Skip to main content

Old New Hampshire Route 10 in Keene, New Hampshire

Image
By
The people who know me best know that I am as much of a waterfall enthusiast as I am a road enthusiast. When I was looking to make a day trip to southwestern New Hampshire in May 2018, I decided to check out Beaver Brook Falls in Keene. What I wasn't expecting is that the trail to the waterfall is a well preserved old alignment of NH 10 leading northeast from the city of Keene. That was a pleasant surprise. The old alignment of NH 10 is on a road called Washington Street Extension, which was bypassed by the early 1980s by a northern bypass of Keene utilizing NH 9 and NH 10.

Not too much has changed with the old road since the bypass opened other than the forces of time. The old pavement, guide rail posts and bridge over the Beaver Brook remain today in a quiet, forested environment. You can follow the old road about a half mile to the Old Man of Keene (a rock formation) and to Beaver Brook Falls, located 0.7 miles from the trailhead. Let's take a look and see what the old alignment of NH 10 in Keene looks like today...

The journey begins at a gate at the end of Washington Street Extension. The old road is now a nature walk operated by the City of Keene Parks & Recreation Department that brings you to the Old Man of Keene and Beaver Brook Falls. Parking is along the shoulder of Washington Street Extension.

You can notice some old pavement markings along the old road. The old road is being encroached by nature over time. Maybe that is by design, or maybe the road was not wide enough to begin with.

Continuing up the old road.

Some old guide rails.

Some sweeping curves too.
The Beaver Brook.
Crossing the Beaver Brook on an old bridge.
Some fallen rock meets the road.

Lots of leaves have collected along the old roadway, almost completely covering the road.

The Old Man of Keene, presumably named for its resemblance to the late, great Old Man of the Mountain in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.


Getting closer to Beaver Brook Falls, the old road hugs the hillside and the Beaver Brook. It's a bit narrow through this stretch, so you can see why a northern bypass of Keene for NH 10 was built on a different alignment.

The lands of Beaver Brook Canyon were generously donated to the City of Keene in 1969 for the public's enjoyment and passive recreation.

There is a pullout to the right, which is conveniently located next to Beaver Brook Falls.

Beyond the waterfall, the old alignment of NH 10 has returned to nature.

Beaver Brook Falls of Keene, not to be confused with the Beaver Brook Falls in Colebrook, New Hampshire. Beaver Brook Falls is a 12 foot tall plunge waterfall that cascades downstream. You won't get a good view of the waterfall from the old road, so you will need to make a short bushwhack down a slope to the Beaver Brook to check out the waterfall. There is a herd path down to the Beaver Brook that you may be able to make out from the old road itself.

A little wider view of Beaver Brook Falls. At this point, I took my picture, climbed the slope back to the old road and walked back to my car.



How to Get There:

Sources and Links:
New England Waterfalls - Beaver Brook Falls
NH Tour Guide - Beaver Brook Falls Keene NH
NH Family Hikes - Beaver Brook Falls
Keene Sentinel - History of the Keene bypass: Not entirely welcomed at first
Touring NH - Keene
Labels:
Location: 74 Concord Rd, Keene, NH 03431, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trimmer Springs Road (Fresno County)

By
Trimmer Springs Road is an approximately forty-mile rural highway located in Fresno County.  The corridor begins near in California State Route 180 in Centerville and extends to Blackrock Road at the Kings River in the Sierra Nevada range near the Pacific Gas & Electric Company town of Balch Camp. The roadway is named after the former Trimmer Springs Resort and was originally constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.  Trimmer Springs Road was heavily modified and elongated after construction of Pine Flat Dam broke ground in 1947.   Part 1; the history of Trimmer Springs Road Much of the original alignment of Trimmer Springs Road was constructed to facilitate access to the Sanger Log Flume.   The  Kings River Lumber Company  had been established in 1888 in the form of a 30,000-acre purchase of forest lands in Converse Basin.  This purchase lied immediately west of Grant Grove and came to be known as "Millwood."  The co...
Post a Comment
Read more

When was Ventura Avenue east of downtown Fresno renamed to Kings Canyon Road? (California State Route 180)

By
California State Route 180 was one of the original Sign State Routes designated in August 1934.  The highway east of Fresno originally utilized what was Ventura Avenue and Dunlap Road to reach what was then General Grant National Park.  By late year 1939 the highway was extended through the Kings River Canyon to Cedar Grove.   In 1940 General Grant National Park would be expanded and rebranded as Kings Canyon National Park.  The Kings Canyon Road designation first appeared in publications circa 1941 when the California State Route 180 bypass of Dunlap was completed.  Kings Canyon Road ultimately would replace the designation of Dunlap Road from Dunlap to Centerville and Ventura Avenue west to 1st Street in Fresno.   The Kings Canyon Road would remain largely intact until March 2023 when the Fresno Council designated Cesar Chavez Boulevard.  Cesar Chavez Boulevard was designated over a ten-mile corridor over what was Kings Canyon Road, remaini...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Pollasky Bridge

By
The Pollasky Bridge near modern day Friant is a ruined highway bridge which was completed during early 1906 as part of the Fresno-Fresno Flats Road.  The structure is one of the oldest known arch concrete spans to have been constructed in California.  The bridge briefly carried California State Route 41 following the destruction of the Lanes Bridge in 1940.  The Pollasky Bridge itself was destroyed by flooding during 1951, but the ruins can still be found on the Madera County side of the San Joaquin River.   Pictured as the blog cover is the Pollasky Bridge as it was featured in the 1913 book "The Concrete Bridge."  The structure can be seen crossing the San Joaquin River near Friant below on the 1922 United States Geological Survey Map.   Part 1; the history of the Pollasky Bridge The Pollasky Bridge site is near modern day Friant of Fresno County.  The community of Friant was established as Converse Ferry during 1852 on the San Joaquin Rive...
1 comment
Read more