Looking for something interesting and spooky to do for Halloween? Boise Rock is hidden away in Franconia Notch and just a quick drive from the Woodstock Inn, Station & Brewery. This interesting yet horrifying story of a man’s survival takes place just off the side of interstate 93 and is open year round. This large boulder was created by glaciers some 3 million years ago, however it was just over 200 years ago that this rock made a name for itself.
One blistering winter night in the early 1800’s, a man from Woodstock, New Hampshire named Thomas Boise was traveling through Franconia Notch with his beloved horse. While traveling through the Notch a treacherous blizzard swept through their path. After putting up a fight to get through the blizzard, Thomas Boise realized that he could no longer travel and was forced to pull over until the storm subsided. Boise had to think quickly on how he could possibly make it out of this storm alive and decided to take shelter under a boulder. As the night went on the blizzard became stronger and stronger. At this point Boise was forced to take extreme survival measures. With the possibility of freezing to death he had no other choice than to do the unimaginable. Thomas Boise was forced to kill his horse. After taking the life of his horse, Boise skinned and wrapped himself in the hide to utilize the horse’s heat and get himself a little warmer. As daylight began to peak over the mountaintops, the storm disappeared and a new day began. That morning, a search party was assembled and sent out to retrieve the body of Mr. Thomas Boise. Surprisingly, the search party was able to locate Boise in the Notch. Thomas was found, ALIVE, hiding under the boulder but stuck inside the horses frozen hide. The men had to cut Boise out of the frozen hide with their knives and axes. From that point on, this now famous boulder was named Boise Rock after the man that took shelter there and survived a horrific storm.