Three Centuries on Winnipesaukee

[Dave R]

Anyone else read this book by Paul H Blaisdell (or is it Blasidell?) I've owned my copy for years and am re-reading it in my spare time. Nice book, great stories. I believe it was written in the 30s and updated in the 70s. He wrote about the original Mount Washington while it was still in service and about being able to see the Lady of the Lake (in 45 feet of water) from the air when the sun is just right and the lake is calm. I don't know if the book is still in print.

There's a great anecdote in the book about the origin of the name "The Witches". He claims the Witches were once an island with trees and that wave action eroded the soil until there was nothing but shallow rocks and tree trunks there. Supposedly a man who lived on Timber Island used to row his boat to Governer's Island, so he could walk to Gilford over the bridge. He left Gilford rather inebriated one evening, hopped in his rowboat and headed toward Timber Island. In his drunken state, he accidenatlly landed on the Witches while there were still hollow tree trunks standing and thinking one of the trunks was his locked home, knocked on it so that someone would open the door. Aparently the knock resulted in an unusual noise from within the tree and thinking it was a witch he scrambled back into his boat where he hid until daylight. He told the story to other people and that's how they got the name "The Witches". Sounds a bit far fetched to me but it was amusing reading.