Africa Road in Barnstead

CrawfordCentury · 02-15-2010, 04:13 PM

A number of years ago I attended a program on Black history at the state historical society in Concord. During the Q&A, a gent shared a bit of lore about this off-the-beaten path road in Barnstead. I've since forgotten the tid bit and wonder if anyone here inside of this forum might know.

dcr · 02-15-2010, 09:39 PM

The Africa Rd connects the Prospect Mt Rd to the Muchado Hill Rd in Alton (where the Meaderboro Rd also meets) - a story I heard about the origin of that name, many decades ago (1970's), from an old Alton native that I knew then, goes something like this:

In the early 1800's there were several farms along that road, and 1 of the more affluent farmers bought a slave (yes, there were slaves held by some folks in the northern states also, but only rarely) to help out around the farm. On occasions when the farmer needed to buy some goods for the farm he would send the slave to Alton village to attend to the matter. Folks living along the way would notice the black man, a very rare sight in that day, walking back and forth to Alton, and, as folks usually do, soon learned of the nature of his trip and where he lived. My storyteller had always assumed that when some folks saw the man on his return trip they would say that he was on his way home, adding, in an attempt at humor, 'back to Africa'. The fact of the negro slave living on that road was apparently true, and, even if this particular story was merely fanciful, the very fact of a black man living on that road was perhaps enough cause for the road to become known as the Africa Road.

Even tho the Africa Rd, and the farms along it, were long-ago abandoned, it is nice that name, that thin thread of Alton's history, still exists. I noticed recently that a permit has been sought for permission to build a home along a right-of-way that comes off that road.

02-15-2010, 04:13 PM	#1
CrawfordCentury Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Somewhere betwixt Gonic and Chocorua Posts: 191 Thanks: 13 Thanked 30 Times in 21 Posts	Africa Road in Barnstead A number of years ago I attended a program on Black history at the state historical society in Concord. During the Q&A, a gent shared a bit of lore about this off-the-beaten path road in Barnstead. I've since forgotten the tid bit and wonder if anyone here inside of this forum might know. __________________ Plant a garden. Heat with wood. And thank a veteran.

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02-15-2010, 09:39 PM	#2
dcr Deceased Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 1,317 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	The Africa Rd connects the Prospect Mt Rd to the Muchado Hill Rd in Alton (where the Meaderboro Rd also meets) - a story I heard about the origin of that name, many decades ago (1970's), from an old Alton native that I knew then, goes something like this: In the early 1800's there were several farms along that road, and 1 of the more affluent farmers bought a slave (yes, there were slaves held by some folks in the northern states also, but only rarely) to help out around the farm. On occasions when the farmer needed to buy some goods for the farm he would send the slave to Alton village to attend to the matter. Folks living along the way would notice the black man, a very rare sight in that day, walking back and forth to Alton, and, as folks usually do, soon learned of the nature of his trip and where he lived. My storyteller had always assumed that when some folks saw the man on his return trip they would say that he was on his way home, adding, in an attempt at humor, 'back to Africa'. The fact of the negro slave living on that road was apparently true, and, even if this particular story was merely fanciful, the very fact of a black man living on that road was perhaps enough cause for the road to become known as the Africa Road. Even tho the Africa Rd, and the farms along it, were long-ago abandoned, it is nice that name, that thin thread of Alton's history, still exists. I noticed recently that a permit has been sought for permission to build a home along a right-of-way that comes off that road.