Town Pound (1830)
Concord, Merrimack County, New Hampshire
Marker Inscription
Town Pound 1830
The Story
A town pound was a walled enclosure — usually built of fieldstone or timber — where stray cattle, sheep, hogs, and horses were impounded until their owners reclaimed them and paid a fine. Dated 1830, this Concord pound belongs to an era when free-ranging livestock was a fact of rural New England life and every incorporated town was legally obliged to maintain such a pen, overseen by an elected official called the 'pound keeper.' The small fines collected went to the town, and the practice was written into New England town law from the colonial period well into the nineteenth century.
Why it matters
The humble town pound is a survivor of the era of self-governing New England towns, when livestock roamed freely and communities enforced order through local ordinance and elected officers — a tangible reminder of how early American agrarian communities regulated everyday life.
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Nearby & related markers
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