Names on Stones
The Art of Memorial Research
New Hampshire is covered with dozens (most likely hundreds) of Memorial Stones, small tucked away plaques all across the state, that speak to the history of locals that somehow made an impact on the country or world. We tend to overlook these little rocky history books, just pass them by on the way to our picnic or swim or the restroom along a highway pit stop.
Sometimes, the names of these folks have long drifted into the haze.
One such name made his mark in 1902. That was the year Philip Wheelock Ayres set out on a public speaking tour throughout New England that would change the way people used and thought of our mountains. Using a lantern slide projector, and speaking to literally any group or organization that would have him, he showed audiences dramatic photographs of the clear cuts and forest fires that were tearing through the forests and mountains. The 41-year-old social worker and first chief forester of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests began to assemble a diverse coalition of supporters - hotel owners, nature lovers, politicians, loggers - anyone who saw the economic advantage of saving the White Mountains. His strategy worked, and then led nine years later to the passage of the Weeks Act and the formation of the White Mountain National Forest.
The Ayres Memorial Rock is tucked deep into the beach area of Echo Lake, looking south into Franconia Notch.
Philip Wheelock Ayres, who wrote, "Here were six great lumber companies, each with a well-equipped logging railway, stripping the White Mountains with the most scientific efficiency that Yankee ingenuity could invent. We wanted to save at least a portion of it, and needed a forester. I suggested a National Forest in the White Mountains as the most direct and only adequate remedy."
The Ayres Memorial Stone, and 29 others will be featured in our upcoming Field Guide: More NH Rocks That Rocks: Memorial Stones. Click here to learn more about the book and pre-orders - MEMORIAL STONES