PREFACE.

The preparation qf a Gazetteer ol New England, worthy the
patronage of its enlightened citizens, is no easy task : those only who
have attempted it can form a just conception of its difficulties. Long
and wearisome journeys must be performed; hundreds of volumes and
local histories must be consulted, and thousands of letters must be written.

Although a kind Providence has blessed the editor with health, and
with numerous friehdsTm all parfT^oWNew England; yet, after a long
period of devotedness, he is mortified that his work is not more complete.

It will be perceived that there are many towns, particularly in the
eastern section of New England, whose names are merely mentioned;
and that notices of others, in many cases, are exceedingly deficient. Had
our means permitted, fair representations of the character and resources
of those towns might have promoted individual and public interests; and
enhanced the value of our volume. There are lakes and rivers in the
northern and eastern parts of New England, whose beauty, volume of
water, and hydraulic power, might vie with the Winnepisiogee and Mer¬
rimack ; but whose locations and even names are but indistinctly known.

But we have the consolation to believe that a Gazetteer of New Eng¬
land, perfect in all its parts, is rather desired than expected. Our coun¬
try is new: large portions of the territory of the New England States,
are yet a wilderness, and new counties and towns are very frequently
constituted.

The progress of agricultural science, and of the mechanic arts; the
advancement of commerce, both at home and abroad, and the increasing
success of the fisheries, united with the determination of the people of
New England to connect the trade of the western oceans with their
Atlantic borders, by roads of iron, which frosts cannot impede, are so
great and strong, that the most devoted geographical and statistical writers
must be satisfied with following at a distance, rather than keeping pace
with the rapid car of improvement in New England.

AI