The Lincoln Memorial Trail, railroad, and and Museums
Set in Fallen Timbers State Park, in Franconia Notch, New Hampshire, the museum and trail tells the story of the meteor strike of June 6, 1876 through the present day. The main museum is at Matley's Crossing, the closest town to the impact to survive semi intact.
When visitors walk into the atrium, they are greeted by a large chunk of iron, one of the largest pieces recovered of the meteorite found. On the wall, a vast mural depicts the small town of Lincoln. It's a street view, showing the classic New England homes of the time, with people looking skyward in awe and terror at the brilliant light in the sky, outshining the sun. They did not know that they had moments to live before they would be blotted away, though of course the viewer does.
The museum is well laid out, first taking the visitor through a gallery of photographs, art, and artifacts from the time, showing how people of the Notch lived, from farmers to visitors to the grand hotels. The lost rock formation, the Old Man of the Mountain, is shown in photographs and models.
The second gallery is dedicated to the the physical immediate impact, showing the effects of the devastation, speculative depictions of the meteorite itself, along with paintings of the views from such diverse places as Concord, Boston, where the trail is clearly visible in the skies, Manchester, with the mushroom cloud visible, and more. Shatter cones, unduplicated by humanity until the fury of the atom was unleashed, and of course photographs of the iconic Fallen Timbers--trees flattened by the blast. This is one of the two most popular galleries.
The next gallery covers the rebuilding and recovery, including the formation of the Rangers. Despite it not being especially important in many ways, then sergeant (Final rank redacted) Christine Peckham's famous three barrel shotgun gets an undue share of the attention.
The most popular gallery is the Reach for the Skies gallery. Although there are more extensive museums of rocketry and space flight, this, along with the museum in the Cosmonautics building in Hanover, New Hampshire, are two of the most comprehensive exhibits covering early attempts at both finding asteroids, and going up to deal with them. Cimex One, the first step rocket to carry living (insects, hence "Cimex") passengers , is displayed here on even numbered years, while the New Hampshire Clipper, the first heavier than air winged flying machine to land at a higher altitude than it took off from, and survive more than one flight, is displayed on odd numbered years. The two exhibits alternate with the Cosmonautics museum in Hanover.
When the visitor is done, he or she can hike or drive to The Crater, though many chose to take the train. On weekends, an authentic steam locomotive of the era pulls the historic coaches to the crater wall; on weekdays, a vintage diesel does the job. Alternatively, one can take a different train to either the Mount Moosilauke or Mount Osceola cog railroads, which present a commanding view of thecrater, the lakes and the surrounding areas. (On special occasions, the locomotive from the now fanous originaal Franconia Notch Express, that was driven by Jason Niles, leads the train. Sadly, only two of the original cars from that train are still in existence, one here, and the observation car in the Smithsonian.)
This is the crater and resulting lakes superimposed on a modern USGS map.
This is from my timeline, "
Reach For the Skies," which is up to 1879, but showing a possible future in it.
