History of North Conway, NH

The modern day visitor to North Conway, New Hampshire, will see bustling activity around Settlers Green Outlet Village and surrounding resorts. North Conway's rich history, however, dates back as far as colonial times.

The earliest history of the region belongs to the Abenaki tribe who lived in a large area on both sides of the Saco River and into Maine. Settlers encountered this tribe as they moved westward in the 1700's. They called the region Pequawket (pronounced Pigwacket).

The first acknowledgment of the region known as North Conway goes back to the charter granted by King George III through his colonial governor Benning Wentworth in 1765. The namesake of the village, Henry Seymour Conway, was a member of England's House of Commons and a regimental commander. His sympathies were with the fledgling American colonies and, as Secretary of State, he won a temporary repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766.

Colonial buildings still standing include the Eastman Inn Bed and Breakfast built in 1777 by Noah Eastman and his family, the Isaac Merrill House from 1778, and the 1785 Inn. Many of the remaining colonial houses of North Conway have been converted into lodging, including the 1768 Inn considered the oldest extant house in the village.

William Kimball Eastman operated the Conway mill. His 1818 farmhouse has been restored into a museum and the home base for the Conway Historical Society.

In the 1800's, landscape artists visited the village and surrounding White Mountain area. Tourism boomed in the mid 1800's and lasted until the early 1900's and has increased in recent years.

Area transportation improved about the same time. A carriage road opened in 1861 and a cog railway in 1869. Tourists flooded in. In 1872, the Portsmouth, Great Falls and Conway Railroad extended tracks to North Conway. Two years later, a grand depot in the Second Empire architectural style was constructed. This depot, like many of the buildings mentioned in this article, is on the National Register of Historic Places. This railroad line merged with the Eastern Railroad to form the giant Boston and Maine Railroad.

Timber was shipped out and tourists, including skiers, were transported in during the rail years. The skiing public began to make use of the passenger rail service in 1932, making North Conway the rightful "Birthplace of American Skiing". Until 1952, steam locomotives chugged their way through the mountains and notches to deliver their freight and passenger loads. Passenger train service ended in 1961. On Halloween Day 1972, a load of granite headed for West Chelmsford, Massachusetts, became the last freight to leave North Conway. The tracks and depot were abandoned until 1974 when both were restored so that they could be a tourist attraction.

Everywhere you look in North Conway, history has left its traces and waits for the visitor to go back in time.