CONCORD, N.H.-
The Shakers quarried the stone in nearby Canaan and slid it across the frozen lake to get it to their building site in Enfield. They dug the foundation, milled the lumber and spent three years crafting cupboards, bannisters and hundreds of built-in drawers before completing what’s known as the Great Stone Dwelling in 1841.
Over time, this vibrant community of Shakers would fade into history, leaving the building–the largest Shaker dwelling ever constructed–behind.
Now that building is listed among “Seven to Save,” a list of important state landmarks that The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance identified as being at risk.
On the opposite side of the state, the Philbrook Farm Inn made the list as the nation’s oldest continuously run inn remaining in a single family. It’s in the hands of the fifth generation of Philbrooks, but Ann Leger says neither she nor her younger brother have children to take over the business. They also own almost 1,000 acres of prime farmland along the Androscoggin River with a view of the Presidential Ranges. The Conservation Fund is working now to raise funds for a conservation easement for the property.
One of the “Seven to Save” actually represents about 20 individual sites, all owned by the state. They include the White Island lighthouse built in 1853; the Robert Frost Farm in Derry; and the Weeks Estate in Lancaster, where hungry porcupines are chewing up a wood entryway to a tower on the property.
Other properties on the list are the Epsom Bible Church, the stone arched bridge in Keene, the Franco-American Centre in Manchester, and Hilltop Elementary School in Somersworth.
