2017 Directory

The Friends of Canaan Village has updated its Directory of Businesses, Services, and Information for the Town of Canaan. The Directory has on-line and print versions. Print versions are available at the Town Office, Library, Mascoma Bank, Canaan Hardware, Barney Insurance, and Granite Northland.

Mascoma Savings Bank has donated $500 toward the printing of the new Canaan Directory. We are very grateful for their generous support of this project.

Since 1997, Friends of Canaan Village has been producing Canaan directories as a public service to the community. This edition will be the seventh.

A New Old Sign in Downtown Canaan, NH, and a link to a Lebanon Industry

A handsome old road sign that shows mileage east and west from downtown Canaan, NH, has been restored and placed at the crossroads of Route 4 and Canaan Street. Stamped "Lebanon Foundry", the sign offers a glimpse into information that was important for travelers in the past and into one of Lebanon's early 20th Century industries.

The old sign was an unexpected discovery for Dale and Bobbie Barney when they cleaned out a relative's garage last year. They gave the sign to Friends of Canaan Village, Inc. and the organization worked with the Town of Canaan to have the sign and post mended and restored by noted blacksmith Dimitri Gerakaris. Ken Lary was instrumental in saving the sign, transporting it from the Barneys to the blacksmith's shop. Bob Scott, Road Agent, installed it this fall in a location that seemed to make the best sense, given the directions and mileages stated.

The sign, topped by a version of the NH State seal, adds an intriguing element to the corner. Offering much more information than a simple sign directing drivers to I-89, this marker identifies distances to Portland, ME, Burlington, VT and Boston, MA, and also gives mileage to Rutland and Barre, VT, which must have been important destinations for travelers through Canaan when the marker was new.

Early directional signs in Canaan show up in photos from the 1890s on, and are clearly visible as survivors in photographs taken just after the 1923 fire that leveled the village center. The original location and date of installation, though, is still a mystery. "I've searched through everything that the Canaan Historical Society has and through private collections of local historical photographs," said Donna Zani Dunkerton, Canaan's Town Historian, "and haven't found a photo showing this sign in its original place."

Perhaps a reader will know of a photo or other information that will provide clues.

On its reverse the sign is stamped "Lebanon Foundry" and was most likely produced by the Lebanon Machine Company, active from 1916 into the1920s. A company brochure provided by Ed Ashey, Lebanon Historical Society curator, features a photo showing the Machine Company (located where the NAPA store is now in downtown Lebanon) and its Lebanon Foundry in the building that now houses Mason Racing.

The brochure advertised that the foundry produced street signs and "guide boards" throughout New England and included the New Hampshire State Highway Department among their many customers. Lebanon Foundry's "Leb-Iron" signs were purchased by towns from Maine to Missouri and were used to mark State lines along the Lincoln Highway.