Well, in September 2001 I went camping at my favorite campground in Southwest NH. I met a man who was also camping there. He lives in Oregon now, but had grown up in Marlboro, NH. I told him about our little mystery. He drew a map in the sand for me that sure looked like the one you just saw on the previous page. He pointed to the spot where the building in question is. He said, "Yep, right here." He told me it had always been referred to as "the Old Depot" by long time residents. Then the part that convinced me. He said, "It has a sliding door on it, right? Yeah, that's the old depot".
Wow! As Gary says, it seems as if he and I "have brought back to public awareness" the existence of this long-lost depot.
~~~~*Update, August, 2002. The same fellow, Ed, originally from Marlboro, NH, has just e-mailed me another image of this depot! It is only the second one I have ever seen of it. Click here to see it. And then click here to see it side by side with Gary's shot from more or less the same angle. Wow! Nice. Thank you, Ed!~~~~~~~
And this e-mail from 2003...
"My name is Norris Cashman and I live in Keene, NH. I have
been a Railroad fan for many years.
My friend Fred Lankhorst has lived in the Station Masters House at The
Old Depot for 25 years or more. The Station Masters House and The Old
Depot are located at the upper end of Water St. in Marlboro, NH. Fred
is quite knowledgeable about the property and I'm sure he could answer
a lot of your questions.
Fred can be reached at 603.******"
Keep up the good work."
Norris Cashman
And another e-mail from 2005...
"Dear Steve;
My aunt and Uncle used to live in the area and I have seen that building
very many times but only from the road. Since childhood I was under the
impression that it was "the freight house" and not "the
depot". But I never did any investigation or close inspection.....
By the way, the B&M always spelled the name "MARLBORO" and
not "MARLBOROUGH". In the town's early history it was the longer
name; then toward the late 19th or early 20th century it became the short
name (it probably seemed really modern!), then reverted to the old name
in, I think, the early 1970s."
Henry Taves
Box 75
Harrisville,
(Thank you to everyone who has written!)
In addition, when Gary and I recently started talking
about this, I realized that I had a nice camera with me back in 1988 when
I had hiked the line. I could not imagine that I had walked by here and
not taken a pic. I searched through my old analog stuff, and sure enough-
I found this. :-)
Notice that in my 1988 image, you can see that the sliding door is up HIGHER than the other door. This corresponds with the old images where there is a small ramp leading UP to the freight door. This matches quite nicely! (Why else would there be a sliding door up higher than the other door if not constructed to accommodate rail freight?)
Gary and I are both sold on this one. In other words, YES- it IS!
Please e-mail either me
or Gary with any info you might
have.
-Steve Fisk
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