HART’S LOCATION — Once upon a time there was a logging village known as Livermore in the Sawyer River Valley of Crawford Notch.
Now it exists only in memory — and in the photographs and crumbling foundations that are featured in a fascinating history tour offered by former U.S. Forest Service employee and White Mountain history enthusiast Cort Hansen, co-owner of Ragged Mountain Equipment.
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(1) comment
So nice to see this well-written article about Livermore. I remember visiting it with my mother as a child, and have wondered how it looks these days. Tom Eastman’s observations of that once-populated town are much appreciated.
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