PEOPLE of the WHITES: Miriam Eliot O’Brien Underhill (1898-1978) – by Frances Woodard Richardson

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March 5, 2026

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Mountain Passages

 

Miriam Eliot O’Brien Underhill

Over the past several years Frances Woodard Richardson has profiled many New Hampshirites who have contributed to the development of outdoor life in New Hampshire.  Mountain Passages has published these profiles in a Series called ‘PEOPLE OF THE WHITES.’   Her other portrayals include Florence Morey (1886-1978), Bradley Washburn (1910-2007), Lizzie Bourne (1833-1855), Franklin Leavitt (1824-1898), Guy Leslie Shorey (1881-1961), Rodney Dallas Woodard (1905-1976) and Stuart Kimball Harris (1906-1969). Frances’ bios of Louis Fayerweather Cutter (1864-1945), Laban Merril Watson (1850-1936) and Leroy Reynolds Woodard (1903-1985)  can be found in the Mountain Passages Archives. 

Although Miriam O’Brien was born in the nineteenth century, she became known for her mountaineering in the twentieth century.

Mirriam was born on July 20, 1898, in Forest Glen, Maryland, the daughter of a newspaper editor and a government official, Robert Lincoln O’Brien (1865 -1955), and Emily Ayres Young O’Brien (1866- 1945).

Miriam began climbing when she was six in the White Mountains. Later, she became a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club. Her parents took her to the Alps in 1914. There she made her first climb near Chamonix, in the Mont Blanc region.

After World War I, she returned to the Alps and began rock climbing, making her first ascent on Turra Grande in the Dolomites. In 1920’s, Miriam made multiple climbing trips in the Alps with male guides. On August 4, 1928, she accompanied Robert Underhill with guides to complete a trip over five summits ending at Mont Blanc.

In 1920, Miriam O’Brien graduated from Bryn Mawr with a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics and in physics, and in 1921, she earned a Master’s degree in psychology.

In the winter of 1925, Miriam and her brother, Lincoln, and two friends left the AMC Pinkham Notch Camp to climb Huntington Ravine. Miriam and a friend were on snowshoes, and Lincoln and a friend were on skis. The snow was deep and difficult to break through. By afternoon, they decided to return to the Glen House where they were staying. Lincoln and his friend decided to scale the headwall and ski down the Auto Road. The skiers did not return to the Glen House, so Miriam set out alone to search for the skiers. She reached the ravine, saw tracks, so she returned to the Glen House to find that the skiers were there.

In 1926, Margaret Helbern invited Miriam to join the Bemis Crew on a weekend hike over the Carter-Moriah and the Presidential Ranges. Later, she joined a group to climb Mount Katahdin. One of the members was Robert Underhill.

Miriam O’Brien believed that she could lead all women’s climbs. She and Alice Dsamesme, a French climber, ascended the Grepon. In 1931, Miriam, with Alice and Jessie Whitehead, made four attempts to climb the Matterhorn. The weather was unforbidding, so they waited until the following year to make the all-woman ascent. Jessie couldn’t join them as she was climbing in the Canadian Rockies. on August 13, 1932.

On January 29, 1932, Mirian O’Brien married Robert Lindsey Murray Underhill, a Harvard professor and mountaineer. They had two sons, Robert (1935 – 2015) and Brien (1937 – 1992). Back in America, Robert and Miriam climbed ranges in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

The Underhills moved to Randolph, New Hampshire. Miriam began writing an autobiographical book, GIVE ME THE HILLS. The AMC published MOUNTAIN FLOWERS OF NEW ENGLAND and used the colored photographs that Miriam had taken.

Together, they were charter members of the Four Thousand Footer Club, part of the Appalachian Mountain Club. They were the first to scale all 48 four-thousand-foot peaks in the White Mountains in New Hampshire in the winter, completing Mount Jefferson on December 31, 1960.

Miriam O’Brien Underhill died on January 7, 1976, in Lancaster, New Hampshire, at the age of 77. She is buried in the Durand Road Cemetery, Randolph, New Hampshire.

Miriam Underhill broke boundaries and challenged climbers to accept women mountaineers as equals.

References:

  • When Women and Mountains Meet, by Julie Boardman
  • Pushing the Boundaries, by Hannah Ettema
  • Wikipedia
  • Find a Grave created by Avellino Eoots

PEOPLE of the WHITES: Florence Morey (1886-1978) – Frances Woodard Richardson

 

Notchland – The Inn Unique c. 1930

Florence Worth Pendergast Morey (1886 – 1978) –

Florence Morey was the owner of Notchland – Inn Unique in Hart’s Location, a small N.H. town, that is 11 miles long and 1.5 miles wide in the Saco River watershed and home to Crawford Notch.

The buildings and grounds had a storied past.  Historically, Ethan Allen Crawford owned The Old Moosehead Tavern in Hart’s Location. Dr. Samuel Bemis, a photographer and daguerreotypist, was a frequent visitor to the Tavern when he came to take pictures of Mount Washington in the 1800’s. When Ethan Allan Crawford died on June 22, 1846, his son, Able Crawford, and his son-in-law, Nathan Davis, ran the Tavern. Dr. Samuel Bemis loaned them money and later took a mortgage on the Tavern. Able Crawford died in 1851, and Nathan Davis ran the Tavern until his health declined. Dr. Bemis foreclosed on the mortgage and became the owner.

Dr. Bemis designed a granite mansion on the property with five living rooms. It was completed in 1870. Dr. Bemis died in 1881, leaving his estate to George Morey, his friend and caretaker of the property. His daughter, Florence Morey, eventually became the owner of the estate.

Florence Worth Pendergast Morey was born on April 17, 1886, in Boston, MA, the daughter of George Pendergast (1848 – 1915) and Ella Worth Pendergast (1851 – 1933). On December 28, 1906, Florence married Charles Henry Morey, son of George Henry Morey and Mary Noyes, in Somerville, MA. Florence inherited the Hart’s Location estate, known then as Notchland. They ran it as an Inn, that had a farm and a sawmill. In 1875, they allowed the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad to cross their land for $1.00. Later, a “throw off your baggage and jump” station was built there.

Charles and Florence held many official town positions. She was the first woman elected as a State of N.H. Representative. Beginning in 1948, Hart’s Location was the first town in New Hampshire to vote in the National Elections. The polls opened early so that the railroad workers could vote.

Around 1920, Charles and Florence divorced, and Charles went to New York, leaving Florence as the owner of Notchland. In 1940, she renamed the estate Inn Unique.

In 1929, Florence asked Rodney D. Woodard, an AMC member and Hut Master of the Madison Spring Hut, to stay at the Inn for the winter while she was away at the N.H. State Legislature. She would pay $12.00 a week and add $5.00 if there were guests.

Florence operated the Inn until her death on January 11, 1978, at the age of 91. She is buried in the Notchland Cemetery, Hart’s Location, N.H., along with the previous owners, Able and Hannah Crawford, Dr. Samuel Bemis, George and Mary Morey, and their infant sons.

Mrs. Morey described The Inn Unique as “an inn, which in 1850 was built as the mountain estate of one who love sheer crags and deep forests, rather than the busy life of a town, and which still retains not only its acres of wildland but that less tangible property – an atmosphere of the peace and isolation of long ago; an old granite house which now opens its heavy doors to welcome you, you who love the mountains and seek among them rest or sport, or forgetfulness of care and worries – such is Notchland. “the inn unique.”

After several years, an estate auction was held where Dr. Samuel Bemis’ collection of daguerreotype images was sold. In 1984, John and Pat Bernardin bought Notchland Inn and renovated eleven guest rooms. In 1993, Ed Butler and Les Schoof became the owners. They still operate it as The Notchland Inn.

References:

  • The Story of Mount Washington by F. Allen Burt
  • When Women and Mountains Meet by Julie Boardman
  • Notchland and Samuel Bemis by Rick Russack

 

Hart’s Location & Bemis sketched by R. D. Woodard in 1929 showing the Notchland trails

PEOPLE OF THE WHITES: Brad Washburn (1910-2007) – Explorer, Mountaineer, Photographer and AMC Member

Henry Bradford Washburn, Jr. (Brad) was a dynamic personality, so it’s hard to chronicle his life. He was a celebrated photographer, author, cartographer, explorer, and mountaineer. He was born June 7, 1910, in Cambridge, MA, the son of Rev. Henry Bradford Washburn, Sr., the dean of the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, MA, and Edith Buckingham Hall, an amateur photographer who gave her son a Kodak Brownie Camera when he was 13.
As a young boy, Brad suffered from hay fever. When he was 11, he climbed Mount Washington and found relief from the hay fever. At 16, he climbed Mount Blanc in the Alps, where he developed a love for the mountains. A year later, Brad authored three teenage adventure books and TRAILS and PEAKS of the PRESIDENTIAL RANGE.
Brad was 19 when he won first place in an Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) photo contest. That was in 1929, and his winning image of a sunrise was captured in the French Alps.
He earned a AB in French History and Literature from Harvard University in 1933.  Perhaps of more consequence, he was joined the Harvard Mountaineering Club, at the time nurturing some of the most accomplished climbers in America. After graduation, he studied geology at Boston University, and then in 1935, he became an instructor at the Institute of Geographical Explorations.
Brad became an avid pilot, making his first solo flight in 1934, and earning his private flying license a year later. He would combine his love of flying with his love of photography to become one of the most renowned aerial photographers, particularly of the mountains around the world.  He perfected the use of large-format negatives to capture extraordinary detail in his images.  The quality of these large negatives and the detail they captured were hallmarks of his work as photographer, cartographer and artist. To take aerial photographs, Brad would open the door of the monoplane and strap himself and his 50-pound Fairchild K-6 aerial camera to the plane.  His most famous work, using large-format negatives to capture extraordinary detail includes  shots of the Presidential Range, the Alps, the Alaskan Mountains, the Grand Canyon, and Mt. Everest. Black and white added to the artistic character for the often snow covered terrain.
Brad Washburn, Robert Bates, and Bob Reeves flew in near the base of the Saint Elias Range in the Yukon in 1937. Unfortunately, they landed the plane on a glacier of slush. They could not budge the plane, despite emptying their kit. They gave up and remarkably survived a 120 miles, 20 day trek over glaciers and wilderness to finally complete the first ascent of Mt. Lucania and Mt. Steel. They continued on for several weeks, sustaining themselves on rabbits and squirrels, until they reached a Trading Post. The equipment that they left by the plane was found in the 1980’s.  In 2007, Dave Roberts, another Harvard Mountaineering Club alum known for his many books on mountaineering, recounted the ordeal in Escape from Lucania: An Epic Tale of Survival.
In 1939, at the age of 29, the New England Museum of Natural History in Boston hired him as their Director. Needing an assistant, he hired Barbara Polk, a Smith College graduate who was working in Harvard’s Biology Department, as his secretary. They fell in love and married in 1940. They honeymooned in Alaska, where they climbed Mt. Bertha. In 1948, they ascended Mt. McKinley, where Barbara became the first woman to reach the summit. In 1951, he transformed the museum into the Boston Museum of Science moving it to its current location on the Charles River in Boston.
Brad also was a cartographer, mapping the Grand Canyon, Mount Washington, and Mt. Everest. In 1951, he mapped the West Buttress trail, the easiest way up Mt. McKinley in Alaska.  Of personal interest, he spent many years mapping Squam Lake, NH, and its surrounding terrain.
Washburn earned a Master’s Degree at Harvard in geology in 1960 adding to his many awards, and honorary doctorates during his career.
In 1991, AMC bestowed Brad with the Joe Dodge Award “… presented annually by the AMC to a member of the AMC community who best exemplifies the type of high quality public service and mountain hospitality that became the hallmark of longtime AMC Huts Manager Joe Dodge’s long and distinguished career at Pinkham Notch.”
Henry Bradford Washburn Jr. died of heart failure on January 10, 2007, in Lexington, MA, leaving his wife, Barbara, his son, Edward, and his daughters, Dorothy Dundas and Elizabeth Cabot. His legacy lives on as an explorer, a photographer, a cartographer, and a transformative Director of the Museum of Science.
Throughout all of these activities his lifelong passion for the White Mountains never waned. Washburn left negatives of his 1937 flight over the White Mountains to the Mt. Washington Observatory, which offers prints of Washburn’s early work. More than 20 of his photos adorn the walls of Thayer Hall at the AMC Highland Center in Crawford Notch, NH,  They are an inspiration to see.
References:
  • Old Hutmen Association, Henry Bradford Washburn, Jr.
  • The Man Who Mapped N.H. White Mountains, by Rob Burbank
  • In Memory of Brad Washburn, by Peter Crane
  • About Brad Washburn, by Brad Washburn Gallery
  • Brad Washburn, Wikipedia
  • Washburn’s Death Marks the Passing of a Legendary Figure, by Barbara Tetreault
  • Mark Richey, American Alpine Publications 72200747600/Henry Bradford Washburn

 

 

PEOPLE OF THE WHITES: Lizzie Bourne (1833-1855) – First woman to perish on Mt. Washington

Countless people have gone up Mount Washington on the Cog Railway and have seen the monument beside the tracks near the summit.  It is where Lizzie Bourne perished on September 14, 1855.
     Lizzie Bourne was the daughter of Judge Edward Emerson (1797-1873) and Mary Hubbard Gilpatrick Bourne (1799-1852). Lizzie was born on June 20, 1833, in Kennebunk, Maine. She was a bright and determined girl with a heart condition. When she was 23, Lizzie convinced her Uncle George W. Bourne, a shipbuilder, to hike up Mount Washington with her.
     On September 14, 1855, George, his daughter, Lucy, and Lizzie set off from the Glen House in Pinkham Notch around 2:00 in the afternoon. George did not hire a guide as they planned to hike up the Carriage Road, which was not completed, and then take the Glen House Bridle Path to the summit. Their intent was to spend the night and view the sunrise from the Tip-Top House.
     They reached the end of the Carriage Road around 4:00 pm. when a violent windstorm blew up. The construction workers thought that the climbers should turn back, but the party decided to forge on. The path was steep and quite poor, and the storm became worse as they climbed the two and a half miles over ridges, thinking they would see the summit. The group became weary and fatigued as darkness fell. The girls lay down on the trail wrapped in their shawls, as George collected loose rocks to make a barrier against the fierce wind. About 10:00 pm, George lay down beside Lizzie and found her cold and not breathing. She was dead, probably from hypothermia, fatigue, and her heart condition.
     George and Lucy survived the night, and at daybreak, they found that they were only a few hundred yards from the summit. Lizzie’s body was retrieved by two men and taken to the Summit House. Later, she was carried to the Glen House in a wooden box.
     The pile of rocks that George built became a cairn to mark the spot where Lizzie died. As hikers passed by the site, they added rocks to the cairn, and later a wooden board was erected on the top with an inscription that read “Lizzie C. Bourne, age 23, daughter of Edw. E. Bourne of Kennebunk, Maine, perished here September 14, 1855.” On the back side was the last stanza of Henry W. Longfellow’s poem, Excelsior.
Here in the twilight, cold and gray,
Lifeless, but beautiful, she lay,
And from the sky, serene and far,
A voice fell, like a star,
Excelsior!
     When the Cog Railway was being built in 1869, it bypassed the cairn as they recognized the value of the site as a tourist attraction. Judge Bourne had a large stone monument built to be placed on Mount Washington, but it was impossible to transport it up the mountain, so it was placed in the Hope Cemetery, Kennebunk, Maine, where Lizzie’s body was laid to rest.
     Although many hikers have perished on Mount Washington, Lizzie Bourne was the first female to die there. Much has been written about her tragedy, and the marker on the mountain, replaced by a metal one, is a tourist attraction.
References:
  • WHEN WOMEN AND MOUNTAINS MEET by Julie Boardman
  • FIND A GRAVE created by Hurricane
  • MOUNT WASHINGTON: LIZZIE BOURNE Kportconnections

Lizzie Bourne Memorial on Mt. Washington

 

 

 

PEOPLE OF THE WHITES: Franklin Leavitt (1824-1898) 

The White Mountains became a destination for artists and tourists in the eighteen hundreds. Franklin Leavitt saw these mountains as an attraction, so he drew a series of maps of the region.

Franklin Leavitt of Lancaster. NH, was born about 1824, the son of John and Nancy (Garland) Leavitt. When he was young, he worked as a farmer, a hunter, a woodsman, and a laborer. From 1836-1848, he worked for Thomas J. Crawford at the Notch House near Crawford Notch. He helped Crawford build a bridle trail and the Carriage Road up Mount Washington.

When the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad (later operated by the Grand Trunk Company) was built to Gorham, N.H. Leavitt, an enterprising man, saw the mountains becoming a popular destination. He began drawing curiosity maps of the White Mountains. In 1852, he took his first map to Boston where a lithograph plate was made and printed on thin paper. His later maps were reproduced by wood engravings.

Franklin’s “pictorial” maps were not drawn to scale and North was at the bottom of the map. Later North was at the top. The maps had geographical features not realistically placed. Franklin embellished the maps with illustrations of local places, people, and events. He depicted Harry Crawford battling a bear, Col, Whipple in the antlers of a moose, himself being lowered on a rope to Devil’s Den on Mount Willard, the Willey Slide, and the death of Lizzie Bourne among other illustrations.

Franklin sold these maps at Grand Hotels and Railroad Stations for a dollar. They made interesting souvenirs as they showed roads with carriages, tracks with trains, hotels, and resorts, but were not useful as a travel guide.

After creating eight pictorial maps, Franklin turned to writing poetry in 1881. His first poem was published about the 1885 landslide on Cherry Mountain, followed by depicting the Willey Slide of 1826. His longest poem was the retelling of a logging train disaster in 1890.

Franklin Leavitt died on August 30, 1898, and is buried in the Summer Street Cemetery in Lancaster, NH.

Franklin Leavitt was a self-made man who had a vision for the White Mountains to be a desired destination. His souvenir pictorial maps contributed to the development of the region.

References:

  • Francis  Blake’s 1886 portrait of Franklin Leavitt a the top of this post is only known photo of Franklin Leavitt and is provided by the collection of Kurt masters
  • Kurt Masters, map collector
  • Adam Jared Apt and Rick Russack, FRANKLIN LEAVITT’S MANUSCRIPT MAPS AND POETRY
  • David Tatham, PRINTS OF NEW ENGLAND

1871 Leavitt Map from the collection of Kurt S. Masters (copyrighted)

 

 

PEOPLE OF THE WHITES: Guy Leslie Shorey (1881 – 1961)

The mountains inspired Guy L. Shorey to develop his lifelong career as a photographer of the White Mountains. His work contributed to the promotion of New Hampshire as a destination for tourists and hikers.
Guy Leslie Shorey, the son of Charles H. Shorey, ( 1849-1909) a toolmaker for the railroad, and Permelia (1850-1859), was born on December 17, 1881. in Gorham, N.H. Guy’s interest in photography, a new technology, began when he was given an Eastman Kodak camera at the age of twelve. He took snapshots of neighbors, townspeople, family groups, local events, and buildings in Gorham. He used a small building at the rear of the family home on Mechanic Street as a studio to develop and print his images. Later the building was moved to the side of the house for better visibility.
When Guy was seventeen, he contracted diphtheria which affected him the rest of his life. After graduating from High School in 1900, he worked at a bank and at the Alpine House, a hotel in Gorham. The work was too demanding so he turned to photography.
Hikers from Boston and New York came to Gorham to climb the White Mountains. Guy Shorey accompanied the groups as their official photographer, to take pictures of them and the scenery. In his studio, he would develop and print the photos to have them ready to sell to the “trampers”.
In 1905 Guy joined the Appalachian Mountain Club and later became a lifelong member. He helped find locations for trails and the site for the Lake of the Clouds Hut. He visited the Madison Spring Hut, the Lake of the Clouds Hut, Carter Notch Hut, and the Summit of Mount Washington to take photos.
On April 3, 1906, Guy had his studio moved to a lot on Main Street across from Mechanic Street for $5.50 and an addition was built He paid $30.00 and year for the rent of the land In 1913 he had the original studio moved to a lot in Woodland Park. that later became his residence. In 1920, he bought Barrett’s pharmacy and had his studio there until 1950.
Guy Shorey met Sara Margaret Jones (1884-1952) from upstate New York who was a stenographer at the Cascade Mill in Berlin, N.H.. She frequented his shop and on June 15, 1910, they were married in Russia, N.Y. in an outdoor ceremony on her family’s farm. After a honeymoon in upstate N. Y., they returned to Gorham. Their daughter, Gwen, was born on May 3, 1915.
In 1916, Guy and Sara expanded their business and opened a tearoom near Carlton Brook in Randolph N.H. They served ice cream and sold Shorey’s photographs, postcards, note cards, note pads, and bookmarks. He had a growing trade and his photos appeared in brochures. His postcards were very popular and over a thousand images were printed. He sold them in shops, hotels, the AMC Huts, and on the summit of Mount Washington.
At the age of forty, he made his last hike into Tuckerman Ravine. His arthritic disability caused him to resort to taking pictures from the roadside, using canes to prop himself against his car to steady himself. He purchased a 7×17 Korona panoramic camera to take horizontal photos of the White Mountains.
He was always involved in community service and helped bring the Rotary Club to Gorham in 1928, He also helped found the YMCA in Berlin. N.H., He was appointed to the N.H.Planning and Development Commission in 1935. Its mission was to attract people to come to New Hampshire.
Guy Leslie Shorey died at home on April 17, 1961, and is buried in the Evans Cemetery in Gorham, N.H. His legacy of images helped to establish the White Mountains as a year-round destination.
References:
  • AMONG THE WHITE HILLS, by Guy A. Gosselin, and Susan B. Hawkins
  • GUY SHOREY; AMONGE THE WHITE HILLS, Curated by Peter Crane
  • Guy L. Shorey’s photos captured in the North Country, by Gabrielle Griswold

 

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PEOPLE OF THE WHITES: Stuart Kimball Harris (1906 – 1969)

Stuart Kimball (Slim) Harris was a long-time professor of Biology and Botany at Boston University, an active AMC member and Hutman at the Lake of the Clouds Hut, and the author of many articles and books.

Stuart, the son of Hayden Bosworth Harris and Vina May Harris, was born in Haverhill, MA on January 30, 1906. He married Calista Crane, born April 28, 1902, daughter of Clarance and Stella (Howard) Crane on August 24, 1929, in Natick, MA. Stuart and Calista (Cal) both naturalists, spent time in the White Mountains and eventually became Hutmen working at The Lake of the Clouds Hut.

Their daughter, Sally was born on November 20, 1937. In the summer of 1939, Slim carried Sally in a papoose basket to the Zealand Notch Hut and later to the Lake of the Clouds Hut on his back.

Joe Dodge, manager of the Hut System, asked Stuart, Calista, Sally, and brother, Kimball to be the summer crew at the Zealand Notch Hut in 1949. Sally was the youngest “hut girl” on record at seven years old.

Stuart was a scholar who held several degrees. After High School, he received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Boston University in 1927, a Bachelor of Science in 1930, and a Master of Arts in 1932. In 1936 he earned a Master in Botany from Harvard University.  Dr. Harris taught Biology and Botany for thirty-six years on the faculty of the College of Liberal Arts at Boston University.  He published many scholarly papers on botanical topics, often published in AMC journals or Rhodora, a publication of the New England Botanical Club.

Since 1930, Stuart was a member of the New England Botanical club. He was the Recording Secretary for the Club from 1935 to 1964, and President in 1964.

In 1949, the Mount Washington Observatory added Stuart Harris to its Board of Directors joining many other eminent scientists advising and overseeing one of the preeminent meteorological institutions in the world.

Both Slim and Cal were botanists, and they worked together to write a seven-part series of articles, PLANTS OF THE PRESIDENTIAL RANGE, published in APPALACHIA from 1940-1946. In 1964, Stuart published AMC FIELD GUIDE to MOUNTAIN FLOWERS of NEW ENGLAND.

Stuart and Calista built a “base camp” north of Berlin, N.H. for their hikes in the mountains. He continued his interest in the AMC and became the Club’s Naturalist leading annual Spring Flower Tours in the Presidential Range.

Stuart traveled extensively collecting plants for study and identification He went to California, Honduras, and Mexico, and in 1944 on a scientific expedition to Alaska and the Yukon over the Alcan Highway where he served as a cook.

The family stayed in California where Sally married Sanford (Sandy) Wilber in August 1961. They worked with endangered birds in National Wildlife Refuges in California and Idaho. They returned to the base camp in Berlin, to live until 2008.

Being a naturalist, Stuart enjoyed studying and identifying birds at his camp and made annual Christmas bird counts for the Audubon Society, He also was a silversmith and a weaver.

Stuart K, Harris died July 30, 1969 (63), Calista died on March 16, 1993 (90) in Oregon and Sally died on December 25, 2022 (85) in Oregon.

References:

  • THE STORY OF MOUNT WASHINGTON, by F. Allen Burt
  • OLD HUTCROO ASSOCIATION
  • WHITE MOUNTAIN SOJOURN, by Alex Macphail
  • RHODORA, by Ralph C. Bean

PEOPLE OF THE WHITES: Rodney Dallas Woodward (1905-1976)

 

Rodney Dallas Woodard – courtesy of F. Richardson

Rodney (“Rod”) Dallas Woodard, born on April 18, 1905, was the second son of Charles Franklin Woodard (1882-1960) and Eva Viola (Reynolds) Woodard (1880-1974) of Brockton, MA. Charles was a designer and model maker of men’s lasts at the Woodard and Wright Shoe Factory in East Bridgewater, MA. (A last is a mechanical form shaped like a human foot. It is used by shoemakers and cordwainers in the manufacture and repair of shoes.) Rodney would apprentice in the shop where he developed a love for wood.

Rodney entered Brockton High School on September 7, 1921, and studied Mechanical Drawing. He transferred to Wentworth Institute in Boston, MA to study machine work and pattern design graduating in 1925.

In 1926-27, he was hired as an experimental designer for the Darlo Company of Boston, MA to invent a faucet dishwasher and soap dispenser. In 1928 he worked as a draftsman for the design and construction of a Dairy Cooler for the Emerson and Mason Refrigeration Engineers.

In 1924, Rodney, Ned Whitmore, and Bob Jackson made their first trip to the White Mountains (see Rod’s log in MOUNTAIN PASSAGES, Vol.47 Number 4, Winter 2021, pages 8, 9, and 11). Rod returned to the mountains in 1926 as a hutman packing goods to the Lake of the Clouds Hut. Since he couldn’t carry heavy loads, Joe Dodge suggested that he cook at Madison Spring Hut. He worked at that hut from 1928 to 1931, becoming the Hut Master. He still needed to pack some goods, like gasoline and klim ( dried milk), so when he returned to Brockton in the winter, he invented the “Freighter”, a wooden pack board that fit the back. It was first used by the Hutmen in 1931 and was sold to the government for use by the Forest Service. He also copyrighted the process of using plasticine proforma to form relief maps. He poured Plaster of Paris over the clay forms to make negative molds for bronze models. Celluloid was poured over the models to make the pocket-size relief maps of Crawford Notch, Franconia Notch, and the White Mountain Region. Today, copies can still be found in private collections.

To get to the Pinkham Notch Hut. In April or May was a bit of an ordeal in those days. The road was not plowed so he took the train to Portland, ME then on to Gorham, NH. From there he took a sled to the Glen House and snowshoed from there to the Pinkham Notch Hut.

From 1932 to 1936. Rodney became the Assistant Hut Manager to Joe Dodge. His main duty was to make monthly inspections of all the huts. After an unfortunate disagreement with Joe Dodge, Rodney and his wife, Leta (Church) whom he married on September 10, 1936, left and moved to Jackson, NH in January 1937. A year later they bought the guest house on the Bigelow-Merriman Estate (now Stonehurst) in Intervale, NH. There Rodney established his woodworking and machine shop, THE ARTISAN SHOP. He became a renowned designer craftsman creating custom-made items of fine art, his own tools and machinery, cabinet work, ski trophies, and commemoration plaques. (One for “Ted” Fuller acan e seen at the Lake of the Clouds. Ted [Edward Kidder Fuller] was the Hut Master at the Lake of the Clouds in 1943. He was killed in Germany in 1944 while serving in the US 95th Infantry Division. In his memory his family donated his Life Insurance to the Lake of the Clouds Hut.)

Rodney was the Chairman of the Council of the North Conway League of NH Craftsmen for twenty-five years and sold some of his carved items there. A carving of a Barred Owl is in the permanent collection at the Headquarters of the League in Concord, NH.

Rod gave woodworking classes through the CARY (Crafts for Retirement Years) program in Berlin and Wolfeboro, NH, and in his own shop.

He made gavels for the 1944 International Monetary Fund Conference held in Bretton Woods. The wooden gavels were made from cherry trees cut from the grounds of the Mount Washington Hotel and were the official American gift to the leader of each delegation.

In 1947, Raymond Loud of Kearsarge, NH, and Rodney invented and manufactured the TETRATOOL, a machine with a circular saw, a lathe, and a drill press. In 1967 Rodney carved “the World’s largest salad bowl” from a 200-pound birch burl.

Rodney helped design surgical tools for Dr. George Harold Shedd, lead surgeon at the North Conway Memorial Hospital. He was noted for his expertise in operations on legs broken in skiing accidents. Rod also made the Crucifix for the St. Andrews Episcopal Church in New London, NH, the cross for the facade for the Reverence for Life Building at the First Church of Christ Congregational, in North Conway, NH, and a bas-relief plaque of Aesop’s Tortoise and the Hare for the children’s room at the Conway Public Library, Conway, NH. 

Rod made picture frames for local artists and special frames for Karl Drerup, a world-famous enamelist of Campton, NH, and for himself, a Sunday painter following a family tradition of his father, Charles, and his artist brother, Leroy (see MOUNTAIN PASSAGES Vol. 49, Number 4 Winter 2023-24 page 13.)

Rodney D. Woodard passed away on October 29, 1976, and is buried in the North Conway Cemetery. Rodney kept lifelong friendships with people he met through the AMC and in April 1976, the AMC recognized his contribution with a life membership.  Rodney’s daughters survive him.

Design of backboard still used today to haul supplies to AMC huts – courtesy of F. Richardson