Buildings – Individual Houses – Canterbury, NH Historical Society

Historical photos from the Luther Cody Negative Collection

The Ames Place; “Bowen” (251 Borough Road, Canterbury, NH). Identified in Lyford 1:421 as 3-17, this house was homestead of the Ames Family. It has also been the summer home of the Ralph Welles Keeler family.

The Albert Clough House; “Scanlon” (23 Clough Tavern Road, Canterbury, NH). Identified in Lyford 1:464 as 7-2, this was the homestead of the Clough family, called “Clough Tavern”. Richard S. Cody: “Personally this is my favorite house I know it from my early days from 1915 to the present day. It opnce was a tavern. It has a great well and to my knowledge never dry. The original house is to one side of the large home. The barn was up the road- picture shown below. The barn is long gone. R.S.C., son of Mary P. Brown whose home near by.”

The Thomas Clough House; “Plisko” (137 Old Tilton Road, Canterbury, NH). Identified in Lyford 1:464 as 7-1, this was the home of the Thomas Clough family. Today the property is called “Canterbrook”.

The Cody House, “Rose Cottage”; “Mudge” (25 Old Tilton Road, Canterbury, NH). Identified in Lyford 1:464 as 7-10, this was the childhood home of Luther Morrill Cody, the photographer. Negative P304: “per Robert S. Cody, A. Sherwin Cody, centre. Marion behind Sherwin, Morrill Cody (child). Old lady Mary Patrick.”

The John Green House (104 Baptist Road, Canterbury, NH). Identified in Lyford 1:467 as 7:37, the house was owned by Frank Dow in 1912. Big house on left side burned in the 1920’s. per Catherine Dickson: “Ralph Stewart 1920 / Weiss 1940’s / Buchanan 1950’s / Green 1950’s-60’s.”

The Hancock House “mears” (401 Baptist Road, Canterbury, NH). Identified in Lyford 1:425 as 4-18, the house was owned by several families including the Chas. W. Hancock family, and later the Comee family. This intersection of Baptist and Shaker is referred to as “Comee’s Corner”.

Hills Tavern “Uplands House” – burned. (Site close to 534 Shaker Road, Canterbury, NH, left side of road)

Identified in Lyford 1:450 as 6:14, this house was a tavern and later a hotel. “The best known of all these (hotels) was the Hill Tavern. This hostelry, famous for its good cheer and hospitality in the days of stage coaches and travel by teams, was started by William Moody early in the nineteenth century. The original dining room was once the old tannery at the foot of the hill on the highway leading from Hill’s Corner to Hackleborough. Later additions were made to the building, probably by Dudley Hill, who came from Northwood about 1825. Originally it was known as the Bell Tavern from the picture of a bell upon its sign. Very likely Thomas Butters was then its proprietor. After Mr. Hill became its landlord, the sign was changed to one which read “The Canterbury House, 1825, Dudley Hill.” Then as the host became known to the traveling public, it took his name. The hotel was on the regular stage line from Concord to Meredith, and the connections extended to Boston, Mass., and Fryeburg, Me. Travelers going south stopped here for dinner and to other meals when for any cause the stages were belated. Both going north and returning, there was a change of horses at this tavern, for connected was a large stable. As many as thirty horses have been housed for the night, including the relays for the stages and those of sojourners traveling in private teams. Jonathan Irving was head hostler and enjoyed a popularity with the public second only to that of Mr. Hill.

When Mr. Hill was elected to the legislature, he leased the hotel to Harrison and Orville Messer, who owned the stage line. The lease having expired, he again took possession and continued as its landlord until his death. May 30, 1871. After the stages were supplanted by the railroads, the business of the tavern fell off, and its only gala days were the Sundays in the summer when the Shaker meetings attracted large numbers from Concord, Laconia, Tilton and other places, some of whom tarried there for dinner as they returned from the Shakers. Mr. Hill’s widow kept the tavern until her death. Following Mrs. Hill was Joseph K. Hancock, who was proprietor for the sixteen years following 1890. It was as a summer hotel that it was best known under Mr. Hancock’s ownership. Since 1906 this hostelry has been kept by Henry W. Johnson.” James Otis Lyford, History of Canterbury, N.H., Vol. 1, pp. 460 and 461.

The Merrimede Cottage “Young” (15 Old Tilton Road, Canterbury, NH). Identified in Lyford 1:466 as 7-13, this house was built by Jonathan K. Taylor. The property was owned by John S. Wheeler for a time, and later the Dickson family. per Catherine Dickson: “John Driscoll, John S. Wheeler, former residents. Tenants: Roland Stover – – sold to George Dickson about 1944.

The Much-I-Do House “site of Hildreth House” (197 West Road, Canterbury, NH). Identified in Lyford 1: as 2-63, this house was owned by the Clough family until 1959, when it was sold to Lucien Hildreth. The original house burned and it was rebuilt.

The Shaw Estate – burned. (473 Shaker Road, Canterbury, NH). Identified in Lyford 1:448 as 6-4, this house was originally built by Gideon Ham and was sold to Annie Porter Shaw Singer in the early 20^th century as a summer residence. The buildings have burned. per Catherine Dickson: “Shaw House / Ralph Thurston lived there after Shaws. ½ mile south of Worsted Church.”

The Wigwam “Mitchell” (15 Goodwin Road, Canterbury, NH)

The Windswept “Mallett” (63 Old School House Road, Canterbury, NH). Identified in Lyford 1:407 as 1-18, this farm was constructed c. 1747 by Colonel Archelaus Moore. It was owned by the Fifield family for several years, where it was a dairy farm. Today, it is a horse farm.