Historic and Cultural Walking Paths in Meredith
The Laverack Walking Trail in downtown Meredith. (Tom Caldwell Photo)
By Thomas P. Caldwell
More and more people are choosing to live in areas offering walkable neighborhoods, and while that often means cities where walking, cycling, and public transit are replacing driving, walkability is not confined to such cosmopolitan realms. The town of Meredith, while serving as a tourist destination and the “Latchkey to the White Mountains” for people traveling through the area, also recognizes the benefits associated with walking trails: an appreciation of history, support for arts organizations and creativity, and promotion of greater civic engagement.
The Meredith Historical Society has taken that message to heart in creating a historic walking map of the downtown area, and Meredith Pathways has extended the concept to offer five pathways that promote walking and cycling to other sections of the town.
From a historical perspective, Meredith Village, settled in 1768 as an agricultural community, transformed into a mill town utilizing its waterways between lakes Waukewan and Winnipesaukee to power lumber, grist, and textile factories. It was only in the 1980s, after those mills closed, that the town adapted to the hospitality industry, catering to tourists as well as local residents.
The Meredith Village Historic Walking Map provides the locations of town landmarks and descriptions of their role in local history. Beginning with the Meredith Historical Society Museum at 45 Main Street, the brochure notes that the building was one of the first dozen or so houses built in the village. A saddler named Abel Kimball built it in 1812, and it served as both his home and his shop. In 1854, Seneca Ladd purchased the building for his piano and melodeon business, later establishing the town’s first bank on the second floor. The Meredith Post Office rented the first floor from 1875 to 1936, and today it houses the historical society’s museum collection.
The next stop on the historical walking tour is the circa 1815 Congregational Church at 4 Highland Street, also known as the “North Church” or the “White House” because of its prominent white spire. It was moved from its original location on “high school hill” to Meredith Bay, then moved again to its current location.
Next to the church is the Beede House, built in 1867.
Sanborn House, at 51 Main Street, is next on the trail. Built for Dr. Jeremiah Smith in 1841, another doctor, George Sanborn, later established his practice there. George’s son, George Freeman Sanborn, founded a printing company at that location in 1871, and he launched the Meredith News in 1880. He also launched the Meredith Public Library in the building, serving as the town’s first librarian, in 1882.
Aerial view of the Meredith Inn the adjacent Jonathan C. Everett House, built around 1813. (Courtesy Photo)
The tour continues with the Old Town Hall on the corner of Main and High streets, built after the original meeting place, on Parade Road, proved tragic. During the first town meeting to take place there, the floor collapsed under the weight of the 600 people attending. About 150 fell into the basement, killing four of them and injuring others. The replacement town hall, built in 1875, had offices and a hall on the second floor, and it was the location where the first motion pictures were screened in Meredith.
Other Main Street sites on the historical walking tour are the Baptist Church at 89 Main Street; the Civil War Memorial and Meredith Public Library at 91 Main Street; the Humiston School, now the administrative offices for the Inter-Lakes School District, at 103 Main Street; the John Bond Swasey House at 109 Main Street; the Swasey Stone, at the corner of Main and Dover streets; the Joseph Whidden Lang/E.C. Mansfield building at 48 Main Street; the town’s first inn, at 23 Main Street, built by John Neal around 1805; and the Horne Block at 14 Main Street.
The Jonathan C. Everett House, now situated next to the Meredith Inn, was built on Main Street in 1813, serving the town’s first resident attorney. Dr. Frederick Hawkins, owner of the 2 Waukewan Street home that now serves as the Meredith Inn, moved the Everett House next door to 4 Waukewan Street in 1897.
The historic tour includes the Waukewan Canal and village mills. The pamphlet notes that residents harnessed the waterpower of the Waukewan stream, running east from that lake to Winnipesaukee, in 1787. The stream served small saw, grist, and carding mills throughout the late 1700s. Around 1811, Daniel Avery and John Bond Swasey channeled the water into a canal that led to the 40-foot waterfall and mill race at the heart of today’s Mill Falls Marketplace. That allowed the building of a manufacturing center that included a cotton mill, grist mills, lumber mills, a cotton-processing plant, a piano manufactory, a hosiery manufactory, linen mills, and an asbestos manufacturer.
The final stop on the tour is the waterfront itself. The Meredith Town Docks serve as the starting point for the five Meredith Pathways that cover some of the same territory but extend outward to Lake Waukewan and along the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee.
Pathway 1 runs from the town docks up Lake Street and along Lang Street to Waukewan Street, passing the Meredith Inn and continuing to Waukewan Beach, a small-town beach with parking for a few cars. The 0.8-mile walk can be extended all the way to Route 104, if desired. Coming back, walkers can turn onto Waukewan Avenue for a side trip to Swasey Park, a seven-acre wooded park featuring picnic tables and several walking trails, including one to the canal. From Swasey Park, the route continues along High Street back to Main Street and the village.
Pathway 2 is best suited to bicycle traffic due to the hills and limited sidewalks along the way. It begins at the town docks, crosses Route 3 and on to Dover Street, across Main Street and up Water Street, then onto Red Gate Lane, a town-maintained dirt road.
The 40-foot waterfall and mill race of the Waukewan Canal in Meredith. (Tom Caldwell Photo)
Pathway 3 is a 0.6-mile sidewalk path from the town docks, across the Route 3-25 intersection, and onto Plymouth Street, which leads to the Meredith Community Center. By turning right and walking into Prescott Park and going past the tennis courts, it’s possible to reach the Laverack Nature Trail, a 0.6-mile trail for walkers only.
Pathway 4 also takes walkers to the Laverack Nature Trail, this time by turning right after crossing 3-25 and going behind the Meredith Village Saving Bank to where the trail begins. That portion of the trail begins with a 1,450-foot boardwalk over wetlands before reaching the woods that continue on to the Prescott Park tennis courts.
Pathway 5 is an easy half-mile walk along the lakeshore, from the town docks to Hesky Park with its bandstand and POW/MIA memorial. From there, there is a boardwalk on the water side of the Inn at Bay Point, then a paved pathway to Scenic Park with panoramic views of Meredith Bay.
Between the historic trail and the pathways, Meredith offers plenty of walkable destinations that are well worth the trip, and offer the health and well-being aspects that make walking paths so important.