A Native Californian here again, pondering a New Hampshire winter and wondering how far horseback travel might take you during the winter.   Matthew Patten, the justice of the peace for Bedford, NH recorded his several different journeys during the month.  The center circle has a very rough one mile radius, the next a 4 mile radius, the next an 8 mile radius and the largest circle a 32 mile radius.  (Very, very rough approximation).  Click the map for more detail.

My temptation has always been to think that everything shut down during a New England winter, but Justice Patten did a lot of trading, (rye, rum, corn, needles, yarn).  He had his horse shoed.   He “ran lines” or surveyed his neighbors farms.  He took depositions.   He viewed the new bridge over the Piscataquog River.  Most of his journeys seem to have been in the 8-10 mile range.

Near the end of the month, he observed snow beginning to fall on the 29th and he hunkered down for a day or two,  but by the 31st, he was off to Derryfield again to take depositions.

So much for the image of a snow-bound family, unable to move beyond the hearth for a row of fortnights.