Crawford Notch

Major pass through White Mountains in New Hampshire, US

Crawford Notch

The Notch of the White Mountains (1839),
by Thomas Cole (1801–1848), looking south past Saco Lake

Elevation| 1,900 ft (579 m)
Traversed by|  U.S. Route 302
Location| Carroll / Coos counties, New Hampshire, U.S.
Range| White Mountains
Coordinates| 44°13′7″N 71°24′42″W﻿ / ﻿44.21861°N 71.41167°W﻿ / 44.21861; -71.41167
Topo map| USGS Crawford Notch, Stairs Mountain, Bartlett

Crawford Notch is a major pass through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, located in Hart's Location. Roughly half of that town is contained in Crawford Notch State Park. The high point of the notch, at approximately 1,900 feet (580 m) above sea level, is at the southern end of the town of Carroll, near the Crawford Depot train station and Saco Lake, the source of the Saco River, which flows southward through the steep-sided notch. North of the high point of the notch, Crawford Brook flows more gently northwest to the Ammonoosuc River, a tributary of the Connecticut River.

The notch is traversed by U.S. Route 302, which closely follows the Saco River southeast to North Conway and less closely follows the Ammonoosuc River northwest to Littleton.

## History[edit]

The summit of Crawford Notch in January

Originally called White Mountain Notch, it became known to European settlers when found by Timothy Nash in 1771.[1] The 1772 boundaries of Hart's Grant reflected its shape.[citation needed] It was named for the Crawford family, who were trail-builders and hostelers there in the 19th century. The Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike from Portsmouth was extended through the notch to Lancaster in 1803.[2][3] The turnpike and later Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad through Crawford Notch opened a new route through the White Mountains for settlers of the area to the northwest to reach Conway on the way to the trading ports on the coast.[4][need quotation to verify]

Crawford Notch (1867), by Thomas Hill (1829–1908), looking north, collection of the New Hampshire Historical Society

A well-documented historic event within the notch was a rockslide that killed the entire Samuel Willey family in August 1826. The family fled their home during the storm to a prepared shelter but were buried by the slide and died in a mass of stone and rubble. Their home was untouched. Mount Willey, on the west side of the notch, is named in their memory.[5] The event in part inspired a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne titled The Ambitious Guest.[6] Further down the notch, Nancy Brook and Mount Nancy are named for an earlier tragedy.[5]

In the Carroll portion of the notch, the Appalachian Mountain Club has built and operates the Highland Center Lodge and Conference Center (on the site of the Crawford House Hotel, a 19th-century grand hotel that burned in 1972), and has renovated the Queen Anne style Victorian-era Crawford Notch Maine Central train depot as a bookstore. The depot remains a stop on the scenic "Notch Train" of the Conway Scenic Railroad, operated seasonally from North Conway.

## Points of interest[edit]

* Grave of Samuel Bemis, first photographer of the American landscape
* Mount Willard, open summit near center of notch with views of the notch's structure

## See also[edit]

Present-day Crawford Notch, looking south from Elephant Head rock (visible to left of notch in Thomas Cole painting)

* List of mountain passes in New Hampshire
* Nash & Sawyer Location, New Hampshire
* New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 30: The Crawford Family

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ Julyan, Robert Hixson; Julyan, Mary (1993). Place Names of the White Mountains (Revised ed.). Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. pp. 34–36. ISBN 978-0-87451-638-8.
2. ^ Johnson, Christopher (2006). This Grand & Magnificent Place: The Wilderness Heritage of the White Mountains. UPNE. pp. 49–51. ISBN 978-1-58465-461-2.
3. ^ * Cenkl, Pavel (2009). This Vast Book of Nature: Writing the Landscape of New Hampshire's White Mountains, 1784–1911. University of Iowa Press. p. 25\. ISBN 978-1-58729-714-4.
4. ^ Johnson, Ron Maine Central Railroad Mountain Division p.9
5. ^ a b Johnson, Christopher (2006). This Grand & Magnificent Place: The Wilderness Heritage of the White Mountains. UPNE. pp. 55–56. ISBN 978-1-58465-461-2.
6. ^ Sears, John F. (October 1982). "Hawthorne's "The Ambitious Guest" and the Significance of the Willey Disaster". American Literature. 54 (3): 354–367. doi:10.2307/2925848. JSTOR 2925848.

## External links[edit]

* NH State Parks web page
* 19th century landscape paintings of Crawford Notch
* Highland Center Lodge at Crawford Notch

* v
* t
* e

Saco River watershed

Tributaries|

| Maine|

* Charles River
* Cold River
* Hancock Brook
* Kezar River
* Little Cold River
* Little Ossipee River
* Little River
* Little Saco River
* Mad River
* Middle Branch Mad River
* Old Course Saco River
* Ossipee River
* Saco River
* Shepards River
* South Branch Mad River
* South River
* Tenmile River
* West Branch Tenmile River

|

New Hampshire|

* Bearcamp River
* Beech River
* Chocorua River
* Cold River (Bearcamp River)
* Cold River
* Cutler River
* Dan Hole River
* Deer River
* Dry River
* East Branch Saco River
* East Branch Whiteface River
* East Fork East Branch Saco River
* Ellis River
* Little Cold River
* Lovell River
* Mad River
* Middle Branch Mad River
* Mill Brook
* New River
* Ossipee River
* Pequawket Brook
* Pine River
* Rocky Branch
* Saco River
* Sawyer River
* Shepards River
* South Branch Mad River
* South River
* Swift River (Bearcamp River)
* Swift River (Saco River)
* West Branch
* Whiteface River
* Wildcat Brook
* Wonalancet River

Lakes|

* Lake Arrowhead
* Balch Pond
* Barker Pond
* Broad Bay
* Chocorua Lake
* Conway Lake
* Dan Hole Pond
* Echo Lake
* Hancock Pond
* Kezar Lake
* Lovewell Pond
* Moose Pond
* Ossipee Lake
* Pine River Pond
* Province Lake
* Sand Pond
* Silver Lake
* Skelton Dam

Towns|

* Acton
* Arundel
* Baldwin
* Bartlett
* Biddeford
* Bridgton
* Brownfield
* Buxton
* Chocorua
* Conway
* Cornish
* Dayton
* Denmark
* Eaton
* Effingham
* Freedom
* Fryeburg
* Hart's Location
* Hiram
* Hollis
* Limerick
* Limington
* Lovell
* Lyman
* Madison
* Newfield
* Ossipee
* Parsonsfield
* Porter
* Saco
* Sebago
* Shapleigh
* Standish
* Stoneham
* Stow
* Sweden
* Tamworth
* Waterboro
* Waterford

Landmarks|

* Crawford Notch
* Maine Central Railroad
* U.S. Route 302
* White Mountains

* v
* t
* e

Gaps of the Appalachian Mountains

Water gaps|

* Cumberland Narrows
* Brocks Gap
* Delaware Water Gap
* Gaps of the Allegheny
* Blair Gap
* Kittanning Gap
* Goshen Pass
* Hillsboro Gap
* James River Gorge
* Lehigh Gap
* Loysburg Gap
* Mechanicsburg Gap
* Moccasin Gap
* The Narrows
* Potomac Water Gap
* Reeds Gap
* Schuylkill Gap
* Swatara Gap
* Thoroughfare Gap

Wind gaps|

* Ashby Gap
* Buford's Gap
* Carmans Notch
* Chester Gap
* Crampton's Gap
* Cumberland Gap
* Deep Notch
* Diamond Notch
* Fishers Gap
* Fox's Gap
* Jarman Gap
* Keyes Gap
* Maggoty Gap
* Manassas Gap
* McCormick Gap
* New Market Gap
* Pound Gap
* Rockfish Gap
* Snickers Gap
* Swift Run Gap
* Thornton Gap
* Turner's Gap
* Wilson Gap

Passes|

* Appalachian Gap
* Balsam Gap
* Brock Gap
* Buck Creek Gap
* Bull Gap
* Carter Notch
* Cowee Gap
* Craven Gap
* Crawford Notch
* Deals Gap
* Dixville Notch
* Evans Notch
* Franconia Notch
* Gillespie Gap
* Grafton Notch
* Grandmother Gap
* Granville Notch
* Hazen's Notch
* Hobart Gap
* Kinsman Notch
* Lincoln Gap
* Mahoosuc Notch
* Middlebury Gap
* Monterey Pass
* Newfound Gap
* Pinkham Notch
* Sherburne Pass
* Skinners Gap
* Smugglers Notch
* Soco Gap
* Stony Clove Notch
* Zealand Notch

Artificial cuts|

* Clarke's Gap

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Israel
* United States

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template