![]() I had never even seen the site until I volunteered on a work crew in 2014 to provide much needed clean-up and brush clearing around the old structures. I will admit that for a long time after I started researching Eliot history I still did not know much about the Frost Garrisons. The William Fogg Library, the Paul Family Farm, and the Frost Garrison and House. How many can locate it or really know what it is? What is the difference between "The Frost Garrisons" and "The Frost Garrison"? There are currently three locations in Eliot that are on the National Register of Historic Places. Not to be confused with "The Frost Garrison". When learning about Eliot history we hear a lot about "The Frost Garrisons". We will not have homes built in the 20th century standing in the 23rd century the way we have 18th century homes still standing in Eliot today, which is why it is all the more tragic when we lose one of these historic marvels to the bulldozer or the ravages of time. The construction of many modern houses was never meant to last centuries. Sadly this is a losing battle in my opinion. I know many people trying to keep 20th century homes from falling apart. Many of these old homes were built with thick, sturdy timbers from nearby forests. If people want to see original colonial-era houses that are still standing, they can see many by driving north into New Hampshire and Maine. Early colonial settlements and farms that were part of the original Massachusetts Bay Colony were largely bulldozed over due to the pressures of suburban Boston planning over the last century and a half. People first started building houses here in 1633, and some of our modern property lines still run along the original boundaries that were laid out 380 years ago. We live in an area that has largely remained rural and undeveloped for centuries. Sunset Hill was one of these.Įliot folks are a fortunate group of people. The drumlins contain much of the gravel material sought for construction projects. They are mostly elongated, often teardrop-shaped and point in the direction of the glacier's retreat. The drumlins are the various hills that we see around Eliot. Many of these drumlins have been further eroded by the ocean waters that poured in while the bedrock was still compressed from the weight of the glaciers. Eliot features many glacial drumlins that are basically the result of receding glaciers dumping the enormous amount of rocky debris that had accumulated in the ice at certain spots on the surface of the land as they melted and receded north 16,000 years ago. The reason for this is the location of many glacial outwash features that make up Eliot's landscape. This branch line can be seen on the 1916 USGS map.Įliot has not had a shortage of gravel operations, both in the past and continuing today. In October 1911 construction began on a branch of the Atlantic Shore Line Railway to bring rail cars to the gravel pit. What was this gravel pit and why was it here? The short answer is this gravel pit was owned by William Augustus Shapleigh (1859-1932) who owned the large old home that his father Samuel built which is now 196 Fore Road. Today tree growth partially obscures the fact that this was once a productive gravel pit abandoned one hundred years ago. It sits in a cut of land that rises steeply to Sunset Hill on the south. A building of some kind that was abandoned long ago. The last two things to note are Beech Road is named New Road, and the section of State Road between the Grange Hall and the end of Fore Road does not exist and wasn't even proposed at this time.Ī walk through the woods on the northern side of Sunset Hill reveals the remains of a stone cellar. Also notice the proposed road that would have existed just north of where Hanscom Road is today and come out around Fernald Lane continuing across to Littlebrook Lane and on to the sharp corner of Goodwin Road at Frost Hill. Before this new stretch of road existed everyone travelled on what is today Leach Road to Bolt Hill Road, to Main Street and Moses Gerrish Farmer Road to get from Kittery to the where the center of Eliot is today. This became the long stretch of State Road that goes past the Mt. It is interesting to note the proposed new road from Mark Fernald's house over the Eliot line in Kittery to the intersection of what is now Beech Road. The proposed roads are in a slightly lighter brown dotted line. This survey of existing and proposed roads is from about 1817.
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