A Tale of Two Paintings

Hanging behind the main desk at the Conway New Hampshire Public Library is a small painting by a relatively unknown artist, Charles Codman, depicting the scene of a famous avalanche, known as the Willey slide, that occurred in 1826 about thirty miles north of the library.

This painting stands silently at the heart of an almost fifty-year mystery, a kind of "identity theft" enacted by the art history establishment. The Codman painting is a key to breaking the code that hides the truth within another, larger, far more famous, view seen below painted by Thomas Cole now at the Smithsonian’s National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. 

The scene in the Cole painting has long been identified as the location of the Willey slide. 

 

 

But it is not.

 

Almost double the size and much more dramatic, the Cole painting is arguably the most famous example of White Mountain Art. Since at least 1969, the Cole painting has been incorrectly set into the canon of art history at the nation’s largest and most prominent universities and museums as the definitive interpretation of the Willey slide. FMI on the painting's interpretation at the National Gallery of Art see this link here.

 

Whole chapters have been devoted to explaining the symbolism and meanings of the Cole painting in its supposed telling of the Willey slide story.

Here are some of the erroneous claims that scholars have made about the Cole painting. It has been described by an art historian from Dartmouth as depicting a “Landscape of Terror,” from Wellesley as “a place of tragic destruction,” and from the Smithsonian as a scene of a “catastrophic avalanche.” Similar mistakes have been made by curators from Harvard, Princeton and Yale.

All of these scholars are wrong.

Even a quick and cursory comparison of the two paintings clearly reveals they do depict the same place. The topographic profile is strikingly different as can been seen from the shapes of the mountains, the heights of the ridges and the width between them in relation to the size and shapes of the buildings depicted in the paintings. The distinctive topographic profiles of each location can easily be seen today and have been clearly recorded by numerous artists over the years.

While intuitively obvious to the casual observer, these geographical distinctions have not been apparent to the eminent professors of art history with their doctoral degrees and extensive credentials. 

 

However, the differences are well known to New Hampshire's many hikers and White Mountain Art enthusiasts. It was a group of amateur art historians that initially pointed this misunderstanding out to me. They are amateurs only in that they do a job they are not paid for. Folks like Belson, Henderson, McLane, Robbins, Schomaker and Vogel do it for love, not money. However, they do a great job and it is their shoulders upon which I stand!

 

For those familiar with the region, the proper location of the Cole painting can be immediately distinguished by the large elephant head shaped rock formation to the left of the notch. 

 

This spot is actually about 2 ½ miles north of where the Willey slide occurred. You can get directions and more details on the history of these sites on your cell phone or computer through theclio.com app. 

For the Thomas Cole view here and for the actual site of the Willey Slide here.  

 

You can also virtually visit these two locations from the comfort of your armchair easily using Google Earth or Google Maps and confirm the clear differences in topography.  

 

While the point should be clearly settled on the topography alone, this conclusion is strengthened when cross referenced and approached from a number of other academic disciplines including architecture, botany, cartography, geology, photography, and even meteorology. 

 

The site of the Willey slide is clearly marked by a plaque.

 

 

 

 

There is a small museum nearby with artifacts from the family and a history of the event. There is a gift shop, ice cream parlor and restrooms as well as a spacious parking area and many trails to explore in the area. 

 

Some have suggested that perhaps Thomas Cole did not know where the Willey Slide actually happened and unwittingly painted the wrong location when he intended to refer to the story of the Willey Slide.

However a treasure trove of Cole sketches with his notations now in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts proves different.  

Architecture and geology. Cole's 1828 sketch below clearly shows that he understood the Willey House size and shape and it's relationship to the tall mountains that surrounded it (click on images to enlarge them).

For more info on this sketch see this link.

  

Cole's depiction of the building coincides well with a later post card and many other photographs of the building.

 

Now let's compare Cole's sketch of the Willey House above with his 1839 sketch of the Notch House below, now in the collection of the Princeton University Art Museum.

For more information on this sketch see this link. 

  

A similar sketch below was done by Cole's 1839 traveling companion Asher B. Durand. This sketch is from basically the same viewpoint and can be found in the collection of the New York Historical Society.

FMI on this sketch see the link here.

 

Durand's sketched is inscribed at lower right in graphite: "Notch House / White Mts. July 3rd. 1839"
Here are some details from the sketches. 

 

The sketches match up quite well with one of the earliest known American photographs by Samuel Bemis.

FMI on this 1841 photograph at the Art Institute of Chicago see here. Note for this blog I have flipped the image horizontally and lightened up the image. 

Note the cut and "blasted" tree stumps and the standing dead trees in the photos, the sketches and the Cole painting (click on images to enlarge them).

Here is another view showing the front of the barn from the Getty Museum with tree stumps around the barn and standing dead trees in the background.

 FMI on this photo see this link here. 

The Cole view was well known to artists and writers before and after Cole's first visit in 1827. FMI see the White Mountain Art website here and White Mountain artist and guidebook prints here.

The Bierstadt brothers included the view in a book of stereoviews that they printed. 

This fascinating book had the stereo lenses built into the cover of the book. 

Here again is Cole's painting. 

 Below is a photo of the view from September 25, 2020.

 

 Ironically, the sketches by Cole and Durand were done in the summer. However, in his painting, Cole resets the story into the autumn. 

 

Cole had studied New Hampshire's autumn color as early as October 1828. FMI see this blog here.  

 

 Cole also adds a dramatic sky which a number of art historians say indicates the foreboding terror to come. 

  

  

However, if you look at this detail from the painting below you will notice a rising mist in the notch opening (click on images to enlarge them).

 

 

 

 A mist like this does not occur in advance of a storm, but rather after a storm has passed.

 

As a result, I argue that instead of a storm to come, this painting instead represents a storm that has passed and the sun coming out on scene. 

 

 While to our modern mind we may see all of the tree stumps as a sign of tragic devastation in what is now a protected park, during the time period a view like this represented the first step to clearing the fields for cultivation as well as the harvesting of the trees for timber.

 

 

 If you zoom in a little closer you will see an adult with a child and a dog. Smoke rises from the chimney. A stagecoach heads on its way perhaps leaving paying guests and the most recent news at the Inn where community, commerce and domesticity reign.

  

All this, and the fact that historically, nothing significantly terrible ever happened at this location, I conclude that we should flip the long, mistaken narrative completely from negative to positive and definitely not a landscape of terror.  

The scene continues to be a subject for artists as can be seen in this recent painting by Lauren Sansaricq which will be featured in an upcoming exhibit at the Thomas Cole Historic Site to open June 20, 2026. For information on that exhibit follow this link: Paradise Found. 

While the pr states the work is “Rooted in the same Hudson Valley setting that once shaped Thomas Cole, Lauren Sansaricq’s work carries forward a lineage of American landscape painting that understands nature not as backdrop, but as moral, spiritual, and existential ground.”

Actually, it depicts the origin of the Saco River in the White Mountains of NH.

For more on the subject, contact the Conway New Hampshire Public Library's Henney History Room.

 

As we say in New Hampshire “live free and study art.”

Old News

Since my vacation, I have been trying to catch up on reading the news I missed. I started today by looking at the White Mountain Reporter newspaper from 1895. So I only have 120 years to go.

While some aspects of these papers are set in their time, it’s interesting to note how modern and familiar this newspaper seems today. The community correspondent reports (one from each section of town) are very much like today’s Twitter tweets or facebook posts. The text is short and the emphasis is on social interaction (who is doing what with whom, where).

Also like today, some of the posts are commercial ads or sponsored content set in among the news that “Mrs. Joseph Cheever of Portsmouth is spending a few weeks in town” and “B.F. Chadbourne of Biddeford has been at this summer residence here the past week” and the fact that it was “Poor hay weather” was the notice that “Jet ornaments, trimmings, silk and worsted gimps all to be closed out regardless of cost…”

You might have to google some of those phrases to understand their lost meanings to most of us today. Jet ornaments are made of black lignite, a type of fossilized wood. Carved or shaped on a lathe it has the look of black shiny plastic and was very popular during the time. A worsted gimp is a type of decorative fabric trimming used for borders of curtains, ladies’ dresses, and so on made by twisting fine smooth threads around a foundation thread to create a wide range of shaped patterns.  

There was a Church and Lodge Directory on the front page of each edition listing the times of many meetings. Not all the fraternal organizations are as prominent as they once were including the Grange, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Free and Accepted Masons, and the Improved Order of Red Men.

Published each Thursday (same as today’s Carroll County Independent), it cost one dollar for a year’s subscription (that certainly has changed). There was a free year (six years) if you sign up for five years. Individual issues were three cents (eight pages usually). That would be $1.56 for a full year of 52 weeks. So you can save the more you spend.

There were also a lot ads that were not disguised among the social chronicle. J. B. Smith had his ad printed upside down to draw attention. It read “J. B. Smith, Conway, N.H. Manufacturer of Ladders and Chairs, Also dealer in Hay, Grain, Mill Feed, Oyster Shells, Scraps, and all kinds of Hen Feed. I handle the best quality of grain and my prices are as low as the lowest.” Sounds like my kind of place. Does anyone have a J.B. Smith ladder or chair made in Conway?

There is an attractive circular ad for “Bicycle Clothing.” It notes “We make a specialty of Patent Water-Proof Suits and Patent Elastic Back Shoes. These are just what every Bicycle Rider needs.”

Some things never seem to change. One headline read “Greece has a Hard Time” and reports it has political instability, its money is becoming worthless and it has a staggering debt (of $75 per capita).

Will someone in the future use your tweets and facebook posts to analyze your history and the historic trends of the time. According to some, they already are. … and that’s all the news that’s fit to print.

Reel History

The Henney History Room of the Conway Public Library has an interesting and important collection of films related to area history.

Often while watching a film, I tend to look in the background at the historical details of the settings, costumes and accessories. Once, during an especially romantic scene in the “Last of the Mohicans” the raking light hit the wooden beams in the background just right and I proclaimed “circular saw marks” during the main characters’ first kiss.

This manufacturing tool mark indicates a technique not common, especially in the frontier areas, of the supposed time and place. It was clearly a significant discovery of an important historical anachronism.

My wife was not as impressed as she should have been with my Sherlock style sleuthing. She felt it somehow spoiled the moment. Go figure!

By using a combination of sources as evidence, such as newspapers, photographs and other archival materials, one can use these accidentally and unintentionally captured film clips as primary evidence and clues to further piece together and explore various puzzles of otherwise undocumented history.

For example, while there are a number of photos of the front (south side) of the Kennett Barn that once occupied the site of the current Salyards Museum on Main Street in Conway Village, the only images I know of the back (north side) were accidentally recorded in the film “Conway Boy.”

As Pee Wee French is rounding first base the camera shows us the back of the barn and we can see how the builders built into the bank and used the elevation change there so they could drive directly into either level of the barn. It also shows the workings of the hay equipment.

Other rare archival highlights in the film include Stone the Druggist , Conway Village’s war memorial and train station and the Tydol gas station on Main Street. Especially interesting are scenes showing the interiors and working views of the lumber mill, grocery store, barber shop, Kennett gymnasium and the self-service popcorn machine at the Majestic Theater.

One can also study the people in the film, their clothing and hair styles. Even the way they walked in tight groups reflecting shifting social norms documented in the book, “Bowling Alone.” I have noticed high school kids don’t walk that way anymore.

Details in the film help date it. In an earlier post I talked about how the movie posters in a photograph of the Majestic Theater could be used to date that photo. When Pee Wee French takes a girl to the movies, the poster for “South of St. Louis” can be seen dating this scene to 1949.

That film was set in Texas during the Civil War. The heroes are Confederates or Rebel sympathizers. The bad guy was a Yankee named Luke Cottrell who led a band of Union Soldiers who burned farms to put down the South.

I guess there are other folks like me who watch films in this funny way. According to one website, a goof in the film is the use of a certain pistol. “A revolver commonly seen in the film is the famous Colt Single Action Army Revolver. This design did not appear until 1873, much too late for use in the American Civil War.”

Other audio and visual materials in the Henney History Room collection include the Conway Girl, Ice Harvesting, Sherman Adams, David Baker, Darby Field, Frankenstein, White Mountain Art, an oral history with World War 2 veteran, Luther “Smitty” Smith, and the not-to-be missed Rebecca Rule and David Emerson “Full of Moxie.”

So on we go … lights, camera, action!

Celebrating Celebrity Superheroes

Years ago, when I first visited the Henney History Room, I browsed the shelves and wondered why did they have so many books on Helen Keller?

The answer is that our region has been home to many famous celebrities including Helen Keller who summered here and who was great friends with Nella Braddy and Keith Henney, the founders of the Henney History Room at the Conway Public Library.

Using the Dewey Decimal system as a guide, one can search the 920 section for many interesting biographies. These folks are only the “tip of the iceberg” of famous people with connections to the area: Rachel Adams, Josiah Bartlett, Admiral Richard Byrd, Benjamin Champney, E.E. Cummings, Joe Dodge, Mary Baker Eddy, Robert Frost, Harvey Dow Gibson, William Glackens, Samuel Hale, the Hutchinson Family (Singing Yankees), Henry and William James, Rudyard Kipling, Lucy Larcom, Lady Blanche Murphy, Otto Ninow, Franklin Pierce, Babe Ruth, Hannes Schneider, Arthur Walden, Daniel Webster and Jim Welch, the famous High Sheriff of Carroll County.  

One of our most famous local heroes was a dog, the great Chinook. Descended from one of the lead dogs on Peary’s North Pole expeditions, Chinook himself was destined to lead Byrd’s teams at the South Pole. He even has his own set of action figures made by the famous Steiff Company. He is honored by statues, bronze plaques, a road named after him, clubs, and oh yes, he founded New Hampshire’s state dog breed.

In addition to the books, we have vertical files on many other local celebrities as well as many diaries and journals that can help one explore their lives. We also have selected works in other sections, such as the novel Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott, sheet music from Englishman Thomas Murphy, engineering books by Keith Henney, a book on business etiquette by Nella Braddy Henney, and stories of polar expeditions by Admiral Byrd, etc.

Perhaps we will collect a biography on you when you become famous for your contributions.  

Now who is the guy in the tree? It is our own Keith Henney. The Conway Public Library’s Henney History Room was established in 1976 by Keith Henney in memory of his wife Nella Braddy Henney. The Henneys were real history super heroes. Through hard, dirty and sometimes dangerous work, they saved fragile historical records, researched many subjects ranging from Civil War soldiers to lost poets to ocean-going sea elephants and shared their findings through articles, books and lectures.  

A Novel Approach to History

Recently the Henney History Room of the Conway Public Library assisted a patron who visited us from Hollywood, California. She was looking for background information for a story she was writing set in the White Mountains during the Grand Hotel era around the end of the 19th century. She hopes to have it made into a book and a movie. She was interested in both the life of the hotel guests as well as the “downstairs” and behind the scenes life of the bellboys, waiters, maids, butlers, chauffeurs and other support staff for these well-heeled tourists during that extravagant and elegant time period.

Over the years we have helped a number of writers and directors set the scene for their books and films. We have a special section in our fiction collection for their works and of earlier works that have a connection to the geographical scope and focus of the Henney History Room.

Some of the titles include The Appomattox Cat, Catamount, Eight Cousins, Hopalong Cassidy, Look to the Mountain, The Nancy Flyer, Fryeburg Chronicles, and The Story of a Bad Boy.

If you would like to immerse yourself into these imaginative versions of our area’s history, visit the Henney History Room and experience all of thise danger, romance, and adventure for yourself.

It certainly is a “novel” approach to history. Get it?

A swarm of locusts

Bike Week starts this weekend, but my reference to a swarm of locusts is not what you are thinking. I associate large black jacketed Harley riders with pretty fragrant flowers.

This past week patrons visiting the Conway Public Library were treated to a unique sweet aroma from a palisade of trees to the west of the main entrance with cascading showers of small cream colored flowers hanging like grapes from a handful of very crooked trees with deeply furrowed bark that resembles a gator's back. Each year the flowering of these trees heralds the beginning of motorcycle week in New Hampshire. 

The blooms and smell make the trees easy to identify. If you were an early settler to Conway, some 250 years ago, you might want to mark those trees and make a note of their location for they have hidden secrets and serve special functions. 

These secrets are revealed in volume 3 of Jeremy Belknap’s The History of New-Hampshire first published in 1792. A key section of his book, titled modestly “Forest trees and other vegetable productions” is like a “how to” manual for pioneers.

Belknap reports that “Locust (rabinia pseudo-acacia) is excellent fuel. Its trunk serves for durable posts set in the ground, and may be split into trunnels for ships, which are equal to any wood for that purpose. It thrives on sandy and gravelly soils, and its leaves enrich them. For these reasons, the cultivation of the locust has been thought an object worthy of attention, especially as it is a tree of quick growth." 

Fuel: Black locust is highly valued as firewood. It burns slowly, with little visible flame or smoke, and has a higher heat content than any other species that grows widely in the Eastern United States, comparable to the heat content of anthracite coal. It is also popular because of its ability to burn even when wet.

Fence posts: Flavonoids in the heartwood allow the wood to last over 100 years in soil.

Trunnels: The Summer 2013 edition of Northern Woodlands magazine explains that as early as the 1630s, New England shipbuilders used dowels, or treenails, made of Locust trees, that hold a ship’s planks to the frames. The metal fasteners available back then corroded when exposed to salt, and black locust was soon found to be superior to the traditional oak treenails as it is harder and even more decay resistant than oak.

Soil enrichment: Locust trees have nitrogen fixing bacteria on their root systems and as a result, can grow on poor soils and is an early colonizer of disturbed areas.

Belknap's book continues with practical advice for pioneers on the nature of many trees and plants. Drop by the Henney History Room next time you are planning a homesteading type project. 

Majestic Conway

Graduation season is here. It is an important time to take stock of the past, present and future. We recently received a donation of a 1939 graduation notice. It reads “The Senior Class of Kennett High School announces its Graduation Exercises on Tuesday the twentieth of June nineteen hundred thirty-nine at two-thirty o’clock Majestic Theatre Conway, New Hampshire.”

Also included in the donation were six photographs documenting both the inside and outside of the theater. We hope to learn a lot about the Majestic by carefully studying the signs, old cars, landscape features and people in the pictures. We would love you to comment and help us identify some of the details.

For example, you can see a couple different movie posters in the scenes. In one photo they were showing the film, “Bring on the Girls” starring Veronica Lake dating that picture no earlier than 1945. The Majestic Theater also plays a starring role in the film “Conway Boy” which was featured at the recent history fair at Pine Tree School.

To learn more, all these items can be explored at the Henney History Room of the Conway Public Library.