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These footprints are traditionally held to belong to Midewin, who were extremely powerful Medicine Men (and sometimes women). They were and are believed to have been so powerful with their Medicine that they were able to press their feet into the solid Earth and leave their footprints behind.The footprints are located near the river which was once called Pag8ntegok in the Abenaki language, and where a village by the name of Pen8kok (Pennacook in English, presently known as Concord). In 1957 the footprints were first brought to the attention of the public by Dr. Adolphus Holton. According to Dr. Adolphus Holton the rocks are composed of re-melted volcanic material, a very hard type of rock.We hope you enjoy your search for this site.

In the middle of Henniker, South of the Contoocook River there are a set of clear human-shaped footprints imprinted into the stone. It is on New England College property along one of the hiking trails that run on and near the campus. Because this is a sacred site exact directions will not be given online.

Henniker Footprints

Historical sites of interest for the Abenaki Native Americans. Each spot has a story to tell!

If you want to understand Abenaki history, you have to look at it from the river. The Contoocook River was the travel route, connecting people of the Monadnock region to the Merrimack River and far beyond. Visitors entered villages from the river; imagine approaching the village of your relations while you are in a canoe, and your kin are greeting you from the clearing by the river’s edge. Those clearings were along the Contoocook River, and were the entrances to villages such as the one by the Hopkinton-Henniker town line and the one by the confluence of the Warner and Contoocook Rivers (paddle east from here to go to that confluence; or go to the Hopkinton Historical Society to see the pottery shards, mortar and pestle, fishing tools, and woodworking tools from that site). The river had important portage areas, too, like falls and rapids, where people stopped to pick up resources, like cedar and other offerings of the trees. Many of the programs of the Abenaki Trails Project have been paddles in the Contoocook River, the Warner River, and more. The rivers and lakes continue to be a lifeblood for Abenaki people.The land of the Confluence of Warner and Contoocook River Site was once a thriving village of Abenaki natives. Like many Abenaki villages it was probably a semi-permanent site with the Abenaki living there for one part of the year and growing corn and other vegetables along the river, and moving on to another site for the remainder of the year. The Abenaki tribe that dwelled in this location were the Penacooks, and many artifacts of their lives have been plowed up during agricultural cultivation and found along the banks of the two rivers. Hopkinton and Henniker Historical societies each have a mortar and pestle.The village name for this site where the Penacooks stayed was called, in English, The Place of the Nut Trees/ The Place of the Butternut Trees, due to the great abundance of Butternut trees that once grew extensively in the area. These nut trees, combined with the access to two rivers, could have been the reason that the area was settled by the Penacook in the first place.

Several sites along the Contoocook River in Hopkinton and Henniker had thriving Abenaki communities for thousands of years which eventually disappeared in the face of white settlers. Two local sites include the confluence of the Hopkinton and Warner Rivers in Hopkinton, and a site near the Hopkinton/Henniker border. For the site located on the Hopkinton/Henniker border, the area of the village sites was cut in half when construction of the Everett Dam started in 1959.To visit the area near the confluence of the Contoocook and Warner Rivers, you can go to the LLewellyn Bandstand that is off Depot Ln on the south side of the Contoocook Railroad Covered Bridge.To visit the area near the Hopkinton/Henniker line, you can go to Amey Brook Park on the Old Concord Rd. in Henniker.

Sites Along the Contoocook River.

Throughout history many mountains have been considered sacred to the Abenaki of New Hampshire. One Mt. Kearsarge legend has it that a trapper named Eastman, who did trapping around the area of Bradford before colonial settlement, was a friend of the great Massasecum whose name translates to "man of great stature'. It is said that Eastman used a trail up the mountain to view his surroundings, and it is believed that Kearsarge Mountain Road was once the trail that both Eastman used, and the Pen8kok Abenaki used to go up Mt. Kearsarge for ceremonies. The trail has now been widened into a road that is used by cars.

Mount Kearsarge is one of the oldest mountains in New Hampshire and stands at 2,937 feet in elevation. It is home to both the Winslow and Rollins State Park's, and is a easy access family-hiking location. The hiking trails can be accessed by the parking area at Winslow State Park, the picnic area in Rollins State Park, and Kearsarge Valley Road south of the golf course. Please hike with caution and research the trails you will take before hiking. A link for the hiking trails in provided below.https://www.nhstateparks.org/getmedia/d1055d52-a86b-49a2-8772-4c851eb0a8ee/KearsargeHikingMap_Web.pdf

Mt Kearsarge

Bradford Springs was first introduced to the European colonizers in 1750, several decades before the town of Bradford was officially established, by the local Native American's. First recorded in 1750, the European colonizers discovered groups of Native American's camping around Bradford Springs with their sick relatives and tribal members. Upon inquiring the native people's gathered around Bradford Springs, the natives explained that the water had healing properties, which is why the native people called the place "big medicine water".The colonial settlers also found the spring to have health benefits, and in 1858, more than 100 years after it was recorded by the colonists, a hotel called The Hermitage was built as a health resort to cater to travelers seeking health benefits from Bradford Springs. Eventually, interest in the springs faded during the turn of the 20th century. The Hermitage closed and buildings were dismantled except for the Spring House, which remained until it was moved from the area and restored at Musterfield Farm in Sutton, New Hampshire. It still remains there to this day.However, the story of Bradford Springs also has a history of the supernatural. The Abenaki name for this is Kchi Awas, but the rest of the world (particularly the United States) knows this Spirit or animal as Big Foot. Kchi Awas, the Abenaki Big Foot     When Creator created the Abenaki people many spirits fell from the dust of Creator’s hands. One spirit stepped out to watch over the forests and animals. He is known worldwide as Big Foot, Yeti or many other names, but here in Abenaki lands, he is the Spirit of the Woods or Kchi Awas.           He shows himself to some people, but no one can catch him. They get a smell or a sound, but he is a shape-shifter. Suddenly there is only a deer standing there.           Kchi Awas is important to the Nulhegan people, a band of the Abenaki. He protects sacred sites like Brunswick Springs in Vermont or Bradford Springs in New Hampshire. People travel far to be healed at these springs. In 1790 settlers in Bradford knew of Abenakis going to their springs for healing. Any attempt at profit is always destroyed.           An old Nulhagen once went to the spring to be healed when he saw the Spirit of the Woods. He was scared, so he sang a lullaby to the spirit. He was thankful for his healing and wanted to sing if this was the end of his life. The Spirit lay down and fell asleep, so he was able to steal away. The old man taught this song and told this story, so this is the way Abenaki remember Kchi Awas to this day.           The Abenaki Trails Project presents Big Foot as a spirit as the Abenaki believe, not a monster. Still today, many people throughout New Hampshire claim to have seen a being like a large upright gorilla. A video from WMUR-TV interviewed Scott Lucas, who heard loud sounds in the woods. He attended a town hall meeting in the north country, where he says he learned over five hundred people believe in Big Foot.           Sightings continue throughout the state. Rebecca Courser reported a person she knew saw one at Tucker Pond in the Smith Corners region of Salisbury. In 1979 Peter Samuelson saw an unusual being while prospecting for minerals in the Ossipee Mountains on the ledges of Bald Mountain. He saw a small structure made of big stones, “with hemlock boughs for a roof.” Through the door he saw a man like creature about seven feet tall with his back to him “totally covered with tangled gray hair about three inches long.” His dog growled, and the creature made loud sounds, showing it was upset.           “I can’t describe the noise,” Samuelson said. His girlfriend, Holly Swaffield, was very frightened and they left rapidly. A few months later she found an article from the 1890’s in the Wolfboro Library. A person living in a cabin on Connor Pond in the Ossipee Range saw a dog walk onto the pond and fall through the ice. A large hairy creature came out of the woods, rescued the dog and vanished. This is in tune with the Abenaki belief in Kchi Awas as the protector of animals. A year later, Samuelson came back to the site and found no sign of the shelter.           Artist Mike Eastman of Berlin saw his version of Kchi Awas, who he calls Shy Man in 1973. He was sleeping on the porch of a cabin on Lake Umbagog when he awoke to a strong monkey smell. The massive being he saw checked out a boat at the dock and headed off across a swamp.           Since then, Eastman has made an extensive study of Shyman. He has taped seventeen hours of the animal’s click/pop language, made plaster molds of his footprints, collected hair and painted pictures of his sightings.           Since 2015 he claims to have found areas in the woods where families of the secretive creatures live and found stick dwellings and subtle alterations of the landscape. In the manner of Abenaki people of past he has left tribute offerings of food, and observed them behind trees and rocks. He believes they live in families and communicate with each other in their own language. He feels they need to be protected from the increasing impact of humans on their environment, like any other rare species.           Archaeologist Dr. Goodby of Franklin Pierce University, when asked about a new species of mammal, says it is really easy to solve this mystery. “Find a body,” he says. But a spirit who protects the forest and animals can never die.

Bradford Springs was first recorded in history as early as 1750, but was know for its apparent healing powers by the local Native Americans well before the European colonizers arrived. Bradford Springs is located on East Washington Road, Bradford, New Hampshire, 03221. The springs were eventually turned into a health resort with a hotel named The Hermitage in 1858 and ran a steady business until the 20th century when interest in the healing springs began to fade.

Bradford Spring "Big Medicine Water"

"Myth: Here you will find HUGE ledges that the Indians used for their winter encampment after they had spent their summer at Lake Massasecum. We shall see if this story hold up to evaluation...Facts: Abenaki were living in Henniker at Gove’s Pond, now Keyser Pond in 1758. We know from the History of Henniker that the early settlers in Henniker were providing shelter and provisions to the warriors raiding other settlements. We know Abenaki people were still living in Bradford up through 1770 from the Bradford Springs encounter recorded in Two Hundred Years Plus (History of Bradford), and Eastman buried Massasecum in the late 1760s (Mason Tappen's Diary, BHS). We know that William Presbury left Henniker in 1771 to become the first permanent white settler in Bradford on the "forrest trail" (Bradford History, et el) that became Liberty Hill Road and then turns into Rowe Mountain Road in Bradford. The "tie up" is slightly off Liberty Hill road, but with a good knowledge of the area, not that far off. Conclusion: We believe it was a way station for moving the captives along to Canada to cash them in to the French, or adopt them into the tribe. Holding up to 20 captives before the march to Canada.This route was the Henniker to Bradford Abenaki trail that led from the Pag8ntegok (Contoocook) Trail to the Sennibi (Sunapee) Trail and they would have moved on to Okwaskikonkwn (Newbury) to Sennibi to Kwenitegw (The Connecticut River)"Some white settlers, particularly women and children, were captured for the purpose of adoption so as to replace tribal members who had been lost to disease and war. When captured for adoption, white settlers were treated as family and tribal members and given the same social status as the person they were replacing. They were given Native clothing, sometimes decorated with feathers, beading, quills, and even wampum (Seashells that had been processed for jewelry, and a valuable gift).There is no supported mention of women and children suffering abuses from the Native men who captured them, and some children who were taken refused to return to their lives as settlers trying to scrape a living from the land. Even those who were taken for ransom were usually treated with a kindness that surprised the settler captives.

This geological formation known as Indian Tie-Up is in Henniker on Liberty Hill Road. You can access it by taking Day Pond Road off Rte 114 in Warner and about ½ mile at Liberty Hill Road in Bradford, NH take a left toward Henniker and go about a mile. You CANNOT drive down Liberty Hill Road depending on the conditions, it is not maintained, so drive as far as you can and park if you have to. You are simply walking into the woods along trails at times and up a hill to find it. This is a great leaning rock among rocks on a ridge a short hike to the west of the road that can easily shelter say 20 people.

Abenaki Trails

Henniker Footprints

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources