Colebrook, New Hampshire

[3] Situated in the Great North Woods Region, it is bounded on the west by the Connecticut River and home to Beaver Brook Falls Natural Area.[4] In 1803, seven years after the incorporation of the town, historian Timothy Dwight wrote, "Everything in this township exhibits the activity and enterprise of its inhabitants; their roads, plantations, barns and schoolhouses are well built."[4] The first sawmill and gristmill in the town were constructed around 1800 by Andrew McAllaster and his son, William, on the west side of the Beaver Brook bridge on what is now Main Street (Route 3) at the north end of the present village.The first brick maker was the Loomis kiln, located north of the current village approximately where the IGA grocery store now stands.In 1822 a new brick woolen mill was constructed in Factory Village along the Mohawk River and produced at its peak 6,000 to 7,000 pounds (2,700 to 3,200 kg) of finished wool per year.After the Coos Trail through Dixville Notch was created in 1803, farmers loaded sleds each winter with potash, pearlash, wheat and other produce, including potato whiskey, to exchange in Portland, Maine, for molasses, saltfish and other necessities.This industry dated back to 1848, when Sherburn R. Merrill bought land in Factory Village along the Mohawk River to build a starch mill, originally with 150 tons capacity.Other local manufacturing businesses, including blacksmiths, bobbin mills, boot- and shoemakers, carriage shops, cheesemakers, and tanneries, grew in the area through the 1800s, until the arrival of the railroad in 1887 connected the town to larger suppliers of goods.Construction began on Lombard's Hill, but a violent windstorm in April 1893 destroyed the frame, and investors abandoned the project.Although the Metallak itself was never finished, its extensive plans are preserved among the architect's papers at the Maine Historical Society, making the ill-fated Colebrook hotel perhaps the most thoroughly documented design of its type in the White Mountains.New Hampshire Route 26 also runs through the center of Colebrook, leading west to its terminus in Lemington, Vermont, and east through Dixville Notch to Errol.[1] The highest point in Colebrook is Van Dyck Mountain, elevation 2,760 feet (840 m), in the northeastern corner of the town.[7] Colebrook has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfb) with warm summer days and mild nights but severely cold winters with high diurnal temperature variation.Snowfall is high during winter, similar to most of Northeastern United States, but a long-lasting snow pack is formed due to the persistently cold temperatures.