New Hampshire

Historic stagecoach stop will be moved out of harm's way

By Terry Date
tdate@eagletribune.com
Published: September 8, 2008

DANVILLE, N.H. — Bill Gard of the Danville Heritage Commission likes to envision hungry travelers stepping off their coach at the Webster Stagecoach Stop — a historic building that will be moved to safer ground tomorrow on the opposite side of Route 111A.

Gard's vision of a layover at the Webster stop harkens back to the years between 1825 and 1834, when weary riders would walk inside and buy cheese and bread at Nathaniel Webster's small store.

Webster, a distant cousin of Daniel Webster, was also the local postmaster, the town's first. He would receive mail from the coach and had outgoing letters and parcels for delivery.

The coach's horses would be led to the nearby stable to be watered, fed and rested. The coach needed fresh legs to maintain the speedy 9 to 10 mph clip along the Portsmouth-to-Concord route.

This small portrait of Danville life — actually the town was called Hawke then, population about 300 — will have to wait for a more complete historical picture to emerge.

That will likely come when and if the shingled wood-frame structure at the intersection of Route 111A and Sandown Road is restored and transformed to a museum. In the meantime, the early 19th century building is being moved out of harm's way.

At least twice, vehicles have struck the 17-by-32-foot structure when it sat a scant 3 feet off busy Route 111A.

It is the only known standing building of its type in the state, and is listed on New Hampshire's Register of Historical Places, said Butch Sanborn, 72, whose family is transferring ownership of the building to the town.

Today, the building sits on mammoth I-beams, set back from the road. Tomorrow, Jack Stilkey Moving Co. of Epping will move the building across the street to higher ground, closer to Sandown Road, on town-owned land that once belonged to Nathaniel Webster.

Sanborn's family has donated the building to the town of Danville with the understanding that the town will pay for moving it.

Sanborn doesn't have a sentimental attachment to the building, but he knows that others have an affinity for it. Still, he wants to see it preserved for future generations.

"I don't want to see it destroyed because it is history," Sanborn said.

The town, through the Heritage Commission, has the transportation cost covered.

It has received state funding, including a $15,000 grant from the Land and Community Heritage Investment Program to help pay for moving and stabilizing the building, said Amy Dixon, a historic resource specialist with the program.

The Land and Community Heritage Investment Program dollars were also used for an archaeological dig that took place over the summer and unearthed numerous artifacts including an old carriage bolt, a manure fork tine, ceramic pieces and strap hinges called pintels.

The state Department of Transportation, through its community assistance program, has also committed to pay the town two-thirds of the $34,000 to $35,000 it will cost to move the building, Gard said.

The building will be loaded tomorrow at 10 a.m. and rolled to its new location, set on wooden blocks, said Gard, who lives across the street from the stagecoach stop in the circa 1754 Nathaniel Webster homestead.

Webster died in 1871. But vestiges of his store's mercantile activity remain. The likes of "Ebeneezer French, a dozen eggs," is written on the walls, he said.

Gard feels good about preserving the building.

"It was just something that couldn't be left to the ravages of time," he said.

State architectural historian James Garvin said it is unclear when the Webster building was constructed. Previous research pointed to a date close to 1800, though the recent archaeological work revealed foundation underpinning that dates to around 1830.

It is also unclear when the Webster stop was first used, but it could have continued well into the 19th century.

There are photographs of stagecoaches in use in the state in 1900 or later, said Garvin, who has written about Northern New England architecture and New Hampshire taverns and turnpikes between 1700 and 1900.

It is unlikely, given Danville's small size, that many people used the local stop for boarding or departing stagecoaches, Garvin said. It was probably used on an as-needed basis.

Danville, or Hawke, was not an original stop on the Portsmouth-to-Concord route when it was established in 1791, he said.

The route had stops in Exeter, Kingston, Hampstead and Chester, en route to Concord. The return trip on the loop to Portsmouth followed a different route, through Deerfield, Nottingham and Newmarket.

Regular boarding stops were typically at taverns, he said. Coaches were used by the relatively well-to-do, or at least those with the money for the fare. Many poor people walked long distances in those days, Garvin said.