Potato
Patch
Pageant Hill
Meriden, NH
c1936-Late 1940's
| The Potato Patch, also
known as Pageant Hill, was operated by the Kimball Union Academy from
the mid 1930's to the late 1940's. According to
Lombard Rice, the school grew much of their own food, although
where the potatoes were grown the soil was poor. However, it was great
for skiing! Lombard Rice sent us
an article on skiing at KUA, that was written by Dr. Patricia Pierce
Erikson in the KUA Magazine, Spring, 2001. She had interviewed Ira
Peabody Townsend, who graduated from the school in 1938. Ira noted that
"The first rope tow was all the result of a teacher at school named
Pappy (Wayland) Porter...Pappy Porter hooked onto a Pierce Arrow
automobile that KUA had retired. It probably had belonged to Mr.
Brewster. That was in '36 or '37. We very cleverly put a couple of
wheels back of the cab and wrapped the rope in such a manner that it
went up the hill over sheaves and all. We had a rope tow and it was on
Potato Patch. And it went for years and years and years. It was still
going strong in the forties, I think when we decided we needed a better
hill".
(On the right is a somewhat grainy
picture, sent to us by Dave Hilton, of what
appears to be the Potato Patch ski area). |
 |
Phil Cooke also
remembers this lost area. Here are his details:
"I graduated from Kimball Union Academy in
1950. When I arrived in 1946, there was a ski tow on what we called the Potato
Patch. This tow got lost soon after the more extensive ski area was put up by
the school at Frenche's
Ledges."
Phil was able to contact
Jane Fielder, the archivist at Kimball Union, who provided him with two
pictures from their archives. They are shown below, with descriptions:
|
 |
January or February 1941.
Students riding Pierce Arrow Powered Rope Tow. Photo by Edwin "Rocky"
Rockwell Jr. Was class of 1941, and one of constructors of tow. |
| January or February 1941.
Headmaster William Brewster's 1926 Pierce Arrow Touring Car powers
Potato Patch Hill Ski Tow. Master Wayland Porter closest to Pierce Arrow
with back to camera. Mr. Designed and supervised construction of tow.
Photo by Edwin "Rocky" Rockwell Jr, KUA Class of 1941, and one of
constructors of tow. |
 |
Jane Fielder, the
archivist at the Kimball Union Academy, tells us that the Potato Patch was also
known as Pageant Hill. The physics teacher, Wayland Porter, devised the rope tow
lift and built it with the help of some of the boys and the headmaster's old
Pierce Arrow touring car as the power that pulled the rope and "could deliver
boys at the top of a six hundred foot slope at the rate of twenty per minute."
This was done in the early 1940s.
If you remember this ski area and have more
info, just let us know.
Last updated: Jan 3, 2007
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