Tamworth, New Hampshire Town Pound

I have been photographing and posting stories on several New Hampshire historic town pounds.  Today's town pound in Tamworth, New Hampshire no longer exists, but the area was marked out with wooden fencing as part of the Bicentennial.  The actual pound stood here between 1801 and 1879.   It is located on Cleveland Hill Road, right next to the Ordination Rock, and across the street from the town cemetery.  

In The History of Carroll County by Georgia Drew Merrill, 1889, there are several listings over the years for pounds to be built in Tamworth in 1786 "on William Eastman's land" and in 1796 "somewhere near Capt. Jacob Brown".   The only other mention of the pound was a resolution during the 1851 town meeting "That the selectmen of Tamworth are hereby authorized to cede to a committee of arrangement the land now occupied for a pound near the ordination rock, for the purpose of having it ornamented in commemoration of the event of the ordination of the Rev. Samuel Hidden on said rock..."  

If this pound was ever made of fieldstone walls, similar to most other town pounds across New Hampshire, no trace of those walls remains today. 

Some other town pounds featured on this blog:

Derryfield (Manchester, New Hampshire): 

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/09/derryfield-town-pound.html  

Hudson, New Hampshire:    

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/07/hudson-town-pound-1772.html

Londonderry, New Hampshire:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/04/wordless-wednesday-1730-londonderry.html  

Bow, New Hampshire:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/06/town-pound-bow-new-hampshire.html   

Loudon, New Hampshire:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/10/loudon-new-hampshire-town-pound.html   

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Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tamworth, New Hampshire Town Pound", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 22, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/10/tamworth-new-hampshire-town-pound.html: accessed [access date]). 

Loudon, New Hampshire Town Pound

This is another in a series of photographs of town pounds taken in my area of New Hampshire.  Today's featured town pound is on Youngs Hill Road in Loudon.

Traditionally, in New England, pounds were built to produce revenue for the town. An enclosure was built and overseen by a "hog reeve" or other elected official.  The pound was a place to hold escaped livestock until fines could be paid to the town, and compensation paid to neighbor's who had damaged property due to the escaped pig, cow, or other farm animal.

The sign in front of the pound reads "Est. 1774".  The town was incorporated by Governor John Wentworth on 23 January 1773, and the original center and town hall are on the corner of Youngs Hill Road and Clough Hill Road.  The first town meeting was held on 23 March 1773 and Samuel Carter and Stephen Perkins were elected the hog reeves. The people of Loudon wasted no time in building their town pound!

Some other town pounds featured on this blog:

Derryfield (Manchester, New Hampshire): 

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/09/derryfield-town-pound.html  

Hudson, New Hampshire:    

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/07/hudson-town-pound-1772.html  

Londonderry, New Hampshire:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/04/wordless-wednesday-1730-londonderry.html  

Bow, New Hampshire:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/06/town-pound-bow-new-hampshire.html   

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Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Loudon, New Hampshire Town Pound", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 13, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/10/loudon-new-hampshire-town-pound.html: accessed [access date]). 

Town Pound, Bow, New Hampshire

The Bow Town Pound was built in 1821.  It's located on the Branch Londonderry Turnpike, just a little bit past the Crossroads Community Church.  At the 1768 town meeting Bow elected Rueben Currier and Samuel Alexander as the "hog constables" (also known as "hog reeves").  The first town pound was east of White Rock Hill. This is the third town pound, the first two have been demolished over the years. 

Each town was entitled to have a town pound and an elected officer to impound wandering animals. The fines collected for hogs, cattle, and other farm animals generated revenue for the town.  It was an important position, and a great fund raiser.  The "hog reeve" was elected during town meeting every spring.  Look through the annual town meeting minutes or town clerk records of your ancestral towns in New England to see if your ancestor was elected as "hog reeve" or some other interesting position.  

Some other town pounds featured on this blog:

Derryfield (Manchester, New Hampshire): 

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/09/derryfield-town-pound.html  

Hudson, New Hampshire:    

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/07/hudson-town-pound-1772.html

Londonderry, New Hampshire:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/04/wordless-wednesday-1730-londonderry.html  

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Town Pound, Bow, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 15, 2020, (https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/06/town-pound-bow-new-hampshire.html: accessed [access date]).