Wolfeboro Back/Front Bay

[KBoater]

RG,
Here is a question for you and other map lovers. The water under the bridge in Wolfeboro is currently called “Back Bay” yet on several earlier maps including a Geological Survey 1958 the name is Front Bay. It is not named on the 1931 version of the Geological Survey. I noticed Bizer calls it Back Bay. I’m not sure what is on the “green” map. When did it change or was named. I think everyone in Wolfeboro knows it as Back Bay.
Maptech and Topozone call in “Front Bay”

[Rattlesnake Gal]

This is a question I’ve pondered myself. I’m not sure when and if the name was ever officially changed.
The 1968, 1969 Navigation Map has it listed as Front Bay. Many of the older maps don’t list a name at all.
My 2002 huge Duncan Press Map has it listed as Back Bay.
Could this be one of those things like Saunders Bay or Sanders Bay where both are used?
I’ll keep my eyes open for an answer.
PS: I like your new avatar and how you celebrate St. Patty's Day! :D

[KBoater]

I have been pondering this question and seem to remember that I was told that originally there was a Front Bay ( the current bay) and a Back Bay( now filled in where the town fields and the Liquor store are). I’m not sure of this but the next time I talk to my source who grew up next to the bay I will get a better answer. The 2 bays are shown on the 1891 map with back bay a right thumb.

BTW Crooked Pond is now Crescent Lake. There is a Crooked Pond Rd in Wolfeboro.

The 1891 map is great.

[mcdude]

I'm going to make an educated guess that when the rail line was put through in 1871 it separated Back Bay from Front Bay and sometime after that point Front Bay came to be known as Back Bay after the Back Bay was filled in. Makes sense if you've ever walked the bike path / hiking trail that now follows the old railroad bed. Ever noticed the huge curb/speed bump type thing that goes around the DeVilders Market? When the lake is really high it comes up to the parking lot! Apparently they should have put in more fill!

I checked around and found THIS MAP. (http://docs.unh.edu/NH/wolf28sw.jpg) Scroll down and see how the railroad came through and split the bay in two.

[mcdude]

Compare the map above from 1928 with THIS MAP (http://docs.unh.edu/NH/wolf58sw.jpg) from 1958. Note that "Back" bay has disappeared! (PS - click on the icon to enlarge both maps after they download and then scroll down).

Here is an image of Front Bay completely filled with logs and Back Bay not yet filled in. The pink highlight indicates the route of the railroad tracks.
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopost/data/15036/medium/20scanlogsinbackbay.jpg

Clow's Sawmill was located somewhere in the vicinity of 51 Mill Street - the former Love's Quay. They manufactured boxes and oaken handles.
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopost/data/15036/medium/20scanclowsmill.jpg

Another shot of the bay completely filled with logs.
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopost/data/15036/medium/20scanraftinglogs.jpg

Berry's Mill was located up closer to Wolfeboro Falls. Excelsior was made from the waste created from the manufacture of other products. It was used as a shipping material inside boxes. Excelsior, once a common product used to pack fragile items for shipping in wooden boxes, and also used for filling in mattresses, is not seen much today. Excelsior is a shredded wood product made from poplar or other soft woods. It comes from the machines like coarse wool in various sizes. Today, excelsior has largely been replaced by foam and plastic products, but it is still used to make pads for the bottom of cartons in which day old chicks are shipped. After excelsior had been shaved off the remnant sticks of poplar, they were sold to local housewives years ago for kindling wood at $4.00 per dumpcart load. This was sixty years ago when woodstoves were in common use. Two excelsior mills were operated at Wolfeboro Falls. The Hutchins mill started around 1885 - employed 15 men and turned out four or five carloads of baled excelsior a week. The Berry mill came into operation in 1900 and produced several carloads of excelsior per week. Both mills used water power from Smith River. Until 1980 the Berry mill made excelsior pads. The Hutchins mill now produces Damart, the insulating material for under-clothing used by winter sports enthusiasts.


http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopost/data/15036/medium/20scanberrysmill.jpg

Postcard of a sawmill on the Smith's River which leads from Crescent Lake and Lake Wentworth (formerly called Smith's Pond) to the Front Bay.
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopost/data/15036/medium/20scansawmill.jpg

[KBoater]

Thanks McDude for the photo. It does show that the railroad was the divider between the Front and Bay. When I get to Wolfeboro the end of the month, I will get more information about this.

[camp guy]

To further confuse the issue, many people call the entire area "the river" recognizing that the water from Lake Wentworth and Crescent Lake flows out to Lake Winnipesaukee through this area -- much as a river would do.

[ApS]

"...Ever noticed the huge curb/speed bump type thing that goes around the DeVilders Market? When the lake is really high it comes up to the parking lot...! "
At a merchant there, I confirmed yesterday what I had seen for myself five years ago.

And that is...that the huge curb/speed bump is due to rainwater run-off from the parking lot. They had used sandbags for those occasions six years ago.

The lake does encroach nearby, and could affect the west end of the parking lot, but we're talking a four-foot rise to the stores there. (A lot for Winnipesaukee).

(My spell-check just turned "DeVilders" into "Evildoers" :emb: . It's Devylders)

[NoBozo]

Back around 1970 or so I took a tour of the still operating Excelsior Mill in Wolfeboro Falls. At the time there were two people still working there. One guy had been there for 70 years if my memory serves. The machinery in the mill was driven by overhead "Line Shafts" and leather belts...which in turn got their power from a water driven turbine in the cellar..which got water from the river running between Lake Wentworth and Back Bay.

When the river didn't provide enough water, there was a horizontal steam engine in the cellar that would be brought into service.

There were perhaps two dozen or more reciprocating guilotine-like machines that would slice long shavings off "cord wood" logs that were stood up vertically in the machine. Up and down..up and down.... the razor sharp knives would take the shavings off the log until there was nothing left of the log. The employees job was to walk up and down the line of machines and replace the spent logs with new ones when required.

I just ran into these pictures of the remains of the mill taken by someone in 2002. I'm very suprised that the steam engine is still there..and that someone hasn't aquired it and restored it. NB

http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/abandoned_excelsior_mill_in_wolfeboro_falls,_new_h ampshire.htm

Check out the donor of this Rollins engine:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Museum_of_Science,_Boston,_MA_-_IMG_3199.JPG

The Rollins Engine Company was located in Nashua, NH

[NoBozo]

While I was snooping around..relative to the Berry Excelsior Mill....(McDude) I stumbled on this: Model Rail Roaders seem to be interested enough to "Model" ..in "fine scale"...this Mill..and other buildings around Wolfeboro, And, additional text provides... more History.

What's interesting to me is....with all the historical narratives you run across in books about any topic...after awhile...there is mostly old narrative that you've seen before...OK..That solidifies that part....BUT..Sometimes you find NEW tidbits that help fill in the Real Story. :) NB

http://www.besttrains.com/products_1008.html

BTW: When I visited the Berry Mill in about 1970, it was in late winter..maybe March. There was no discernible heat in the building. There was a small office..with glass windows looking out at the shop. There was a lady in there who I presumed was the office staff. I'm sure the office was heated.