By Mike Dickerman
(Second of two parts)
Reprinted from the Plymouth Record Enterprise

If Arthur L. Goodrich, profiled here last week, is considered one of the most instrumental early trail-builders of the Waterville Valley, then his son has to be considered one of the founding fathers of our modern-day White Mountain trail system.

Along with fellow Appalachian Mountain Club members Charles Blood and Paul Jenks, Nathaniel Lewis Goodrich (1880-1957) oversaw the development of a trail system that connected previously constructed local trail networks. This expansion occurred over a two-decade period starting in the early 1900s and included the building of such important footpaths as the Garfield Ridge Trail, the Webster Cliff Trail, the Kinsman Ridge Trail and the Twin Range Trail (or Twinway as it is known today). Over a 15-year period, this work resulted in more than 170 miles being added to AMC’s White Mountain trail system.

Nathaniel Goodrich summered practically all his life in Waterville Valley, first coming to the valley as an infant. Upon Goodrich’s death in 1957, his pal Blood wrote about his early acquaintanceship with Goodrich. “I first met Nat Goodrich in July, 1897, riding on the stage into Waterville. I was an absolute greenhorn in the mountains, while to me he even then seemed a seasoned veteran, for he had spent his summers there since babyhood. For the next twenty years our summer vacations brought us together almost every year, and from him I learned much of my woodcraft.”

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By Mike Dickerman
reprinted from the Plymouth Record Enterprise

It probably goes without saying that the most famous father-son tandem in White Mountains annals is that of Abel Crawford and Ethan Allen Crawford, pioneer settlers and innkeepers whose names live on in the famous mountain pass to which they were so closely associated.

The Crawford, who at various times owned inns and taverns from one end of Crawford Notch to the other, played a huge role in the development of the early tourist trade in the region, not only providing places for travelers to stay, but also developing some of the first walking trails and bridle paths up Mount Washington and the southern reaches of Presidential Range.

Over the years plenty has been written about the Crawford, so I won’t take up space this week re-hashing what’s already been penned many times over in the course of the past 150 years. Instead, I want to take a look back this week and next at another father-son team with longtime ties to the Whites, but whose legacy pales in comparison to that of the Crawford, even though these two men did far more for today’ hikers than the Crawford.

Arthur L. Goodrich and Nathan Lewis Goodrich never lived in the White Mountains, per se, but for many summers were closely associated with the Waterville Valley area. Arthur, the father, began summering in the Valley in the mid-to-late 1870s and over the course of the next 30 to 40 years was an instrumental figure in the development of the fine trail system that pretty much exists intact today in Waterville, more than a century later.

Arthur’s son, Nathaniel, whose ties to the Valley go back to his days as an infant, closely followed his footsteps, at least in terms of his dedication to trail-building in the Whites. Nathaniel, along with fellow Appalachian Mountain Club members Charles Blood and Paul Jenks, are considered the “fathers” of the modern day White Mountain trail system, for it was the three of them working together as a team who pieced together over a period of two decades the interconnected trail network that has long been enjoyed by area trampers.
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Above: Camping in Waterville Valley, circa 1912. At the very back, standing, early WVAIA members Nathaniel Goodrich and C.W. Blood.  To see an early entry in the Tramping Record by the two, click here.

There are two file cabinets loaded with historical records of Waterville Valley. WVAIA volunteer, Brenda Conklin, has begun the process of describing the items in a database that can be sorted by date, item, subject, description, and people.