ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ON MISSING ROADS

Published: Monday, August 17, 2009

There is that old joke, usually attributed to some Yankee farmer, who ends up telling the tourist who is asking for directions, “you can’t get there from here.” The joke usually includes some local landmarks that the tourist couldn’t possibly know, leaving the farmer exasperated.

But there are a few places around the area where that designation could be considered true, even if not literally.

Lyndeborough’s first major subdivision is called Tarn Road. To get there, you have to go into Mont Vernon.

The lower Purgatory Falls is also in Lyndeborough, but to drive there, you have to go into Milford.

A large subdivision is planned off of Lyndeborough’s Cram Hill Road, but all of the houses will be in Wilton.

The Falcon Ridge Development in the Milford has some access off Whting Hill Road in Wilton.

Being dependent on another town for services can, on occasion, cause problems, but most are worked out amicably.

Many towns have dirt roads with few or no houses where it is simply easier or more convenient to drive around into the next town. The road may unmaintained in the winter, or a bridge was never replaced.

People wonder sometimes why a section in the middle of Lyndeborough Center Road is in Wilton. If you look at the map, the town lines are straight. It is the road that curves. Those early roads went from farm to farm the easiest way with little regard for town lines. Now, neighboring towns tend to swap such pieces of road for snowplowing purposes.

Some of the oddities date to the early days. That corner of Milford, Lyndeborough and Mont Vernon where the town line markers leads one to think the line is partway up the hill, the line actually runs along the road.

A small tract there was annexed by the Town of Milford after the War of 1812. It consists of the property of one Silas Howard whose son Samuel served in that war. The history doesn’t give a reason for the change.

Another oddity is on Route 101A between Amherst and Merrimack. The road passes through a small section of swamp in Hollis. In that case, however, there is a triangular jog in the Merrimack town line.

Many town boundaries are jagged. That usually happened when a new town was formed, or a part of one town joined another. The new boundary followed the existing property lines. Those men in Boston who laid out townships had never been here. They drew squares or rectangles on a map with no regard for the topography. The settlers gradually sorted things out, but the roads tended to remain.

That Yankee farmer directing the tourist had another answer. Where does this road go?

“As far as I know, it doesn’t go anywhere. It stays right here.”

And they generally do.