As legend has it, a group of four Concordians – Mabel Hill, Harriet Anderson, Harriet Huntress and Paul Holden – began playing the game of golf in some fields located east of the Maple Grove Cemetery in 1896. But at that point wasn’t just about everything a field?
Anywho, according to the history of Beaver Meadow Golf Course put together by Betty Hoadley, the four brought Scottish golf pro Willie (my man) Campbell to Concord the following year with the purpose of creating a nine-hole course. Campbell did so for the hefty ransom of $50, which would put you $1 shy of the funds required now to play a round of 18 during the week with a cart.
“You go back to the 1890s and he was one of the preeminent golf course designers in the country,” Concord city councilor Mark Coen said.
According to Coen, Beaver Meadow was not the first course built in the state, as many earlier ones popped up in the north country to draw people to resorts, but today it’s the oldest surviving open space with greens and tee boxes.
Just before the turn of the century, the first clubhouse was built, while to reach the first and ninth greens, players would have to hit over Second Street. But don’t worry, there was no penalty if you hit the electrical wires – that is unless you did so with your club. In 1901, the first N.H. State Amateur was held at Beaver Meadow. Now that’s a nice feather in the old cap.
In 1930, many of the members decided to move across the river and establish the Concord Country Club, and according to Coen, two years later Beaver Meadow was purchased by the city from the Beaver Meadow Golf Course Association.
“It was the opportunity to have a municipal nine-hole course,” Coen said. “The first year the city bought the course, it made money.”
Unknown at the time, according to Hoadley’s report, was that the land was actually owned by Sewalls Falls Power and Electric Co. In 1954 the oversight was found and the town paid $6,000 to purchase the land and then bought more acreage from the New England Box Company for expansion.
“They worked it out and were very gracious,” Coen said.
In 1968, Beaver Meadow became an 18-hole course, but to this day three of the original holes remain.
“What’s still there in the original shape would be the third hole, which is a par 3, the seventh hole, which is a par 4, and the eighth hole, a par 4,” Coen said.
On a side note, there are also two granite posts on hole six that mark a trail from the 1700s that was used to transport logs to the Merrimack River. Who knows, if you own an old, old wooden ship some of your logs may have passed through there.
And to signify 100 years of golf in that same area, green fees were marked down to $18.96 once a month in 1996. We think they should revisit that kind of rate by making any day we want to play cost $20.06 for the first year of the Insider. Just a suggestion though.
