Then and Now: Recreation begins its conquest

By 1860 Enoch and Hannah Chandler decided to give up their big farmhouse on the western face of Mount Cranmore and move to Bethel, where some of their sons were engaged in business. Levi Seavey bought the Chandler place, with its views of Mount Washington and Kearsarge, and went to farming there. He and his wife also took in elderly paupers and orphans for the extra cash the town paid. The Civil War coincided with the completion of the Mount Washington Stage Road, drawing droves of tourists each summer, and the Seaveys started renting out some of their 13 rooms to a more profitable clientele.

The isolation of their location and the peculiarities of the surrounding terrain created an acoustic phenomenon that led them — or summer guest — to name the place Echo Farm. Visitors reached it by turning up Kearsarge Road and making a right turn down into the valley of Kearsarge Brook. The only farms that road served were John Cranmore’s and the Seavey place, so it became known as Echo Farm Road. After crossing Kearsarge Brook, the road climbed diagonally up the mountain, following a branch that has since disappeared. The road ended at the Seaveys’ door.