"Fleta" means swift Three ponies on the Blanchard farm. Laura A. Rice (1856-1919) was an unmarried proprietor of a guest house on a 250-acre farm... Show more"Fleta" means swift Three ponies on the Blanchard farm. Laura A. Rice (1856-1919) was an unmarried proprietor of a guest house on a 250-acre farm in Franklin Farms, New Hampshire. Called the “Blanchard Farm,” it was located three miles from Franklin, on a hill top with a fine view of mountains and valleys. It was “a large, convenient house with sanitary conditions perfect, and pure water. All that is expected upon an up-to-date farm will be found here." For those who "are seeking a quiet place for rest and recreation this summer home can not be excelled.” The rate was $1 a day, there was room for eight guests, and it was open June through October 15. The train station was in Franklin, and from there a stage left hourly for Franklin Falls. Source: Tourist’s Guide-Book to the State of New Hampshire (1902). Why was Frank Hadsell visiting the farm in 1895? He had married Mary Bowen in 1891 - a short and unhappy marriage that ended with her death in 1893. She is buried in Nashua, New Hampshire, where she grew up. Frank’s visit to Franklin Falls and the Blanchard Farm in 1895 may have coincided with a visit to her grave. He could have visited the beautiful Franklin Falls waterfall and had a bit of a vacation. The group of photographs by Frank Hadsell related to this topic are photo-graphs #009, #033, #071, #072, #075, #076, #077. Captioned by Nora Howard, Avon Town Historian, Summer 2020. Sources: as noted and from online sources such as ancestry.com; the US Census, wikipedia, and pertinent websites. Also see Nora Howard’s essay on the Hadsell Family (also posted on Ct. Digital Archive). If you are interested in conducting more research, be sure to see the collections of the Avon Free Public Library Marian Hunter History Room. These captions were completed the summer of 2020 (except as noted) and the library was closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Show less