The Farmland Years (thru early 1900s)

Also shown on the map are the stone walls that were used as property or field boundaries for livestock or crops. The walls were constructed by hand from stones removed from plowed or garden fields. The stones were moved from the fields and placed in piles at the edges of the fields during the warm planting months. Originally, the stone walls were constructed to delineate field or property boundaries during colder months when the owners were not busy farming the land. Later, many more  walls were constructed to corral sheep during the sheep craze/boom/fever of 1812-1840s when Merino sheep were first imported to New England and by the 1940s outnumbered people in New Hampshire 2 to 1 with an average of 65 sheep per square mile. 75% of New Hampshire was deforested to support their grazing. Many of these stone walls still exist today and it is fun to visualize how the stone walls in your yard or neighborhood were once part of a much larger network. 

Much of the land in New England, including that around Sunset Lake, was deforested not only for farming and livestock grazing, but also so the wood could be used for construction and fuel for heating and cooking. It is amazing to think that as late as the 1950s, there were large fields leading from the main roads down to the waterfront. Lakeview Cemetery on Kent Farm Road, originally named “Eastman Cemetery” and later “The Cemetery on the Farm Road”, was, in fact, renamed for its fine view of Sunset Lake, a view which has not existed for many years.