Several postcards in my inherited collection represent old railroad stations. Today, I have chosen to feature one of those antique postcards for my One Postcard Saturdays blog. This postcard displays the Sanbornville, Boston & Maine Railroad Station, which actually does not exist anymore.

This station was located at Wolfeboro Junction in Sanbornville, New Hampshire. Sanbornville is a village in the town of Wakefield, New Hampshire. Wakefield Corner was considered to be the Historic District while the village of Sanbornville was the primary business center of Wakefield.

During my online research, I found a few old pictures and other postcards of this station, but none quite matched the black and white photo or illustration shown on the front of this postcard. Most I found, showed fencing along the boardwalk next to the rails and did not have that center piece of ground that appears to be grass.

The old train stations that were built on the Boston & Maine rail line were painted in colors of buff and dark red. This Sanbornville train depot had a rectangle shape, church-like spires and hip roofs that included scalloped trim.

Timeline of Boston & Maine Railroad

New Hampshire chartered the state’s first railroad in 1831 and grew to a volume of 260 railroads, providing passenger and freight service to 176 communities.

The Boston & Maine Railroad was Incorporated in New Hampshire, June 27, 1835 to run from the New Hampshire line located at Haverhill, Massachusetts to an undesignated point along the New Hampshire/Maine border.

John W. Sanborn was instrumental in bringing the railroad to the village of Sanbornville in 1871, building a train depot and hotel complex. This Sanbornville railroad complex eventually consisted of the railroad headquarters of the Conway Division of the Eastern Railroad. This complex would include a roundhouse and turntable, a large passenger depot, a small flag station, Freight depot, wood and coal sheds, and a water tower.

The original turntable was dug in 1872, and replaced by a later one in 1885. The turntable served as the location where the rail workers would repair and clean the trains that were then turned around. The length of the turntable would have fit a steam engine which would have been turned around by a horse team.

The Town Hall in Sanbornville was constructed in 1895.

In the early 1900s, there were 25 daily trains serving into and out of Sanbornville each day. Shipping of ice to Boston was quite active prior to the use of electricity.

On a personal note: We had an “ice box” for several years prior to having a refrigerator at my parents summer cottage in Charlestown Beach, Rhode Island (as discussed in previous blogs and potentially in the future). In our case, the huge block of ice was delivered by the milkman a couple of times per week. I can still envision that ice box and those huge ice tongs used by the milkman.

In 1911, most of the Sanbornville rail yard buildings burned down; afterward, the operations center moved to Dover, New Hampshire. The year of 1969 saw the last train run.

Turntable Park

Only the turntable survives from this Sanbornville (Wolfeboro Junction) Station–Pioneer Depot and it was moved here to Wakefield from Keene in 1972.

Now a Historic Landmark, the Old Boston & Maine Railroad Turntable Park is located at 59 Meadow Street, in Wakefield, New Hampshire. At the turntable is a circle of granite blocks. Across the circle is a narrow bridge with rail tracks and railings on each side. There was renovation made to the turntable in 1992.

Heritage Park Railroad Museum

While that original Sanbornville Station does not exist anymore, there is a Heritage Park Railroad Museum, located in the village of Union. This museum showcases HO-scale model trains that show the former Boston & Maine train routes.

Modern Times

In present times, the railbed has become the Cotton Valley Rail Trail. The Trail runs for 12-miles on former railbed between Wolfeboro, Brookfield and Wakefield, New Hampshire. In 2013-2014, the trail was extended from Turntable Park in Wakefield, to Brookfield.

There is an apartment building now where this Sanbornville Station once stood.

History Outline

The following list contains some of the history outline of the Boston & Maine railroad:

*1840-41: Construction in New Hampshire
*1845: Boston & Maine combined in Maine, NH, and Mass.
*1847: Boston & Maine and Eastern arrange for a joint lease of Portland, Saco, & Portsmouth
*1863: Dover & Winnipesaukee were taken over by Boston & Maine
*1871-72: Boston & Maine builds its own tracks to Portland
*1873: West Amesbury Branch was leased by Boston & Maine
*1884: Eastern Railroad was leased by B&M (Eastern RR involved Sanbornville)
*1887: Boston & Lowell leased by Boston & Maine
*1895: Concord & Montreal leased by Boston & Maine
*1900: Fitchburg leased by Boston & Maine

Postcard Reverse Side

My featured postcard itself does not contain any publication information nor any postmark.

The reverse side does have a handwritten message from Aunt Etta (Henrietta James Hooper) to her husband William Hooper.

The message reads as follows: Top right corner says “Aunt Sarah sends Love”

“Dear Hubby, Over to Sanbornville with Mrs. Percy today. She went shopping. It has been warm today but very cool tonight, cloudy night, to sleep under two pair of blankets. Aunt Sarah has had a touch of Lumbago (lower back pain) but is better now. She is dreading my going home and I would not.”

Genealogy Notes

I could be wrong, but I believe the Aunt Sarah that Aunt Etta is referring to was the sister of her mother Julia Ann Moore James. If so, it was Sarah Jane Moore born about 1844, in Salem, Connecticut.

Sarah married Charles B. Dunbar on October 30, 1861, in Providence, Rhode Island. She died on June 29, 1924, in Foxboro, Massachusetts where both she and Charles are buried in Rock Hill Cemetery.

His death record lists Charles as born on March 20, 1843 in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. His marriage record to Sarah listed him as 21 years old which would put his birth year closer to 1840. There are not recorded birth records of that timeframe to verify. I would need to comb through some of the Census records or be lucky enough to find baptism records in order to closer verify. (Further research will not be done in time for this blog post.)

The parents of Charles were Charles L. Dunbar, born in Franklin, Mass. and Margaret Munroe, born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

In previous blogs, I have reviewed some of the genealogy information for Julia Ann Moore James (Grandma Julia), who was sister of this Sarah Moore Dunbar. However, I repeat a brief review of their parents here below.

According to family records, their father was George Martin Royal Van Buren Moore, born in the Chicopee Mountains of Monson, Massachusetts on April 5, 1804; he died about 1882 at the age of 79. Their mother was Harriet Otis Daniels, born 1812 in South Wilbraham, Massachusetts; she died March 29, 1878 in Franklin, Massachusetts.

In future blogs, I am really hoping to write more in-depth into this portion of family history.

Postcard Timeframe

Since there is no postmark and no publication information printed on this postcard, it is difficult to correctly estimate its timeframe. There are a couple clues.

First clue, since the reverse side of this postcard is a divided back, which came into play during 1907, it would have been produced after that time. Second clue, Aunt Sarah died in 1924 so if she is the Aunt Sarah referred to by Aunt Etta then it would be dated prior to that. Also of note, the fact that the station burned down in 1911, leads me to think that Aunt Etta may likely have visited the area prior to 1911?

In summary, the pinpointed age of this postcard remains uncertain but perhaps my best estimate would be between 1907-1911?

Closing

As time goes on, I am hoping to share more of those old train station postcards.

Until next time…

Resources:

cottonvalleyrailtrail.org/history-of-the-cotton-valley-rail-trail; accessed 12 June 2026.

historicwakefieldnh.com/history-of-wakefield; accessed 12 June 2026.

Nashuacitystation.org/station/new-Hampshire/carroll/wakefield/sanbornville; accessed 12 June 2026.

New Hampshire Archeological Society; nhas.org/post/then-and-now-sanbornville-rail-yard-and-turntable-park; accessed 12 June 2026.

R. Stuart Wallace and Lisa B. Mausolf; New Hampshire Railroad: Historic Context Statement; 2001; mm.nh.gov/files/uploads/dot/remote-docs/2001-nh-railroad-context-statement.pdf; accessed 12 June 2026.

The Weirs Times; weirs.com/the-turnaround; accessed 12 June 2026.