Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 8.djvu/295

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Concord, New HampsJiire.

��267

��from the Province of New Hampshire under the new name of Concord. Dur- ing the French wars many of the sol- diers with Rogers and Stark were from Concord. During the Revolution they took a prominent part in the struggle, more especially at Bunker Hill and Bennington.

Soon the place became of importance, as the northern section of the State be- came settled ; and when the Province

��pikes, commanding commerce in every direction. In those early days, six and eight horse teams were numerous ; and on each side of the street were taverns for the accommodation of man and beast. The restless Yankee brain sought still further internal improvement than the turnpike, and a system of canals was devised. The old Middlesex Canal connected Charles River with the Mer- rimack above Pawtucket Falls ; thence,

���NEW STATE PRISON

��renounced its allegiance to the king, and resisted his authority, it had a com- manding influence. During the Revo- lution the seat of the State government was at Exeter, but at its close Concord became the favorite meeting-place of the Legislature. Here the first election sermon was preached before the law- givers, and for many years the old North Church was the Capitol of the State.

Through Main Street passed the traf- fic of the whole north countrj^ ; and from here radiated a system of turn-

��by a series of locks, by the rapids and falls, canal-boats were propelled to the Lower Landing at the south end of Main Street. Concord was at the head of navigation. With the advent of the steamboat came a new propelling power, soon replaced, however, by the railroad and locomotive. Before the new-comer, disappeared not only the canal-boat, but the stage-coach ; and the romance of the past gave way to the reality of the present.

How much of romance to the pres- ent generation there is in those pre-

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