n 1798, Thomas Cogwell bought approximately 100 acres of land at a public auction to settle John Moulton’s Estate.  The third owner was Henry Nickerson. His family came North from Cape Cod and his wife Nancy raised their family here on the property. 

Their son Alonzo (whose name is featured on our community garden) was courting a local girl named Mellisa Ham. However, she was not to be involved with a man who had no proper home to live in. So, Henry Nickerson’s began building a proper home in 1850 and in 1858 Ms. Ham became Mrs. Nickerson. The home boasted two-stories, gingerbread trim and was just a stone’s throw from his parent’s home, separated by two woodsheds.

Alonzo was a pious gentleman who spent his life working as a pastor, Justice of the Peace and Notary Public. Alonzo also started the Chocorua Community Church.

He was also handy around the house and good with his hands – carpentry, blacksmithing, masonry…and of course farming. It was his hands that worked to build the barn. At some point, the two homes were connected via the two existing woodsheds to make the elongated property that stands today. 

In 1853, 35 years after the home was built, Alonzo became the Pequawket Postmaster, the post office conveniently located right there in the Nickerson Home. Later, an adopted daughter, Elizabeth Lane, transitioned to postmistress in 1916, serving until 1932. Emma Nickerson then took over as Postmistress until 1940 when the Post Office was closed and mail service transitioned to Silver Lake. 

Ms. Lane and the Nickerson’s came to an agreement, if she took care of them in their golden years, she would inherit the property upon their passing. And that is exactly what she did. She found a niche with serving the elders in the community and began taking in other elderly people and providing home care.

In Modern times, the property was acquired by Dave and Elaine Strain who sold antiques and collectibles and ran a summer flea market from the home. From 2007-2019 the property hosted “Monkey Trunks,” a high ropes entertainment and zipline course.

From Monkey Trunks’ Facebook Page

In 2020 it was sold to Matt Griffin. Matt’s family had property on Chocorua Lake up the road which is now his primary home, and he found the Nickerson Property for sale and a perfect launching point for a new iteration of his career in finance – starting a wood shop which he named Stoney Brooke Sawyers – a play on the thin blue line of a river called Stoney Brooke that intersects with the Chocorua River. 

Today, Matt works closely with the CLC to help preserve some of the more sensitive wetland areas around the lake and the area known as “Moose Meadows” which he has donated to keep it in preservation perpetually. 

Even though the property has changed hands, the Nickerson legacy remains. Larry Nickerson is a well known craftsman in the Chocorua/Tamworth area. https://www.chocorualake.org/news/2017/6/04/larry-nickerson-builder-and-conservator – Larry spent his childhood just down the road. In this CLC article, Larry reminisced:

“My sisters and I grew up at ‘Red Gables’, the red farmhouse on Route 16 right across from the lake. My parents, Bun and Helen Nickerson, ran the place as an inn. We weren’t there long but it was a great place to grow up. We had a bull that would sometimes get out onto Route 16. My mother would go and get my father wherever he was working, he would come and get the bull out of the road and back in the pen, and not a single vehicle would have gone by.

In honor of the history of the Nickerson homestead, Stoney Brooke Sawyers is hostng a free community garden named in the family’s honor. The “Alonzo Nickerson Community Garden” saw it’s first plantings in 2023 and is offered for locals to plant whatever they choose, free of charge, in some of the finest soil in New Hampshire (podunk). Click here to learn more about the Community Garden Project.