Day 4

Day 4- The day began with all you can eat pancakes and real maple syrup in the town of Whitefield. After getting back from the moderately tall but steep inclined Mt. Martha, I decided to read up a little more on the town. Turns out that the town was founded in a less than ordinary way when Major John Burns fell off his horse drunk from drinking too much “demon’s rum” in the Spring of 1802. He hit his head and pitched his tent and from then on the settlement of Whitefield had started. The town’s name is believed to have come from Reverend George Whitefield who preached in the area in the early beginnings. Some of the first paths to the settlement were made from chopping down huge six foot round firs and removing gigantic boulders by warming them with fires and then throwing ice cold water on them to crack them. After the end of the Civil War and the introduction of the railroad to the area in 1868, the town saw tremendous growth due to the logging industry. By 1884 the town supported the largest lumbering company of the East. It was so large that word even got to Canada about its success and French Canadians from the St. Lawrence Seaway flocked to the town to make up half the town’s population at one point. After the area began to be depleted of resources and the government began making parks, the town slowly dwindled and left behind are some of the old dilapidated buildings that still stand today in the area. So, that was the history lesson for me today about the area, back to the activities. We got back to Dr. Arion’s house and instantly I was drawn to the lake. We ate a quick lunch and then out onto the canoe I went with Vinny. Within one cast of Vinny’s, I already owed him five dollars for catching the first fish (a perch). Soon after that it began to thunder again and as we came in I snagged my own little perch. During the rain we decided to head back to camp and it was during this time that we came to the conclusion that Dr. Zorn was a better driver than Dr. Arion. Tomorrow is a little more relaxing to rest and gear up for the granddaddy of them all on Tuesday, Mt. Washington.