Our group resumed our meetings in September after our summer break. We enjoyed a delicious lunch and dessert.

One of our members presented a program about a local landmark, Mount Kearsage. Located in Warner and Wilmot, Mount Kearsage is home to Winslow State park (Wilmot) and Rollins State Park (Warner). Mount Kearsage is a popular hiking mountain as it is an easy climb from the Winslow side and even easier from Rollins as there is a road most of the way to the summit. On a very clear day you can see the White Mountains, the Green Mountains of Vermont, the Atlantic Ocean, and Boston.

The Winslow State Park was named for the Winslow House Hotel which stood where the picnic area is now located. The hotel had been named for Admiral John Winslow who commanded the USS Kearsage during the Civil War. Rollins State Park was named in honor of Governor Frank W. Rollins. Originally the 521 acres was under The Society For Protection of New Hampshire Forests but was turned over to the State of New Hampshire in 1950 for a State Park.

In 1913 a wooden fire tower was erected on the summit of the mountain which was replaced by a steel one in 1924.

There have been many different spellings of Kearsage. On a 1652 map it was Carasage believed to be an Indian name meaning “notch pointed mountain of pines”. In 1749 it was Kyasage, 1755 Chi a Sarge, 1774 Kyarsarge, and in 1816 Kearsage.

A number of Andover people have been toll takers at Winslow State Park. Arthur Andrews ( Betty Miller Dickerman’s father) worked there for 28 years and lived in a small house which is no longer there. On slow days, the Fire Warden would come down from the tower and play cribbage. Pat Decatur Baker (a member of our group) and her husband Gordon collected tolls in the summer for eight years.

In the summer many weddings and other gathering take place at each park.  In the past, area hotels would take guests to Winslow for a picnic dinner. Twin Lakes Villa in New London still takes their guests one night a week to the park for dinner.

We will be choosing programs for 2016 at our next meeting.

For more info about our group call 735-5493.