Template:Wp-Carroll, New Hampshire-History

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Land was granted by Governor John Wentworth on February 8, 1772, to Sir Thomas Wentworth, Samuel Langdon, and 81 others. Sir Thomas Wentworth resided in West Bretton, England, on his estate called Bretton Hall, after which the township was named "Bretton Woods".^[1] On the 1816 Carrigain map of New Hampshire, it appears as "Breton Woods". On June 22, 1832, the town was incorporated by the General Court as Carroll, in honor of Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Although the surface is uneven and bounded by mountains, farmers found the soil "strong and deep". It has many small streams, tributaries of the Ammonoosuc River, which in the 19th-century were noted for abundant trout. By 1859, Carroll had a starch factory, and two lumber mills that produced boards, shingles, clapboards and laths. By 1874, the Wing Railroad, a branch of the Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroad, extended into the town.^[2][3]

But it is tourism that brought fame and prosperity to the area. Hannah and Abel Crawford turned their log cabin into an inn, then built the Notch House in 1828. In 1874, the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad reached Fabyan Station, an important junction joined the next year by the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad. Here stood the Fabyan House, a grand hotel built by Sylvester Marsh and his colleagues, who also built the nearby Mount Washington Cog Railway. The hotel burned in 1951. The Mount Pleasant House was built in 1875, although demolished in 1939. But the grandest of all was the Mount Washington Hotel, built in 1902 and still operating. Here was held the 1944 International Monetary Conference, which resulted in the creation of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.^[4]

Zealand

Zealand was a logging community within Carroll, established by James Everell Henry (1831–1912) .^[3] By 1884, Henry had started the Zealand Valley Railroad, which would extend about into the forest.^[3] Zealand was a company town with various buildings including a boarding house, store, engine house, and a post office that operated from 1883 to 1897.^[3] After much lumber had been removed through clearcutting, Henry moved his operations to Lincoln in 1892.^[3] George Van Dyke then leased land and the Zealand mill from Henry, and constructed the Little River Railroad in 1893.^[3] Following a major fire in May 1897, and the removal of most remaining lumber, the railroad and ultimately Zealand were abandoned .^[3] A few remnants of the Zealand community can still be found.