The area around present day Elkins, NH, was frequented by the Penacook tribe of Algonquin some 3,000 years ago. Artifacts found around Pleasant Lake relate to pottery-making, fishing, and hunting. The first white settlers were clustered at the north end of the lake in the late 1700s.
Elkins is named for Dr. John Elkins, a physician who served the community from 1875 to 1888. In appreciation for his work and his wife's generosity, the village was named for him posthumously in 1896.
Earlier, this section of New London appeared on maps as "Scythe Factory Village" or "Scytheville", taking its name from the scythe blade manufacturer founded in 1835 by Richard Messer, Joseph Phillips and Anthony Colby. Still in their twenties, Messer and Phillips had learned the business in Fitchburg, MA, while Colby provided the water rights but no capital.
All of the necessary iron, steel, and coal had to be hauled by oxen from the nearest railhead at Concord, NH. In 1845, the Northern Railroad arrived in Potter Place, shortening the teamsters' trip by twenty-five miles.
The scythe works operated for over fifty years, employed almost a hundred workers, and shipped products around the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe. A dozen 3-ton grindstones and fourteen trip-hammers were powered by water running through a series of three dams and millponds. Among the many other mills sharing this power supply were a saw mill, shingle mill, grist mill, cider mill, hosiery mill, carding mill, and tannery.
In 1880, the New London Scythe Co. shipped over 120,000 scythe blades, 12,000 hay knives, and 6,000 axe blades.
By October 1888 the grinding and hammering were silenced, as the industry moved closer to raw materials and distribution centers, and as agriculture became more mechanized. Water power no longer offered a competitive advantage. The company's property, plant and equipment, which earlier had been valued at $150,000, was sold at auction for $9,650.
Within a year and a half, the village's population dropped from 300 to 75, and the area began a slow transition to other water-related enterprises: tourism and recreation.