The Kancamagus Highway
Near North Conway, New Hampshire
If you turn west onto New Hampshire Route One Twelve, you are entering one of the most beautiful drives in New England, the Kancamagus Highway. It runs about thirty-four miles through the White Mountain National Forest, linking the town of Conway on the east to Lincoln on the west, and climbing to its high point at Kancamagus Pass at two thousand eight hundred fifty-five feet. There is one thing to know before you commit to it.
There are no gas stations along the way, so fill your tank before you start. What you get in exchange is unbroken forest, mountain vistas, and stops like Sabbaday Falls and the historic Albany Covered Bridge. The road carries the name of a real man.
Kancamagus, whose name is often translated as the fearless one, was the grandson of the great peacemaker Passaconaway and served as the third and last sagamore, or chief, of the Penacook Confederacy in the sixteen eighties. As English settlers pressed in and broke faith with his people, Kancamagus was eventually driven to raid the settlement at Dover, then led the survivors of his confederacy north into Canada. This gorgeous highway is named for a leader whose world was taken from him.
