Astronomical Autumn began on Sept 22 this year. These photos above and below were taken around that time to document the progress of this year's fall foliage.
The color began creeping in slowly around mid-September. It can start with a single leaf or a handful of leaves on an otherwise green tree. It seems to start in the swamps and stressed trees along the road.
Here is what I call a "bellwether" tree.
While this tree has almost entirely cloaked itself in its autumn attire, the rest of the trees in the photo have not even begun the process.
A wether is a castrated male sheep. The term "bellwether" refers to the dominant sheep fitted with a bell around its neck that leads the flock. The bell tells the shepherd where the flock is heading. The term then refers to something that helps predict where things are going.
Notice that the tree above already has a good start on a fluffy bed of leaf drop to help facilitate our annual Snoopy and Charlie Brown ritual.
You rake, I jump.
I chose to post this blog this afternoon to correspond to the sketch by Thomas Cole below that I believe was done 197 years ago today.
It captures the spirit of our early foliage season
and hints at the profuse and brilliant reds, oranges and yellows of the
peak season to come, so these are bellwether trees.
Entitled View Near Tamworth, New Hampshire; In The White Mountains, the sketch now resides in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. FMI follow this link here.
You can download a high resolution TIFF from that website, enlarge the image and check my observations. The website describes the medium as watercolor, graphite pencil, pen and black ink on off-white wove paper
The image is not dated, but using evidence in the artwork itself, combined with Cole's record of his trip, I conclude it was probably drawn on Oct 2, 1828, the day before he and a fellow artist Henry Cheever Pratt climbed Mount Chocorua.
At the top of the page Cole wrote "View near Tamworth NH." In the middle of the page he continued "In the W. Mountains"
Looking at the top half of the sketch, one might assume that is a view of Chocorua...
...but it is not.
Chocorua was a very popular subject for artists. They painted it from many directions. To see some of their many artworks see this White Mountain Art website here.
The actual mountain peaks depicted in the sketch are well known to those of us who live in and love the White Mountains. For those of you "from away," the answer can be found if you start with the most famous view of Chocorua and visit this pull over along rt 16 known as the Chocorua Basin View. To get directions go and information about the view go to this website here.
To learn about the mountain peaks you can see from here you can use this handy interpretive sign...
Notice in the photo and sign above that the pyramid shaped peak of Chocorua is only at its top, that its shoulders are relatively level and that it has three knobs along the ridge to the right known at the Three Sisters. The mountain seen in the sketch is a larger, deeper pyramid that has no knobs on either dramatically sloping side. This helps confirm that the sketch is not of Chocorua.
Another sign with this same profile of mountain peaks in the sketch can be seen from nearby White Lake State Park.
Again with an interpretive sign. Here is a detail of the view and the sign below.
You can see here the mountain peaks identified as Paugus, Passaconaway and Whiteface have the profile outline that matches the signs, the photos and the sketch. Again, the major difference between Chocorua and Passaconaway is that the mountain seen in the sketch is a larger, deeper pyramid that has no knobs on either side so that identifies it as Passaconaway.
While the general view of these mountains are known, the exact location from which this sketch was made could be from any number of places. Unlike Chocorua, this part of the Sandwich Range was not as popular a vista for artists, so it takes a bit more sleuthing. For this we will turn to maps.
Part of problem to id the specific location it that the area is now 80-90% forested. We can't just drive around and find the exact spot. During Cole's time the area would be 80-90% clear due to farming, so one may not even be able to find a place to get an exact match.
However to get a rough idea we will start with an 1816 map to identify roads Cole and Pratt could have traveled on twelve years later. You can view the map online here. This website has an excellent zoom feature to study the map closely.
We will combine our study of the map with clues in the artwork and Cole's journal of his 2nd trip
to the White Mountains which leads me to conclude it was probably painting on
Oct 2, 1828. Follow along with me to see if you agree.
You can also read a typescript of the account through the Jstor website here. You can register for a free account to read the essay.
While we will try to follow their trip using the map and the journal, we must realize that some of the roads
shown on this 1816 map have been abandoned and current roads don't
necessarily follow the path of the older roads. However, we will get as close as we can to follow in their footsteps.
From Cole's journal
"We left Concord (New Hampshire) at 4 o'clock in the morning of the 2 Oct. 1828 it was very dark and the rain fell in torrents..."
"We left Concord (New Hampshire) at 4 o'clock in the morning of the 2 Oct. 1828 it was very dark and the rain fell in torrents..."
From the journal and other sketches we know that they traveled through Center Harbor, and passed Red Hill and Squam Lake, most likely following the roads identified on the map as dotted lines. Rivers are depicted as solid lines.
He goes on to write "...Leaving Centre harbour, the magnificent range of the Sandwich Mountains opened upon us - ... This range without exception - (in forms & colour) is the most picturesque in the United states."
Cole
repeats this sentiment in his Essay on American Scenery, that the
Sandwich Range is the best. This is high praise indeed for a man who knew New England 's landscape so well from the Catskills in upstate New York to Mount Desert Island in Maine.
To follow in their footsteps today, the closest option is to drive north from Center Harbor along Bean Road which then changes to Squam Lake Road into Sandwich Village. This seems to follow the 1816 map pretty well.
This 1816 map does not actually show Paugus or Passaconaway. They would be on that ill defined hatch marked ridge line seen below labeled Sandwich Mountains between Chocorua (spelled Corway) Peak in the town of Burton (now Albany) and Whiteface Mt. in then ungranted land (now Waterville Valley).
Continuing on, they probably went through Center Sandwich village, where 5 points converge just above the "h" in Sandwich on the map above.
Then they probably took what is now Church Street to what is now Route 113.
The shape of that early road on the 1816 map nearly matches current route 113 to 113A. This road is depicted as leading slightly northeast out of Sandwich village then it takes a sharp turn east and crosses the town line into Tamworth.
The road then heads north again and then east around Great Hill Pond, then southeast down to Tamworth Village identified on the 1861 map as Gilman M (for Gilman Mill) where they wrote that they stayed the night.
All this of course but only conjecture and there are other viable options to get from Center Harbor to Tamworth. Without more evidence we can't be sure which route they took.
Now to field work. Again, as the area is now heavily forested, we have to find areas that have a clear view of the mountain range, known in New England as intervales. As a result, today there are only a few open spots along this route that you can see a view similar to the one in the sketch. Options include Ferncroft, Wonalancet, Whiteface, Beede Flats, and Fellows Hill Road.
After checking out all these spots, I feel the best match is on Fellows Hill Road in Sandwich NH, the adjacent town just west of Tamworth, where thanks to local residents mowing their fields, we can get a glimpse of an approximate location that was likely near here
The sketch above matches up pretty well with the photo below
The
peak on the right is Paugus (3,198 ft) and the one in the center
Passaconaway (4,043 ft) in the Sandwich Range Wilderness of the White
Mountain National Forest.
In the center of this section, Cole used watercolor to depict the "tints" of a group of about eleven trees.
Cole's journal continues "The forests in the valley below the Sandwich Mountains are rich and varied and as we passed them in many places - they called forth our admiration - The rich tints of autumn were upon them. Every variety of tints and form, light and shadow was upon them and the sun which now in his decline shone upon them with full splendour. The foliage of the American forest is wonderfully beautiful in colour in the early part of Autumn - Every tint is on them from the lightest to the darkest green - from the straw colour to bright yellow from orange to scarlet, from crimson to purple. with all the browns olives &c and these more brilliant than the artist can place on his pallet and yet often so blended and harmonized together as to make a delightful whole."
To add watercolor to his sketches in the field, Cole could have used a variety of watercolor paint sets that were available during the early 19th century.
Osborne was was one of the few 19th century American makers of artists paint. Many artists of the time believed the especially clear paint colors by Osborne to be equal or better to any made in Europe. The paints for an Osborne paint box were made by Smith & Hodgson which later became the Bullock & Crenshaw's Drug and chemical store, in Philadelphia from 1820 to around the 1840's. Lewis Haehnlen took over manufacturing the watercolor paints around the 1850's to possibly 1860's This large box is earlier from 1830's to 1840's
They also had smaller sets
During Cole's life watercolor was used primarily as a study to help later when working in the studio with oil paint. While we don't have an example of Cole's watercolor set, we do have an oil paint box known to have been used by Thomas Cole.
Note the oil paints stored in pig bladders at the bottom left. FMI on this paint box follow this link here.
While I have not found any finished Cole oil paintings to match the sketch above, we do have an example of his work "from sketch to canvas." In 1839 after his third and final trip to New Hampshire, Thomas Cole applied his careful observation and analysis of autumn colors and his research into color theory when he took a sketch he did in summer and used it as a basis to turn the scene into a portrait of full autumn foliage.
FMI on this view see our previous blog here.
During the later part of the 19th century watercolor become more acceptable as a finished work of art on its own accord. Societies devoted to elevating watercolor's status were established to
promote its diversity and encourage popularity among professional
artists and amateurs.
To learn more about this trend be sure to catch the upcoming Winslow Homer watercolor exhibit at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts from November 2, 2025 to January 19, 2026. FMI follow this link here.
Back to nature. The peak period for Fall foliage (and tourists) in the White Mountains is usually around Oct 10th or so.
It is also around that time that the weather turns crisp, tart and dry like the taste of Northern Spy apple.
According to tradition, that apple was named for its reputation as a "spy" apple because its late bloom helped farmers "detect" frost in their orchards. So it is in fact, a bellwether apple tree. FMI on apples and Autumn see our previous blogs here.
Use the map above as your guide and enjoy the show!
