Look to the Mountain

A very good Legrand Cannon book that everyone should read to get a perspective on homesteaders in New England pre-Revolutionary War.

How this book isn't better known boggles my mind. This is a masterwork. The fellow giving it one star, well, obviously his reviews are worthless.

This author excellently portrays a young couple's beginnings & life adventures as the first pioneers to their area in the wilds of New Hampshire (as well as early American Township/village life in the 1700's) - and does it with a realism that places you in their lives.This is one of our favorite books for reading every year or so. The kind that a family can read together & come away with a deep impression of honor & love & commitment. Of going on when times are rough & life hands out more than one expects. It also portrays the personal challenge & core values of simple living, cut out with one's own two hands. You will discover in it the 'Salt of the Earth' type of human beings that made our nation great. It is an excellent read for children & teens as a historical reference & character influence.You will forget the sleeze of television & mass media for a while, & wonder why you tolerated it in the first place by the time you are finished.

This is one of the most intriging books ever written about the hardships of pioneer life in the northern US. It is written in such a manner that it captures your attention right away and makes it almost impossible to put down. Imagine building your own home with nothing but an ax to cut the trees, debark them, notch them and measure with. No boards, so the floor is dirt, the door is made of hides and your nearest neighbor, if your lucky, is only 20 miles away! No roads or paths to follow. Just the sun and the top of a mountain on a clear day to find your way around. This story is about two young people Whit and Melissa who meet and marry in the town of Kettleford NH now Bedford NH and travel by birch bark canoe north to become the first settlers in the town of Tamworth NH. Too poor to purchase a piece of land in a settled township, they are forced to go north where Whit has to roam the wilderness in order to stake out 100 acres of land that will provide for their needs and then clear it and build his house within so much time in order to keep it and claim his cow that he will get for a bonus. If you ever wondered how the states were settled and what life was like when the wilderness was uninhabited, then this book is a must read. In fact, like no other book, I have read this one 5 times over the years. It never fails to intrigue me. I only wish there was a sequel to it.

This book, written in 1942, is the story of the settling of the North Country of New Hampshire. The mountain mentioned in the title is Mount Chicorua. It's the story of Whit and Melissa. Two young lovers from Kettleford Township (modern Bedford, New Hampshire), and continues up the Merrimac River to what's now Chicorua, New Hampshire. It goes from the 1750s to the 1770s and the American Revolution. It's a good book and I highly recommend it.