Glencliff, New Hampshire

Glencliff is a village within the White Mountain National Forest in the town of Warren in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States.

The village consists of fewer than one hundred residents and some forty man-made structures, including the Willing Workers Hall, the Glencliff Community Chapel, the old firefighter's garage, the Glencliff Improvement Cooperative (community water system), the Post Office (located in one of the dwellings) and the Glencliff Home for the Elderly (located higher up the mountain). There is no store, no gasoline station, no doctor. It is isolated from the modern amenities that most Americans consider necessary. Many of the villagers are related and those that aren't are treated as if they were.

Geography

Glencliff is located in a high valley (1,000 feet above sea level) known as Oliverian Notch, which serves as a pass through the White Mountains. The Appalachian National Scenic Trail (AT) passes directly through the village, and the Glencliff Post Office serves as a major resupply point for AT thru-hikers. 1700+ miles south, the AT begins on Springer Mountain, Georgia, and 400+ very rugged miles north, the AT ends atop Mount Katahdin, Maine. While the origin of the name "Glencliff" is not known for certain, Glencliff is, in fact, located in a glen (or valley) and near a cliff—it is nestled below Mount Moosilauke to the east, Wyatt Hill and Webster Slide Mountain to the west, and the cliff of Owl's Head, scoured by glaciers in the Pleistocene epoch and visible from the village, to the northwest.

Recreation

Glencliff proudly boasts its own U.S. Post Office, maintained for many years by Mr. Phil Belyea, and before that by his uncle. Recreational activities in the area include hiking, snowshoeing, walking, jogging, snowmobiling, and hunting. Local hiking trails in Glencliff include the Glencliff Trail, Tunnel Brook Trail, Wachipauka Pond Trail, Hurricane Mountain Trail and Blueberry Mountain Trail. The former railroad bed, which parallels New Hampshire Route 25 and intersects the Appalachian Trail, is an excellent "Rail trail" path and is used for walking, jogging, and snomobiling. The trails and paths in the village are great for snowshoeing. The expansive forest in Glencliff is secluded and suited for viewing deer, bear, moose, turkey and other animals.

History

The village was originally part of the town of Coventry (now Benton), but the town of Warren successfully petitioned the state legislature to make the village part of Warren. The village was known as Warren Summit until an unfortunate incident in the early 1900's, when two trains crashed in a head-on collision, due to confusion over town names.

The Glencliff Home for the Elderly was formerly the Glencliff Sanitorium, which opened in the summer of 1909 for New Hampshire residents infected with tuberculosis (TB) and seeking respite and cure in the mountain air. The sanitorium treated more than 4,000 TB patients during its first 50 years, admitting from 50 to 100 new patients each year. For a complete history of the Glencliff Sanitorium, see [http://dartmed.dartmouth.edu/summer03/html/mountain_aerie.shtml] .

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