Today I learned the Frog Rock Tavern is The Venice of Meredith
 

Everybody has seen the iconic waterfall at Mill Falls. Well today, while looking at the snow and Christmas decorations, I wondered, "Where exactly does that water come from? So, these are the steps I took to find out:

1. Walked up Giuseppe's staircase to the top

2. Crossed the bridge towards the hotel

3. Went out the door

4. Saw the little upper waterfall at 90° to the main chute

5. Surprised to see the water came out of a pool or cistern fed from below

6. Whoa, plaque said there was a 600' stone canal from Waukewan

7. OK, that church looking thing in the parking lot looks related

8. Went to a gift shop, gave a treat to their friendly welcome dog, and asked the owner about it

9. Found out the canal goes under Main Street and pops out behind the Frog Rock Tavern

10. Holy cow, the basement of the tavern is literally a canal!

I love New Hampshire!

Edit: The last picture of Waukewan shows the canal in the lower right

So by “Venice”…you mean Frog Rock is sinking?

:eek:

Probably not.
The channel that ran under the old Middleton-Meredith had been there from the time of Prescott Lumber.
The center of the floor ''sagged'' a bit, but wasn't noticeable to most patrons.

We noticed the channel's path one time we were in there but didn't go very far with it.

Thanks for the pics and narrative, MRJS—that's pretty neat!

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That WAS pretty neat. Thanks for sharing.

About a month ago I was on the bridge over the falls and watched as dozens of Salmon were jumping out of the water, trying to climb the falls. I've been crossing that bridge about ten years now and that's the first time I ever noticed them.

Wow, how would they get there? From Waukegan and then go back upstream?

Saw a guy fishing there once…

They came from Winni, under the tunnel over Rt3. They can't get up the falls, but they try. It would be great if they could climb the falls as I don't think there are any Slamon in Waukewan.

At that time I don't think you can legally fish. But during fishing season there are people fishing there.

Oh interesting!! Thanks. I didn't think about the tunnel, was thinking there wasn't a connection to the lake.

Beware, where there are salmon jumping up waterfalls there are bears trying to catch them. :eek:

Thank You MRJS. I kind of knew that but not in so much detail

in the summer you can see people taking their kayaks down the canal from Wakuewan and tying up for a bite and a drink at Frog or walking into town, The Frog rock building is the original pump house for the mill that controlled the water flow into it

Thank you for this additional detail. I noticed the ladder beyond the last bridge and wondered if it was for maintenance, kayakers, or both. I wish I took a picture of that to add to the ones above.