Bridge to Little Bear?
 

Here’s one for you island dwellers: an older gentleman who lives near the end of Long Island claims that there had been a plan to build a bridge connecting LI to Little Bear Island, so the residents of the area that would be most affected by the increased traffic amended their HOA documents stipulating that there would only be a one lane road through their area. This supposedly happened years ago, and it’s rather interesting. Fact or fiction?

There was a proposal back in the late 60’s or early 70’s to have bridges from Long Island to little bear to cow island onto tufftonboro. I believe this was proposed by tufftonboro state rep. The reason given was that it would reduce the travel time from center harbor area to wolfeboro.

Plan? Fact or Fiction?
 

I expect when Bill Chipman built the bridge and developed Black Cat Island there were "plans" to do similar projects elsewhere. Certainly there were speculative "plans" to connect Winnipesaukee to Squam, Little Squam, etc. I recall discussions about building a canal to connect Alton Bay to the ocean.
I don't know when a discussion becomes a "plan" or if, because it hasn't happened yet, it is fiction.

My understanding not just for this project but in general is once the DEP was formed, any project that connected an ecosystem directly to another became taboo.

If I recall, this came up wayyy back in Salem NH when they looked at connecting Shadow Lake to Canobie Lake as a way to increase the size of the city water supply.

Basically, if nature made a stream from the body a to body b, you are ok. But man can not take the body and tie it to body B directly. If you want to drink A and B then each need their own isolated system.

Again, I'm paraphrasing the hell out of that, but you should get the gist.

Fact. I've seen the map of the plan of subdivision of the interior of Little Bear Island that would have been associated with bridge access. The interior of Little Bear Island is privately owned and was purchased in the late 1960's / early 1970's time frame previously mentioned by several long time island residents in an effort to prevent the bridge and the development. It would have drastically altered the lake, I'm glad that it didn't happen.

It’s hard to imagine that island residents would welcome the additional traffic wandering through their remote locations. Though it might be a plus to be able to reach the mainland more conveniently, there would be a huge trade off in having to put up with people short cutting to and from Wolfeboro. There’s a very unique property on Pistol that I have admired for decades, but there are 2 problems with it: 1) we are not organized enough to own an island property.....imagine running out of t.p. 😥 and 2) it’s not for sale. Oh well.....

That's when squirrels and chipmunks come in handy...if you can catch 'em!

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holy cow that is funny right there.....

You're not the only one that has admired that property... the downside is that there really isn't any land which says composting toliet.... or incinerating toilet. Not that either of those is a big deal just saying....

However given that the guy out there is running out of dock space for all his toys he might be interested in selling.... he needs more usable shore front....

Not sure about others but for me while there is something to be said of year-round access, I love the fact there is no noise from vehicular traffic. It's beneficial in that nobody can "just stop by" unless they have a boat and most wont drive a boat on the lake at night so you're assured they won't stay to long if uninvited.

You don't have to be terribly organized to be on an island, anything you can get by car you can get by boat. I mean who hates going for a boat ride? Moving big items can be a little more challenging, but you find out real quick the most popular neighbor is the one with a beater barge for just that task! Trust me there is at least one in each neighborhood.

My brother bought lot 279 Cow in 1968. at that Time, a large map speculatively showed a Road and bridge from Long Island to Little Bear and then over to Cow, I think it was at the Hole in the Wall and across Devens to Cow. It showed a road Which was never built but the land developer sold front lots aNd back lots There also waterfront lots set aside for water access from the back lots. The „ road“ became the power company’s right of way.

I remember when all that was going on..the bridge would have crossed over to Little Bear east of Harilla Landing.... I grew up in :The Hole in the Wall" 1958 until my dad passed...sold in 94? I'm getting old...can't remember the exact date..This whole thing was put into action and people were urged to buy property up into the center of the island..not sure what ever happened.

Attachment 16489Here is the sales brochure. I think it might have been more of a sales gimmick than an actual plan