lightly forested area, with an easy view of three sides of a foundation delineated by stacked stones. To the east and west are stone foundation walls about a foot high and in good condition. The footprint is 16’ by 24’.

The north wall is four feet tall and backed with an earth filled ramp that gave access from above the sap house workings. This wall is also in excellent condition and appears ready to serve during the next sap boiling season. We found no evidence that there was ever a stone foundation on the south side.

Here is a view of the north wall and the east wall. Pail as we found it.

Whether this foundation supported a shed roof or gabled roof building could not be definitely determined, but there are many tar paper fragments and roofing nails at the site. And distributed in such a way to support the finding of a shed roof. Also on the surface, or just under the leaves, are abundant window glass shards and some whole and fragmented red bricks, plus lots of cut and wire nails. And one intact glass artifact: a one quart “Concord Dairy Inc” milk bottle, mostly buried in the duff. Which has been donated to the Canterbury Historical Society. Thank you Andy and Donna!

We further believe that the building was dismantled, and this belief is supported by the presence of many nails, and the fact that a “debris trail” extends for over 100 feet in a southerly direction from the building, containing many pieces of metal and concrete that comprised the inner workings of the operation. In other words, we believe the best wood and metal of the building was recycled, and the rest simply removed to an area not too far away.

Maple products have been a significant cash crop in Canterbury for centuries and we expect we will be documenting many more as we approach our 300 year anniversary as a granted New Hampshire town.

A noted sap boiler operator examined the site for us and offered that it appeared to have been abandoned in the early to mid-1900’s. A view supported by the fact that two trees estimated to be 65 to 85 years old are now encroaching into the foundation. He also said it is quite possible that there has been more than one setup at this location.

More intensive research of records may lead to information about when the facility was in operation, and what family, or families were boiling sap there.

It is possible that other, as yet undiscovered evidence may exist that would amend or completely contradict our findings.