Daniel Webster Farm

Daniel Webster Farm in Franklin, NH (c) Gail Rousseau on SeacoastNH.com
NH Gallery
GAIL ROUSSEAU

Stateman Daniel Webster called his Franklin, NH farm the sweetest spot on earth. Judging by these images by Gail Rousseau, we are inclined to agree. This gallery was collected through the seasons as environmentalists, farmers and preservations battled to preserve this unique land along the Merrimack River from condo development.

READ ALL ABOUT: Historic Daniel Webster farm article

Gail Rousseau Photography
745 South Main Street
Franklin NH

Sometimes a single location captivates a photographer who returns time and again, year after year. That’s how it has been Franklin photographer Gail Rousseau who continues to wander the 141-acre historic farm that once belonged to NH-born Daniel Webster. This unique farm, one of the oldest consistently farmed areas in New Hampshire, includes almost a mile of pristine frontage along the Merrimack River that accounts for the dark fertile soil.

Gail’s photos recently helped preservationists save the land from development into 130 machine- made houses. Current the local preservation group is collecting funds, a total of $2.5 million dollars, to save the land and a campus of buildings that include the original 1780s Webster farmhouse, a Civil War orphanage and a the former home of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. The unpaved road through the fields was first surveyed by Revolutionary War hero John Stark and, even earlier, was the site of a frontier fort during the French and Indian War.

Gail was transplanted from Massachusetts to Franklin 20 years ago. She has been carrying a camera since age 10 and grew up reading LIFE and LOOK. She attended New England School of Photography, Boston MA, married and raised a daughter. She recently collected 30 years of images of Peaks Island, Maine into a small book and has a new calendar of island photos. Gail is a member of the Manchester Art Association, has exhibited recently at the Lincoln-Levy Gallery and appeared in Preservation Magazine. She hopes to collect these and other Daniel Webster Farm pictures into a future book. Readers can contact Gail via email to this web site.

Daniel Webster Farm (c) Gail Rousseau on SeacoastNH.com