Nashaway Bridges

Approaching Nashaway's "meeting of the waters" just above Center Bridge where the Nashua River's North and South branches converge, I was cautiously optimistic the South Branch might be navigable.  All of my previous attempts in ascending the branch have been thwarted by the many fallen trees at the confluence.  However this past Monday, thanks to the bountiful amounts of rainfall we've received of late, I was able to float over those fallen trees and ascend the first half mile of the South Branch.  Doing so allowed me to reach and paddle under the historic Atherton Bridge which is about a quarter mile upstream of the confluence...

A closer look at Atherton Bridge from upstream...

The bridge is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places as a wrought and cast iron Post-type pony truss bridge...

 

The town of Lancaster (originally Nashaway Plantation) has two iron truss bridges, the Atherton built in 1870 across the South Branch and the Ponakin built in 1871 across the North Branch.  Both bridges are historically significant because of their design.

I learned of another Lancaster bridge Monday, thanks to driving past this weathered sign on my way home...

...the Neck Bridge which once spanned the main stem of the river downstream of the "meeting of the waters".  One can only imagine what it looked like and where it was located.  According to the History of Lancaster Massachusetts: from the First Settlement to the Present Time, 1643-1879 by Rev. Ebijah P. Marvin: "The Main river was called Penacook by the natives, and also by the early settlers." A 1675 drawing in the same book shows the river below the "meeting of the waters" as "Penacook River" ...

This was the first I'd heard "Penacook" used in reference to this stretch of the Nashua.  Confirmation of sorts was found in Native American Place Names of Massachusetts by R.A. Douglas Lithgow, where Penacook is listed as "part of Nashua River, Lancaster, and means "a crooked place".

Some clues as to the Neck Bridge's construction are provided from a 1718 town meeting:
"...order to consider about building the Neck Bridge by Knight's pasture...then discoursed about the dimensions of said bridge, and concluded it should have five trussels, and to a foot higher than before to make good Butments; and to be 13 feet wide between the posts, which are to be of sound oake; and so the caps and braces; and to brace into the posts above the caps, and down into the mudsills, which are to be 40 feet long, and to cover said bridge with good plank or logs, as they who build it shall count best."

As to the location of Neck Bridge the book states: "The place of crossing the Penacook, or main Nashua river, was somewhere east of Charles L. Wilder's residence.  The Indians had a fish wear (weir) thereabouts.  At times the water there is very shallow...The most probable conjecture is that the crossing place was near the bend in the road (Neck Rd)."

According to this drawing in Marvin's book the Neck Bridge was built and subsequently rebuilt at three different spots over it's lifetime...

All three locations were between today's Center Bridge and where the Dead River diverges.  Ultimately the Neck Bridge became redundant upon the Center Bridge (shown with dotted lines) being built in 1802.

The relationship of the Atherton Bridge, Center Bridge, and Neck Bridge is shown in this expanded view of the above drawing...

I had launched into the North Branch from a spot near the Sprague Bridge and not very far from where the Rowlandson garrison house stood on the morning of February 10th, 1676.  This stone marker stands directly across Route 70 from the entrance to the Canoe Launch and serves as a reminder of the tragic events which occurred there...

On my next visit to Nashaway, thanks to the detailed information in Marvin's History of Lancaster, I'll look forward to taking a closer look at the Nashua (or perhaps I should say Penacook) River and seeing if I can locate any remnants of the Neck Bridge.  While doing that I'll also look for any traces of the ancient "fish wear" mentioned.