John Lund Woods was born on May 3, 1792 to Daniel Woods and Rebecca Lund Woods in Corinth, Vermont. Daniel Woods was my 4th great grandfather and he and Rebecca has six children between 1783, when their daughter Rebecca was born, and 1795, when the youngest, Almyria was born. In between came Oliver, my 3rd great grandfather, Sarah (also called Sally), Daniel, and John. John would be my 4th great uncle if you are keeping track.
Sometime around 1829 John left Corinth and moved several miles east to a place north of Haverhill, New Hampshire. Sparsely settled at the time, the area consisted of a broad, fertile plain near the confluence of the Connecticut River and the Ammonoosuc River. John purchased a sawmill that had been operating just upstream along the Ammonoosuc River. The mill, which opened in 1811, took in logs and manufactured lumber. John and others built a log boom across the Connecticut and Ammonoosuc Rivers to gather the timber driven down during the spring snowmelt when the rivers were at their highest flow. Men would inspect and sort the logs, releasing the timber not destined for Woods’ mill. John and his wife Mary Ann also ran a small store out of their house.
The Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad opened in what was soon called Woodsville in 1853 and, in addition to laying the rails and building a station, also constructed offices and a train repair facility furthering the growth of the village. More growth came as the railroad connected Woodsville to cities primarily to the north, south and east. The village was soon an important railroad town and became a legal and commerce hub. Unfortunately, with the increased population came increased recreational use of the river and by 1915 log drives ceased.
Today Woodsville remains a center of commerce in this rural part of New Hampshire and Vermont. There are lots of banks and fast-food places, some industry, including a few lumber yards, a Dollar Store, and the Cottage Hospital, a critical -access hospital. There are some nice little restaurants where you can get pizza and local beer. The only institution of post-secondary learning is Woodsville Community College, a fictional college where Glen Pequod Bateman, one of the primary characters in Stephen King’s The Stand taught Sociology. That is, he taught until the plague came along and killed just about everyone except Glen. But that is fiction.
Woodsville is also trying to become a destination of sorts for outdoor enthusiasts as there is still recreational boating, mostly kayaks and canoes, lots of hiking in the area, and it is the western terminus of the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trial, a series of rail trails and back roads extending from Shelburne New Hampshire, near Bethel Maine to Woodsville at the western end. The 80-plus mile route parallels rivers and being largely rail trail is quite flat. It is New Hampshire, so it is not totally flat. The elevation at Bowman New Hampshire, in the middle of the state, is roughly 1,400 feet above sea level while the elevation at either end of the trail – Bethel or Woodsville – is closer to 500 feet. But it is pretty flat if you are riding a bike.
On an early fall morning, a day that was a bit colder than I thought it would be in late September, I got on my bike to ride a short section of the trail – the XNHAT as it is known. Starting in Woodsville I headed east. My schedule only allowed ninety minutes of riding but that was enough to get me out to the Lisbon Station and over several of the trail’s bridges. There were expansive views of the river, of fields and wide river valleys. I saw other groups on the trails. A few folks were walking dogs, some riding for the day and one bikepacker who planned to spend four days on the trail going all the way to Bethel and back, camping along the way. I admit I was envious.
Dam at Bath NH
I’ll be back to Woodsville. There is more genealogy and historical research to be done and the wildlife and birding along the trail and near the rivers is outstanding. And who doesn’t like pizza and beer after a long bike ride across the state?
Significant information from Wikipedia (Woodsville history) and Fandom (Stephen King reference)
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