Chichester
Historical Society
Bear Hill Road
- Part II
By
Walter Sanborn
This article is about the names of several roads that extend
off Bear Hill road at right angles.
First, I want to correct a misprint in the last article
on Bear Hill Road. The name was printed as Harold Towle and should be
corrected to Harold
Fowle as making the Bear Hill sign.
I have also discovered that
Ruth
Hammen of Bear Hill and a member of
our historical society had an article on the Bear Hill sign in the Suncook Valley Sun in Sept 1979. This article
says the first Bear Hill sign made by Harold Fowle
was put up in 1936. Accompanying this article is a picture of the sign on Rt
28 taken in 1964. The article also notes that the Bear Hill sign received New England wide recognition from the Boston Globe.
As you travel up
Bear Hill Rd
from Rt 28, the first road on the right is named Perry Road which is a dead end road. In
the 1930’s the home of
Christopher
Perry was at the end of the road
until he passed away and the farm was abandoned.
In 1943 the town voted to discontinue all roads in town
that were unused. This road was closed until 1986 when it was reopened
and now has three new homes on it.
The next road off Bear Hill is on the left and is the
present Center Road running
from Bear Hill to Main Street
in Chichester Center. The earliest record I can
find lists the road from Bear Hill to the Center being laid out in 1811.
As the Bear Hill Road
was accessible from both ends, the
Center Road was a short cut to Chichester Center
and the Turnpike and the only dwelling house was on the Center end.
This house was the John
Brown
home late of Gladys
Towle just behind the Methodist Church. The Center Road was one that was never closed
but was only maintained during the summer months. The several weeks
during the spring season the road was usually closed from the Brown Farm to
Bear Hill due to the mud.
In about 1980, new houses were starting to be built on
the Center Road and the road was rebuilt for
year round maintenance. Today there are over 25 houses on the Center Road.
In 2007 and 2008 the town spent $250,000 to rebuild and
it is now the best constructed town road in Chichester.
The police recently caught a driver speeding 106MPH on this road. Please
note he was caught.
The third road off Bear Hill is at the bottom of the
steep hill and off the right side of the
Bear Hill Road
at right angles and is about one half mile long. This road ends at a
tee with a road going right and left form there. This road is now named the Ferrin Road and was
reopened in 1980’s.
At the end of this road bearing right is a road leading
back to connect with the Perry
Road
which I have previously mentioned. This road is not maintained by the town
and remains discontinued and is named
Back Road.
At the end of the tee on the
Ferrin Road is a road to the left that goes up a
steep hill and connects with the
Durgin Road which will be the next road off of Bear Hill Road. This
connecting road has also been discontinued along with the vote to close all
unused roads in the town in 1943. About three years ago this road was
upgraded and reopened and now has several new homes on it. This section of
road was named Ferrin Road also as it is an extension of the former Ferrin
Road so presently the Ferrin Road extends from the bottom of Bear Hill Road
to connect with the Durgin Road.
As there are two more roads leading off Bear Hill Road and related history I will
have to continue another article as it would be too lengthy to include with
this article.
