Editing Crawford Notch

{{Short description|Major pass through White Mountains in New Hampshire, US}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2011}}
{{Infobox mountain pass
| name = Crawford Notch
| photo = A View of the Mountain Pass Called the Notch of the White Mountans (Crawford Notch)-1839-Thomas Cole.jpg
| photo_caption = ''The Notch of the White Mountains'' (1839),<br />by [[Thomas Cole]] (1801–1848), looking south past Saco Lake
| elevation_ft = 1,900
| traversed = [[Image:US 302.svg|20px]] [[U.S. Route 302]]
| location = [[Carroll County, New Hampshire|Carroll]] / [[Coos County, New Hampshire|Coos]] counties, [[New Hampshire]], U.S.
| range = [[White Mountains (New Hampshire)|White Mountains]]
| coordinates = {{coord|44|13|7|N|71|24|42|W |type:pass_region:US-NH |display=inline,title}}
| topo = [[United States Geological Survey|USGS]] Crawford Notch, Stairs Mountain, Bartlett
}}
'''Crawford Notch''' is a major [[mountain pass|pass]] through the [[White Mountains (New Hampshire)|White Mountains]] of [[New Hampshire]], located in [[Hart's Location, New Hampshire|Hart's Location]]. Roughly half of that town is contained in [[Crawford Notch State Park]]. The high point of the notch, at approximately {{convert|1900|ft}} above sea level, is at the southern end of the town of [[Carroll, New Hampshire|Carroll]], near the [[Crawford Depot (Carroll, New Hampshire)|Crawford Depot]] train station and Saco Lake, the source of the [[Saco River]], which flows southward through the steep-sided notch. North of the high point of the notch, Crawford Brook flows more gently northwest to the [[Ammonoosuc River]], a tributary of the [[Connecticut River]].

The notch is traversed by [[U.S. Route 302]], which closely follows the Saco River southeast to [[North Conway, New Hampshire|North Conway]] and less closely follows the Ammonoosuc River northwest to [[Littleton, New Hampshire|Littleton]].

==History==
[[File:Crawford Notch Summit.jpg|thumb|left|The summit of Crawford Notch in January]]
Originally called White Mountain Notch, it became known to European settlers when found by Timothy Nash in 1771.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Julyan |first1=Robert Hixson |last2=Julyan |first2=Mary |title=Place Names of the White Mountains |year=1993 |publisher=University Press of New England |location=Hanover, NH |isbn=978-0-87451-638-8 |pages=34–36 |edition=Revised |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KkKBhQVyid8C&pg=PA34}}</ref> The 1772 boundaries of Hart's Grant reflected its shape.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} It was named for the [[Crawford family of the White Mountains|Crawford family]], who were trail-builders and hostelers there in the 19th century. The Tenth New Hampshire Turnpike from [[Portsmouth, New Hampshire|Portsmouth]] was extended through the notch to [[Lancaster, New Hampshire|Lancaster]] in 1803.<ref>{{cite book |title=This Grand & Magnificent Place: The Wilderness Heritage of the White Mountains |first=Christopher |last=Johnson |publisher=UPNE |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-58465-461-2 |pages=49–51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uzBIKlqDu74C&pg=PA49}}</ref><ref>* {{cite book |title=This Vast Book of Nature: Writing the Landscape of New Hampshire's White Mountains, 1784–1911 |first=Pavel |last=Cenkl |publisher=University of Iowa Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-58729-714-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FuYKSB_iv3gC&pg=PA25 |page=25}}</ref> The turnpike and later [[Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad]] through Crawford Notch opened a new route through the White Mountains for settlers of the area to the northwest to reach [[Conway, New Hampshire|Conway]] on the way to the trading ports on the coast.<ref>Johnson, Ron ''Maine Central Railroad Mountain Division'' p.9</ref>{{qn|date=June 2018}}

[[Image:-18 Hill, T., Crawford Notch, 1916.15TN.jpg|250px|thumb|right|''Crawford Notch'' (1867), by [[Thomas Hill (American painter)|Thomas Hill]] (1829–1908), looking north, collection of the [[New Hampshire Historical Society]]]]
A well-documented historic event within the notch was a [[rockslide]] that killed the entire Samuel Willey family in August 1826. The family fled their home during the storm to a prepared shelter but were buried by the slide and died in a mass of stone and rubble. Their home was untouched. [[Mount Willey]], on the west side of the notch, is named in their memory.<ref name="johnson"/> The event in part inspired a short story by [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] titled ''[[The Ambitious Guest]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sears|first=John F.|title=Hawthorne's "The Ambitious Guest" and the Significance of the Willey Disaster|journal=American Literature |volume=54|issue=3 |date=October 1982|pages=354–367 |jstor = 2925848 |doi=10.2307/2925848}}</ref> Further down the notch, Nancy Brook and [[Mount Nancy]] are named for an earlier tragedy.<ref name="johnson">{{cite book |title=This Grand & Magnificent Place: The Wilderness Heritage of the White Mountains |first=Christopher |last=Johnson |publisher=UPNE |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-58465-461-2 |pages=55–56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uzBIKlqDu74C&pg=PA55}}</ref>

In the Carroll portion of the notch, the [[Appalachian Mountain Club]] has built and operates the Highland Center Lodge and Conference Center (on the site of the Crawford House Hotel, a 19th-century grand hotel that burned in 1972), and has renovated the [[Queen Anne style architecture in the United States|Queen Anne style]] Victorian-era Crawford Notch [[Maine Central Railroad|Maine Central]] [[Crawford Depot (Carroll, New Hampshire)|train depot]] as a bookstore. The depot remains a stop on the scenic "Notch Train" of the [[Conway Scenic Railroad]], operated seasonally from [[North Conway, New Hampshire|North Conway]].

==Points of interest==
*Grave of [[Samuel Bemis]], first photographer of the American landscape
*[[Mount Willard (New Hampshire)|Mount Willard]], open summit near center of notch with views of the notch's structure

==See also==
[[Image:CrawfordNotchCenter.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Present-day Crawford Notch, looking south from Elephant Head rock (visible to left of notch in Thomas Cole painting)]]
*[[List of mountain passes in New Hampshire]]
*[[Nash & Sawyer Location, New Hampshire]]
*[[List of New Hampshire historical markers (26–50)#30|New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 30]]: The Crawford Family
*[[List of New Hampshire state parks]]
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.whitemountainart.com/about-3/subjects/crawford-notch-gallery/ 19th century landscape paintings of Crawford Notch]
*[http://www.outdoors.org/lodging/whitemountains/highland/index.cfm Highland Center Lodge at Crawford Notch]

{{Saco River}}
{{Gaps of the Appalachian Mountains}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Landforms of Carroll County, New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Landforms of Coös County, New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Notches of New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Appalachian Mountain Club]]
[[Category:Carroll, New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Hudson River School sites]]