NH's Abandoned Transportation Museum

I enjoy those things whose creation was driven by love - built with the same mindset whether one person was going to see it or one million - which was the case with the Beaver Brook Transportation Museum in Mont Vernon. The creators of the museum, Eddie and Beth Gilbert, were buyers of opportunity for all things transportation related, and after moving up from Massachusetts they began displaying their one-of-a-kind collection at their farm. Unfortunately they closed their doors nearly ten years ago, but many of the items still remain if you are a determined explorer.

A small stream separates the property from the dirt road that takes you to Beaver Brook, and I found three entrances that cross this stream and access the museum. Two of them - the collapsing bridges below - are no longer in any condition to use, and the third way in was the property's main driveway. Rather than make myself that obvious, I hid my bike in the woods and rock-hopped across the water.

Here came the first indications that this was a transportation related place. Running parallel to the river along the property side is an overgrown trail, and within it are remnants of an old railroad. Not a full size one, but one of those tourist ones you'd see carrying visitors around an amusement park.

I followed the tracks and soon enough found a couple of the engines. The Gilbert's purchased much of their train collection from the Edaville Railroad Museum out of Massachusetts, a similar tourist spot they frequented before moving to New Hampshire.

I wasn't about to pass up the chance to hop on board and take a few pictures of myself in the conductor position.

After playing on the trains I continued up the trail through the rear of the property, and being that this was a transportation museum it was no surprise when I began finding vehicles in the woods. I could have used my dad at this point, because not only am I sure he would have known the year and model of each one of these cars, but he probably could have told me a story or two about smashing one up in his youth.

I'm still not sure what this truck was, but I left a few present on the dashboard for anyone who finds their way out here.

I'm always respectful on these explorations, and because of that I almost skipped taking a peek inside this tarped building. But I stuck my head inside the door and was glad my curiosity got the best of me.

It seemed to be a catch-all of old exhibits. Among the many items was this trolley, looking like the last thing that's still holding up the roof.

At some point the roof will win out and completely crush this thing, but I trusted it wouldn't be at this exact moment. At one time this must have been a very elegant ride.

To give you an idea of the variety of things the Gilbert's collected - and as evidence I wasn't the first explorer here - I found this broken doll propped up in a wheelchair. Why either of them were in here to begin with, I cannot imagine.

In addition to transportation there were many items related to the Gilbert's second love - Christmas. This is the kind of stocking I hope to see under our tree someday, with the name Dave written across it.

After the barn, I finished my exploration at what I consider the greatest attraction of the museum. We talked about how the Gilbert's were opportunity buyers, and when this giant Santa that once stood outside a used car dealership went up for sale, they snatched it. You can see this Santa from the dirt road leading in, so a few months later I drove my wife by here so she could take a picture with it.

I still chuckle over how anyone could combine such unrelated things as Christmas and transportation into a single, and successful, business, but there are no playbooks to follow when you're creating something purely for the enjoyment of creating it.



Links:

Beaver Brook's official page: https://web.archive.org/web/20200809025704/http://www.beaverbrookmuseum.com/

For a video tour of the museum, and where I first learned about this great place, see this video.

Exploring the Saunders Mineshafts

The Saunders Mica Mine began operation sometime prior to 1914, and ran through a variety of companies until the site was abandoned in 1944. Two tunnels remain at the mine, which is accessible via a dirt road followed by a short bushwhack through the woods of Grafton NH.

I almost came up empty on my initial search for Saunders - also known as the Haile-Buckley Mine - after spending an entire afternoon scouring the west side of the mountain where I thought the mine was located, but not finding anything. After calling it a day I was working my way down the mountain, but rather than taking the main trail I paralleled it about a hundred yards into the woods on the off-chance I'd find anything interesting. That's when I began coming across scraps of mica and other discarded rocks, and soon after I stumbled upon the mine.

Dusk was setting in about this time, so I poked my head into a couple of crevices but didn't do any underground exploring. One tunnel was blocked by a 20-foot pool of water that all I could do was stare across at wistfully, while the other one was open but would require a bit of rock climbing to enter. Happy just to have located it, I left for home and put a return trip to Saunders on my to-do list.

It was the first of December when I made a second exploration with my buddy John. We'd purposely waited until winter so that the pool blocking tunnel #2 would be frozen over, but we should have given it another month - ice covered most of the pool, but the edges were still open. I didn't drive 4 hours that day for nothing, though. Out of my pockets came the electronics, around my waist went the rope, and cautiously I began out onto the ice. I'd made it probably five steps when the cracking started, and suddenly the bottom dropped away like I'd been standing on a dunking booth. If not for a handhold I found against the rock I'm pretty sure I'd have gone under. It was several freezing moments before I could convince my body to start breathing again, then I yelped for John to pull me out.

Water that sits for many years without moving or circulating is some pretty foul stuff, and although he's too polite to say so, I'm sure John was happy we'd driven in separate cars that day. Cold, wet, smelly, and unable to explore tunnel #2, there seemed only one logical thing left for us to do. On to tunnel #1 we went.

While flooding has made tunnel #2 inaccessible outside of winter, tunnel #1 is accessible year-round. It's approximately eighty feet long and goes straight through a small hill, however its western side was never completed and squirming is required to fully traverse it. In this picture I am entering the tunnel from the east, or the good side.

Between its narrowness and low ceiling, tunnel #1 is more suited for someone my wife's size rather than myself. Add in the abundance of loose rocks, and the feel is that you're crawling through a natural cave instead of something man-made. After a quick exploration we called it a day, and I drove the entire way home with heat blasting on my bare feet.

Three months and several cold spells later, we made a third trip to Saunders to explore the final tunnel. This time there was no issue with the ice being solid enough, I probably could have parked my car on it.

At approximately 50 feet in length, tunnel #2 measures a bit shorter than the first one, but what it lacks in length it makes up for in height. I estimated its ceilings to be nearly 20-feet tall. Two wooden beams are wedged between the walls, and our first thought was they were support beams. But these were nowhere near the thickness of support beams we've found in other mines, which makes us suspect they served some other purpose, such as to hold scaffolding for a platform.

Having first located this mine in the summer, then revisiting it when freeze-over was not up to supporting my 180-pound frame, it wasn’t until this third and final trip that I was finally able to complete my exploration of everything Saunders has to offer.