The legend of Sabbaday Falls
Legend has it that one Saturday night, with winter rapidly approaching, workmen building a road from Albany Intervale to Waterville decided it was time to call it quits. They hid their tools, planning to return the following spring. Before leaving on Sunday morning, they named the brook Sabbaday Brook for the Sabbath Day or "Sabbaday." The workers never returned to complete the road, but the name has endured.
A day of rest
For the early settlers, the hard work never seemed to stop, but on the Sabbath, families occasionally took time out to pick wild berries or take a walk to the to the Falls.
1880: Cutting the trail to Sabadday Falls
A local farmer, Jim Shackford, who owned the Passaconaway House hotel, earned extra money by blazing trails for the Appalachian Mountain Club and by guiding tourists who liked to hike those trails.
In 1880, Shackford cut this trail along the Swift River from his hotel to Sabbaday Falls. Today, the trail is part of the White Mountain National Forest.
In the path of a president
Influential Easterners began traveling to the White Mountains in the late 1800's, including President Grover Cleveland. A guest at Shackford's Passaconaway House, he likely visited Sabbaday Falls with his
young wife Frances Folsom.
Many of those urbanite visitors united to gain legal protection for the White Mountains when the forests were threatened by logging interests and erosion.
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