I find your theory on the location of Tinkhamtown very fascinating and probably correct. But in listening to the video he mentions, while looking at the old map that he had drawn years earlier, that he is between
Kearsarge and Cardigan Mountain. He must have been referring to Mt. Kearsarge and not the unincorporated town near Conway, NH, as that is a great distance away. Mt. Kearsarge and Cardigan Mountain are about 25 miles apart as the crow flies, and about halfway in between lies the rural town of Danbury. Intererestingly enough, along Route 4 and the Smith River in Danbury you can find an area on the old topographical maps that is labeled “Fords Crossing”. I wonder if there might be a connection?

Stephen - that's an interesting theory as well that I've heard mentioned before. Southeast of Mt. Cardigan, a bit less than 5 miles as the crow flies, is a small mountain called Tinkham Hill. It certainly could be the place!

This is getting better and better.

It is very interesting. Do any of these places still exist? IE are they still woods and not subdivisions? I hope so

Steve and Patty could take a drive over there someday soon and let us know. What's it Steve, twenty or thirty minutes from your house?

I just shot an email to "Doc Hall" asking him if Corey ever divulged to him where the fabled town of Tinkhamtown was located. I hope Doc is still with us - he was getting along and was getting physically feeble the last time we communicated.

About that Dean, and a route I drive pretty often. It is still a very rural beautiful area with cover along Route 4 that look like it could be good grouse/woodcock cover. And Mills, there is not a subdivision anywhere near that area!! I am going to plan on scoping it out with Star as soon as the weather cools. This is going to be fun:)

Need a partner?

Absolutely, I will give you a call:)

we expect a Parker Pages story out of this

That is great to hear. Boy, would it be fun to retrace Corey's footsteps and with an old Parker too

If you look at both areas on Google Earth, which uses fairly decent resolution aerial photos, Tinkhamtown Brook is basically all woods in all directions for quite a distance. Tinkham Hill is another area that is pretty much void of the modern house/shopping mall. I haven't lived in NH since 1991, but I'm sure most of the larger unpopulated areas are still that....other than the occasional soul looking for his remote place in the woods. Housing developments will always rear their ugly heads as long as the population keeps expanding.

This reminds me so much of the Eagles song "Paradise"- probably the saddest and most haunting song an upland hunter could know.

For you historical research guys. You might be surprised to find old aerial photos are still available. I found 1938, 1955, and 1962 aerial photos of the area I hunt. Check with your state geospatial data repository. Most states have one these days to house, catalog, and diseminate GIS data.

On my photos it is amazing the change that took place during and following WWII. I am surmizing that the gas rationing and diminished male workforce led to many, many acres reverting to brushy habitat from mowed fields that existed in 1938.

Thanks for that lead Gary.

I expect a significant "diminished male workforce" has resulted after each of our wars. Women and children weren't able to keep the farm going for very long after husbands, sons, and 'hired help' were absent from the farm.
It didn't take long after the ol' place was abandoned that buildings collapsed and the fields, meadows, and dooryard grew up in brush and saplings.

That's a good point, but actually it was the farmers who had gas and rubber tires during the war. My grandfather, a dairy farmer here, never wanted for either during the war as farms were considered vital. And as far as farms being abandoned and reverting back to woods, again here in NH that had more to do with the poor soil and expansion of the textile industry than lack of manpower. Folks moved to the cities here to work in the textile and shoe mills along major waterways which initially provided power to the mills. Except along the Connecticut River, NH grows Granite, not much corn. And its amazing that after the rise of the textile industry here and the abandonment of the farms, the textile plants went the way of the farms in the late 1950's, early 1960's as high energy and labor costs forced them to move to the south. Mills were abandoned all over the state creating eyesores. Today, lots of those old abandoned mills have been rehabbed and are now trendy shopping malls and restaurants. And farming is making somewhat of a comeback on a small scale with farmers markets popping up in most towns in the summer. I guess what goes around comes around.

We shall see...

There are some great old topo maps available from UNH for various Northeast states. Many are from 1927 and 1931. You can access and view these maps via: http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/nhtopos.htm.


The map for Tinkham Hill is on: http://docs.unh.edu/NH/card27se.jpg

The map for Tinkhamtown Brook is located at the bottom of the map on: http://docs.unh.edu/NH/mtcb31se.jpg

I hope Steve is right , as we speak ,I am in the process of getting the " Old Allis Chalmers, WD 45 back up in running condition and am hoping come spring to be back up and plowing at least part of the back forty ! Nothing too serious just some decent tasting vegetables and maybe a few head of cattle ! I have owned the land some time but just haven't had time to do anything but mow the edges ! It's good Deer hunting but the birds are long gone ,I am contemplating a couple of 5 to 7 acre clear cuts and maybe get a few Grouse back in here eventually ! As Dean says ,We Shall See !!!!!:)

My dream is to have some hunting/farm property of my own. Good luck with your project Russ.

Thank you Mills , yes it is nice to always have a place to hunt ,when I was a Boy ,we had more Grouse than you can imagine around the old home place but I couldn't hit them but on occasion ,I know I am not the one to hurt our local population :rotf: ,must have been loss of habitat !

If this works out, would it be ok for me to tag along. I love the history and the woods. Steve ,I won't get lost :)

Scott, I can't think of a reason why not..... I've tried and tried but can't come up with a single reason..... ;)

Absolutely Scott..............when the weather cools in late August, we will all get together at my house and make the trek:corn:

I think Tony Ambrose nailed it with the map that shows Tinkhamtown Brook.

You will also find the "town" of Hardscrabble, (along the 50' parallel) the fabled New Hampshire community where the members of the Lower Forty tramped the hills and meadows and fished Mink Brook. You'll also find Perkins Brook - Remember Uncle Perk's Perkin's General Store in Hardscrabble?
Also look for the Dartmouth Outing Club and the Dartmouth Outing Club Trail.

Corey Ford was a professor at Dartmouth at the time he wrote "Tales of the Lower Forty" for Field & Stream magazine, and was very active in sports and outings with several of the students there.... "Doc Hall" (Dr. James Whitney Hall, III) being one of his favorites.

I think we should begin our trek along Tinkhamtown Brook and head upstream, and cross what's left of the bridge, and eventually up that rise to Tinkhamtown.

are you guys going off washburn road or summers else?

Don't know - there's no road signs on the map.

Hey, I just found "Skunk Hollow" on the map too! Another "fictional" place written about in the Lower Forty.

Thanks Dean. Those old maps have provided many great "hints" that led me to believe that this was the area. As Steve noted, the story line also mentions "between Kearsarge and Cardigan Mountain", which always threw a kink into my theory. Since Tinkham Hill is located between these two mountains, it was always worth the search of those map areas to find any hints, but, I always returned to look at the map of the Tinkhamtown Brook area and all those familiar names that could be tied to Corey Ford. I see there are trails or dirt roads leading in to the general area of Tinkhamtown Brook. I wish you guys luck in whatever you end up finding. If nothing else, I hope you find grouse!!

As for me, I'll keep an eye out for a posting of your exploration. Grouse season is slowing approaching and I find it difficult to focus on much of anything else. I'm looking forward to Autumn and following my English Pointer in my coverts of the northern ADKs and central Maine. Maybe I'll spend a few days in northern NH. I have fond memories of some great covers around Lake Francis and First Connecticut Lake, although the last time I was in that area, I thought that someone must have put up a billboard advertising all the great hunting to be found, since I saw more bird hunters in that one trip than I had seen in the previous 10 years! It was enough that I haven't bought a NH license or been back in quite a few years. A couple weeks in central Maine in the last half of October every year has been feeding my New England grouse passion quite nicely. My friends in Maine tell me that they are seeing lots of grouse and woodcock......although not one of them would ever think about following a dog in the woods and shooting one on the wing!

Good luck guys. I hope you actually find the remnants of a bridge on Tinkhamtown Brook!

Tony, I know what your mean about Pittsburg. I have a camp 13 miles in on Indian Stream and have hunted the area for may years. We sure get an influx of...............................well, I will be kind.:rotf:

Steve - you're right in the thick of it with a camp up there. Much better than renting a cabin for a few days, then running into a truckload of hunters in every other cover that you go to. I can't imagine what it must be like in early October! The last time I hunted up there I couldn't get back over to Maine quick enough.

That area south of the west end of Francis off of Cedar Stream Road started turning into a housing development about 10 years ago with all the homes and camps being built. God help us if it keeps expanding East!

The influx of hunters in woods where there once was more solitude and a man could call them "his" coverts are probably a direct result of the annual increase in posted land down state and elsewhere.

Dean, it is more a direct result of no birds south of the Notch. We really do not suffer much yet from extensive posted land here, just not may birds, which is a result of lack of habitat. When I was a youth we had great bird hunting here in Gilford, but the fields and apple orchards are now either mature woods or houses.

This just in...

These are the nine Twombly Setter littermates. Grace, my new pup, is on the far left. The one with two black eye-patches is "Maggie" and will be taken home to New York by a good friend of Rick Losey.

These are the sons and daughters of "Coronation's Duke of Earl" who starred in the Tinkhamtown video at the beginning of this thread.



.

amazing picture! how did you get them all to stand at the same time?

I can't take responsibility Ed. This picture was taken by the breeder and owner of Coronation Kennel. These pups are so eager to play and for the next adventure. And they're such fun to watch it's almost a shame to separate them so soon.

Dean, she is a peach:)

puppy day is always a mix of joy and heart break, but it doesn't take them long to adjust.

My daughters both brought home litter mates the 4th of July (Golden Retrievers) the pups have both adjusted to running their new homes- but the pups got back together here this weekend for the first time in a couple weeks and turned right back to playing as if nothing had separated them.

OK- I see a post from Dean-

so how did puppy day go??

I was going to wait and just call you at 3 am to ask- figuring you will be up anyway

:whistle:

:rotf:

Puppy day went (and is still going) very, very well.

Grace is just the sweetest little pup and doesn't seem to miss her litter mates much as long as we keep her occupied.

She has only peed on the floor here once and that was on the hardwood in the kitchen - not on any carpets.

Dean ,Congrats on the new Pup ,Grace is a beauty !!!! Nice name too !