Tour South Berwick Village section intro: Happy Valley

A hundred years ago a bustling community known as Happy Valley stood by the Salmon Falls River, downhill from the “Plains” of South Berwick. Closely tied economically to Salmon Falls Mill Village in Rollinsford, NH, Happy Valley had a trolley terminus, a newspaper called the South Berwick-Salmon Falls Independent, public and parochial schools; many businesses including stores, bars and lunch counters; and even a recreational center called “The Palace” featuring professional boxing.

Hundreds of people working at the Cummings Shoe Factory in South Berwick and at the Salmon Falls Manufacturing Company across the river in Rollinsford, NH, walked and shopped the main thoroughfare, then known as Salmon Street or Salmon Falls Street. (Now often dubbed lower Main Street, it became part of Main Street in the 1910s).

This Excerpt from a South Berwick map of 1877 by Ruger & Stoner shows the Happy Valley neighborhood along Salmon Falls Street at center with the Salmon Falls Manufacturing Company across the river in Rollinsford, New Hampshire. The center of South Berwick Village is at lower left with the Freewill Baptist Church on Main Street labeled number 1. The Cummings Shoe Factory is number 9 at bottom center.

With the Berwick/South Berwick town line then at the Freewill Baptist Church where the road became Elm Street, much of Happy Valley actually lay in Berwick in the 1800s.  It became part of South Berwick on February 5, 1881, by act of the Maine Legislature, after a petition to annex the area to South Berwick had begun circulating as early as 1873.

Europeans first settled this area in the 1600s. Tiny Salmon Falls Brook (also later known as Driscoll Brook), which still runs through the neighborhood, supplied waterpower early on. Remains of a 19th century mill pond can still be seen today.

After the construction of the Great Falls and South Berwick Branch Railroad about 1852, the neighborhood was configured to its modern layout.  Butler Street was cut off at the tracks, and in 1853 a “new Townway” – Salmon Street or today’s Main Street – was built to connect South Berwick village with the bridge to New Hampshire.  Two railroad lines eventually crossed here, in addition to the conventional bridge.  One railroad bridge still spans the river nowadays, serving Amtrak’s Downeaster as well as freight trains.

In the 1850s, the neighborhood contained many Irish immigrants. Later and into the 20th century French was frequently spoken, as many residents were of French-Canadian origin. In the mid-1800s the community was also known as Hog Point.

An illegal tavern trade thrived throughout the 19th and early 20th century, while South Berwick banned the sale of alcohol. In 1876 a temperance organization called the Reform Club came up with the name Happy Valley to improve the neighborhood's image, and many businesses still displayed the name in their advertising in the early 20th century.

As the 1900s ended, nearby mills in both New Hampshire and Maine closed, and workers who once walked through Happy Valley began driving to jobs elsewhere. Small retailers lost ground to sprawl and big box stores nationwide, and Happy Valley lost its vibrant storefront trade.  Today the 19th century architecture still holds echoes of the community’s commercial history.

(Summary by Wendy Pirsig with information from Peter Michaud, 2025. The Old Berwick Historical Society is grateful to the late Albert Roberge for help identifying many historic properties.  We also thank the South Berwick Historic District Commission for their analysis of local architecture.  We have examined maps, town reports and other archives at the Counting House Museum.)