New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources Page 1 of 93 AREA FORM BEDFORD CENTER HISTORIC DISTRICT 1. Type of Area Form Inventory numbers in this area: Town-wide: NHDOT: NH Route 101 & Wallace Rd Area Form Historic District: (1992) Project Area: BED0004, 0062, 0074, 0074A (1992) BED0026-0040 (2013) Name of area: Bedford Center Setting: 3. Location: approximately 5 miles southwest Upland suburban setting of rolling hills, drained by of downtown Manchester on NH Route 101 Riddle Brook and tributary of Patten Brook, approximately 2 miles west of the Merrimack City or town: Bedford River. Characterized by an 18th-century village center with church, town hall, library and cemetery County: Hillsborough at a six-way crossroads. Roads radiating from the center feature residential properties dating from the mid-18th century to the present with most larger USGS quadrangle name(s): Pinardville, N.H. tracts (former farms) subdivided and developed during the past 60+/- years with low-density USGS scale: 1:24,000 suburban housing on wooded lots. Present-day agricultural activity is minimal. UTM reference: Acreage: approx. 207 acres 1. 19 293550E 4757756N 2. 19 293817E 4757892N 3. 19 293907E 4757647N Preparer(s): Patrick Harshbarger, Principal 4. 19 294258E 4757832N Historian, and Alison Haley, Architectural 5. 19 294186E 4758069N Historian, Hunter Research, Inc. 6. 19 294350E 4758078N 7. 19 295289E 4759093N Organization: Prepared for New Hampshire 8. 19 295360E 4759100N Department of Transportation, NH Route 101 9. 19 295398E 4758970N Widening Project 10. 19 294927E 4757820N 11. 19 294614E 4757564N Date(s) of field survey: December 2013 12. 19 294152E 4757297N 13. 19 293598E 4757271N 14. 19 293501E 4757547N New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources Page 2 of 76 AREA FORM BEDFORD CENTER HISTORIC DISTRICT 15. Location Map: Bedford Center Historic District 7 8 9 5 6 2 4 1 10 3 14 11 13 12 Legend District outline UTM polygon 0 0.25 N Miles Vertex UTM Coordinates 1 19 293550E 4757756N 2 19 293817E 4757892N 3 19 293907E 4757647N 4 19 294258E 4757832N 5 19 294186E 4758069N 6 19 294350E 4758078N 7 19 295289E 4759093N 8 19 295360E 4759100N 9 19 295398E 4758970N 10 19 294927E 4757820N 11 19 294614E 4757564N 12 19 294152E 4757297N 13 19 293598E 4757271N 14 19 293501E 4757547N 2 ° 1 3 5 0 0.25 9 14 Miles 20 27 24 40 35 15 30 3 1 7 2 25 14 4 3 19 8 50 12 20 55 54 3 59 28 12 58 10 2 63 11 25 111 54 58 69 81 73 62 10 50 42 Cemetery 3 34 23 11 33 7 4 41 43 76 21 25 31 3 43 35 49 137 37 28 24 Park 4 30 13 1 43 4 316 14 40 34 86 75 11 33 22 98 15 316 48 44 42 311 99 68 15 49 45 29 19 Town 51 41 37 64 Pound Mill 18 64 Ruins 42 52 50 115 62 34 Bedford Center Historic District 46 36 - Boundary Map - 291 60 # 125 Address Number 290 137 287 129 286 133 Bedford Center Historic District (National Register) Boundary 282 5 209 Bedford Local Historic District Boundary 9 278 Contributing to Bedford Center Historic District 272 10 4 Non-Contributing to Bedford Center Historic District 266 Vacant 12 Outside Boundary of Proposed NR Historic District New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources Page 4 of 93 REVISED AREA FORM BEDFORD CENTER HISTORIC DISTRICT 17. Methods and Purpose This historic district area form surveys the Bedford Historic District, a locally designated district authorized by the Town of Bedford in 1970 and organized under the jurisdiction of the Bedford Historic District Commission in 1972.1 The survey was undertaken on behalf of the New Hampshire Department of Transportation as part of its planning to widen a segment of NH Route 101, which passes through the southeastern portion of the local historic district. Field work was conducted in December 2013 with a pedestrian survey of all tax lots located within the local historic district as defined by the Town of Bedford in 1970. A two-person architectural historian team took notes and photographs, assessing the visual and architectural characteristics of each property, as well as the district as a whole. Research methodology included contacting the Town of Bedford to review existing documentation on the local historic district. During the course of this research, it was determined that the town had not previously conducted an inventory and that the boundaries, as established in 1970, had been derived through recommendations of the town planning board and a political consensus of the town meeting. The 1970 boundary reflected local considerations such as “buffer zones” to protect the village center and particular properties from incompatible development. Methodology for this survey included assessment of boundaries for a potential National Register-eligible Bedford Center Historic District. Since current National Register guidance for establishing boundaries is different from that used to establish Bedford’s local historic district, this survey recommends a district boundary that is somewhat smaller than the local historic district. However, all properties within the local historic district were included in this survey, and those properties falling outside of the recommended National Register-eligible district boundaries have been so noted. Primary and secondary research on the history of Bedford Center was conducted at the Bedford Historical Society, the Bedford Public Library, the Hillsborough County Courthouse, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources, the New Hampshire Historical Society, and the New Hampshire State Library. 18. Geographical Context Bedford Center is located near the geographic center of the Town of Bedford about 2 miles west of the Merrimack River in the northwestern section of Hillsborough County. The topography is characterized by rolling hills with elevations ranging from approximately 250 to 500 feet above sea level. The study area is found mainly along a northeast-to-southwest trending valley formed by minor unnamed branches of Riddle Brook and Patten Brook, both tributaries of the Merrimack River. The Riddle Brook tributary flows southwest joining with the main north-to-south flowing branch of Riddle Brook along the study area’s western boundary. The Patten Brook tributary flows southeast and within the study area forms the Meetinghouse Road Wetlands, an emerging 28.5-acre marsh located on former pasture. The study 1 Town of Bedford, Annual Report of the Selectmen and the Town Officers of the Town of Bedford, New Hampshire of Town Affairs for the Year Ending December 31, 1973 and School Affairs for the Year Ending June 30, 1973 [Annual Report] (Bedford, N.H.: 1974), p. 89. New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources Page 5 of 93 REVISED AREA FORM BEDFORD CENTER HISTORIC DISTRICT area’s principal transportation corridor, defined by NH Route 101 and an older bypassed section of Bedford Center Road, trends northeast-to-southwest along the valley. South of the valley and just outside of the study area is Bells Hill, a dome-shaped rise that peaks at approximately 500 feet above sea level. Along the valley’s north side is a series of lower hills with southeasterly to southwesterly facing exposure. The tallest of these hills at approximately 420 feet above sea level, just northwest of the village center, is known as Houston Hill. Most of the historic resources found within the study area are located along the southern exposures of the north side of the valley with orientation to Bedford Center Road or one of the several other roads (Bell Hill Road, Church Road, Meetinghouse Road, Ministerial Road, and North Amherst Road) that branch from the six-way crossroads near the Bedford Meetinghouse and Bedford Presbyterian Church. The study area features a large degree of tree cover, mostly associated with residential properties that have developed over the past half century. Panoramic photos dating from the early 20th century document a prior agricultural period when the setting was kept in open fields and pasture (Figures 1-2). 19. Historical Background Early Exploration, Settlement and Land Grants, 1733-1755 The early exploration and settlement of the Town of Bedford was influenced by the land disputes between the colonies of Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the early decades of the 18th century as settlement pushed inland and up the Merrimack River Valley. This rivalry resulted in conflicting claims, not unique to Bedford, but common to many of the inland towns in southern New Hampshire along or near the border with Massachusetts. In the case of Bedford, the initial claim of importance belonged to Massachusetts, which made a land grant of the Township of Narragansett No. 5, also known as Souhegan East, in 1733. This township included all of the modern-day Town of Bedford and the northern part of the Town of Merrimack on the west side of the Merrimack River. The so-called Narragansett townships, numbering seven in total, were ostensibly a means for Massachusetts to fulfill a promise of land grants made to the veterans of King Philip’s War (1675-76) over a half-century earlier. Even though most of these veterans were no longer alive, the lands within the townships were divided among their heirs, known as ‘proprietors’, with the provision that sixty families settle within each township within seven years. The grants also provided for the setting aside of lands in each township for a minister, a school and a meetinghouse.2 In practice, few of the Narragansett proprietors settled in New Hampshire; rather, they treated the grants as land to be sold off for profit, and they worked to encourage settlement, particularly among recent Scots-Irish immigrants, who were predominately Presbyterian and fleeing religious persecution in Northern Ireland.