In August of 1889, H.A. Hutchinson, owner of the area, with his partners, Henry Dodge and Joseph Carleton, held a dedication party for their new picnic area. According to reports, over 2,000 people attended.
A speech was delivered by J.H.A. Bruce, proprietor of the Bellevue Hotel in Mont Vernon, and entertainment was provided by some of the Hutchinson Family singers.
Amenities included a bandstand, dancing platform, and bowling alley.
The area was known as Hutchinson’s Grove, and for the next 30 or more years, an annual picnic was held on the site, which regularly drew between 1500 and 2000 people, many of whom stayed at the area summer hotels. The festivities ended with the era of grand hotels.
Only a few foundation stones remain in place. A logger in the 1980s cut his road through the foundations of the bowling alley. A few iron rods are still in the rocks by the falls that indicate where the rails and bridges were located.
The picnic area was located in Mont Vernon. Neither the history or that town, nor of Lyndeborough, offers an explanation for the name. In his speech, Bruce calls it a “misnomer,” and said it had “no significance, and it is presumed that a dogma of the Papal church suggested it.” The Mont Vernon history of 1907 says the “upper falls” is “about 50 feet into a rocky chasm. The first part of the falls is through a deep, winding flume, which was crossed by a series of bridges providing a good view into the chasm and access to the pot holes on the Lyndeborough side of the brook.
These two geologic curiosities are known as “the devil’s bean pot” and “the devil’s foot print.” The bean pot, about 10 feet deep, is almost always dry, while the nearby shallow “footprint” is always full of water.
Bruce says there are names carved in the bottom of the bean pot, one dated 1771, but I have never seen them.
In the chasm, on the western side under an overhang, is a fairly good profile known variously as “the Indian head,” and “the Old Boy’s face.” Although the cliffs on the Lyndeborough side are over 100 feet high, there is only one recorded instance of someone falling off. A George Worcester, who was working at a nearby sawmill, and a companion set out one winter morning to find the fall. He slipped on the snow and rolled down the cliff, landing in a pile of slushy snow, bruised but with no bones broken.
There are some reports that a dam was constructed above the falls to hold back water before the picnic to provide a good show. Beavers in the area now keep a steady supply of water.
There was once a grist mill a little north of the falls, but the location made it difficult to get to. After a few years it was taken down and move westward to the junction of Curtis Brook and Dutton Roads, where the dam still stands.
Jessie Salisbury is a member of the Lyndeborough Historical Society.