Enfield, New Hampshire
Grafton county. Enfield comprises 24,060 acres, of which about 2,500 acres are water. It is 10 miles S.E. from Dartmouth College, and 40 N.W. from Concord. Its surface is diversified with hills and valleys, and watered by a variety of ponds and streams, stored with fish of every species common to the country. Mascomy pond, which has acquired from travellers the appellation of Pleasant pond, is a beautiful collection of water, 4 miles in length and of various breadth, interspersed with islands and checkered with inlets. Its eastern banks are covered with trees; the hills gradually rise one above another for some distance. Along the western bank, between the pond and Mont Calm, within a few rods of the water, extends the turnpike road, the whole distance through a beautiful village, shaded to the N. on either side by a growth of trees. Mascomy river empties into this pond in the N.W. part. This pond is supposed to have once been much higher than it is now, and the plain and villages to the south are supposed to have been the bed of it. This fact is sufficiently evident from the ancient shore still remaining round the pond, about 30 feet above high water, and from logs having been frequently found 12 feet below the surface of the plain once flowed. On the W. bank, near the southern extremity, is the Shakers' settlement, situated on a fertile plain.—The structure of the buildings, tho' not lofty, are neat and convenient. They occupy about 1,000 acres of land and their number consists of about 240. They are agriculturalists and mechanics. Garden seeds are grown, and wooden ware, whips, corn brooms, leather, and various other articles, are manufactured by them with peculiar neatness. See Canterbury.
Mountain pond, on the summit of Mont Calm, is 200 rods long and 100 wide. At the outlets of the ponds are mills of various kinds. The town was formerly called Relhan, and was incorporated by charter, granted to Jedediah Dana and others, July 4th, 1761. Population, 1830, 1,492.
