Common Legacy and a Long-Term Commitment

By Rosalie Triolo

Photos courtesy of Bruce Fernald

Long before the arrival, in 1620, of the Mayflower with its passengers to a new world and new life in a land across the Atlantic Ocean, the Abenaki Indians, “people of the dawn land,” were already living in New Hampshire. They are indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands of Quebec, Canada, and in the United States, the New England states of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

The “people of the dawn land” were the first to witness the rising of the sun each morning, welcoming a new day. They met people from a European country whose ideas, traditions, religion and way of life were unfamiliar to them. The Abenaki Indians’ lives and deaths, traditions and legends connected them to this land of lakes and forests. Places of spiritual significance reminded the “people of the dawn land” of their unmistakable relationship to the Creator. Stories were told through the winter instructing them about their role in the world. Their collective memory humbly recalled that northern New England had been the Abenaki’s homeland since time immemorial. However, modern archaeological research offers increasing evidence that the Abenaki Indians, and their ancestors inhabited the dawn land for well over ten thousand years. Therefore, the New World was already old by the time Europeans

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On Wednesday, June 21, 2023 a meeting of the Abenaki Tower and Trail Association was held at the Tuftonboro Historical Society Museum in Melvin Village. Karen Burnett-Kurie, who is extremely knowledgeable on the subject, spoke of the history of the Abenaki Tower, and the people who promoted and motivated the construction of the Tower in 1924.

The early settlers had cut down trees for building houses. Large swaths of forests were cut down and used for farming, and grazing of sheep. In New Hampshire at the turn of the nineteenth century, logging was taking place at a rapid pace followed by fires due largely to left-behind tree branches and other debris. So, in August of 1923, when Mr. Joshua Quincy Litchfield, who was then the headmaster of the Agassiz School in Jamaica Pains, MA, and Mr. Frank Speare, President of Northeastern University in Boston were out walking, they found themselves standing on Edgerly Hill gazing out over pastures down to the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee. One-hundred years later, how different is the landscape of today’s mature forested terrain.

Karen Burnett-Kurie referred to records kept by Ethel Turner Burnett. “The tower is said to be built at the junction of several old Abenaki Indian • Abenaki Tower continued on page 4

Trails.” These Indian Trails were the Moultonborough Neck Trail across to Wawbeek in Melvin Village, intersecting with the shoreline to Wolfeboro and Trails to Ossipee. Karen added, “Regardless of some local rumors, the Abenaki Tower was neither a fire tower nor was it built to watch for German airplanes during World War II. Although some people thought it may have been a lookout tower for German submarines…in Lake Winnipesaukee?”

The Wawbeek connection to Abenaki Tower. According to Bruce Fernald, “In 1895, orchestra conductor, Henri G. Blaisdell established the Wawbeek Resort and Shore hotel, for the purpose of a musician’s retreat. In 1920 Camp Wawbeek was purchased by Chester I. Campbell. Chester’s sister Emily Campbell Fernald and her husband Walter Fernald, Bruce Fernald’s grandparents, operated the camp for many years. Chester I. Campbell and Walter

Fernald were the founding members of the Abenaki Tower and Trail Association.

The 70-ft tower was built offering residents and visitors the opportunity to climb to the top, and enjoy the expansive and breathtaking views of Lake Winnipesaukee, Melvin Village, some of its nearby islands and the Ossipee Mountain range.

Throughout the years, members of The Abenaki Tower and Trail Association, whether from the very beginning or to present-day have maintained the tower and trails. They have witnessed the effects of graffiti, vandalism, and misused trash barrels located near the tower, and the grounds surrounding the tower. In the 1930s and 1940s trash barrels were made available for use by visitors. Pieces of broken glass were found inside the barrels, and fires were also lit inside the barrels. Consequently, trash barrels were removed. Lightning rods were pulled off the top of the tower. And graffiti, speaks for itself.

By 1976 dry rot and age jeopardized the integrity of the tower, threatening the safety of visitors. A “Keep Off” sign to deter potential climbers was strung across the steps. Suggestions were offered, from tearing down the tower to rebuilding it. Admiral George C. Dyer, Karen Burnett-Kurie’s grandfather, a resident of Tuftonboro, at that time was living in the Joshua Q. Litchfield house at the end of Wawbeek Road. He proposed the need to “repair and preserve” the Abenaki Tower. Construction on the new tower began in 1977 using pressure treated poles donated by the NH Electric Co-op. Titus’ Maine Line Tree Service, now Bartlett Tree Service, was hired to rebuild the structure. Monetary contributions were donated by the Town of Tuftonboro, and the Hurlburt Fund. Donations arrived from private donors, and funds were raised by the “Village Pinups,” who together made a memorable quilt that was raffled off. The quilt is now on display at the Tuftonboro Historical Association Museum in Melvin Village. The primary crew members were Dick Mullen and Sam Snow of Tuftonboro, Bill Kotz of Effingham and Cecily Clark of Ossipee. Chet Fernald, Bruce Fernald’s father, then owner of the Wawbeek Hotel supervised the project. They “repaired and preserved” and added 10 feet to the new Abenaki Tower, which was dedicated on July 22, 1978.

“2023, The Ramp Up Year,” as Bruce Fernald refers to it, is the year of preparation for the Abenaki Tower’s Centennial Celebration. It began on Earth Day when the teens from the Kingswood Youth Center joined the friends of Abenaki Tower to spruce up the tower, and the area around the tower. They stained, raked, picked up trash and repaired signs.

The Tuftonboro Historical Society Museum will be opened for the public to view an interactive exhibit on Wednesdays or Fridays from 2 pm to 4 pm and on Saturdays from 10 am to 1 pm in July and August.

Tuftonboro events include: Tuftonboro Historical Society barn sale, the town-wide yard sale and the holiday festival. The funds raised from these events will be put towards next year’s 100th Birthday Party at the Tower and other Centennial activities.

According to Bruce Fernald, “Preparations are in the works on a long-term plan for replacing the Tower. A Capital Campaign is in process.”

For more information on the Abenaki Tower and Trail Association, and the 100th Anniversary Celebration, email karen.burnettkurie@gmail.com

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