Third Connecticut Lake

After the Treaty of Paris in 1783, an unclear description of the border between the United States and Lower Canada led to a dispute lasting nearly 60 years over about 160,000 acres near Third Connecticut Lake, with some claiming the Connecticut River as the boundary and others favoring Hall Stream. In 1832, settlers in the disputed territory formed the Indian Stream Republic, a unique example of democracy, until injustices, skirmishes, and arrests led residents to join New Hampshire. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty in 1842 finally fixed the border at Hall Stream, giving the United States a vast territory of lakes and forests. Regional legend also preserves the story of Sophia, said to be the chief's wife in an Abenaki group, presumably from the Koasek tribe, that traveled up the Connecticut River to hunting and fishing grounds in the mid-1700s; after dying while the group camped on the shore of Third Connecticut Lake, she was supposedly buried nearby beneath a rock pile marked by a stake, and her grave long served as a landmark before its location was forgotten. In the 1980s, local residents searched for and located the grave, then, after discussions with members of the Abenaki Nation of Swanton, Vermont, kept its location secret to preserve the site's tranquility. Third Connecticut Lake was originally known as Lake St. Sophia, covers 231 acres, and forms the headwater of the Connecticut River and its tributaries.

Pittsburg, New Hampshire · United States