♪ TED: IT IS A STRIKINGLY UNUSUAL PLACE, MADE ALL THE MORE SO FROM WHERE YOU WILL FIND IT AND WHAT TOWERS IN THE AIR THERE. IN WILTON, N HAMPSHIRE, WE JOINED FORRESTERS OVER THE NATURE CONSERVANCY FOR A VISIT TO SHELDRAKE FORES A 227 ACRE PRESERVE THAT BECOMES MORE AND MORE IMPRESSIVE THE DEEPER INTO THE WOODS YOU GO. >> SO SWIFT. HOW OLD? >> PROBABLY 200 YEARS OLD. TED: THERE ARE OLDER TREES? >> YES, SOME A 340 YEARS OLD. TED: A MERE 30 MINUTES FROM THE URBAN SPRAWL OF NASHUA, 200 FOOT TALL TREES THAT PREDATE THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. WHAT ACCOUNTS FOR THE FACT THAT THESE TREES THIS CLOSE TO AN URBAN AREA HAVE STAYED HERE THAT LONG AND NOT BEEN FORCED TO? -- FORSTED. >> THERE WERE PATCHES THAT WERE HARD TO GET TO. IT WAS JUST LEFT ALONE AND THAT IS THE MOST AMAZING THING. TED:. NOT QUITE THE MORE AMAZING THING IS THAT 25 YEARS AGO HE WAS PART OF A TEAM PREPARING TO CUT THESE TREES DOWN. THE PROPERTY HAD BEEN PASSED FROM THE LONGTIME OWNERS, THE SHELDRAKE FAMILY. THE NEW OWNER HIRED CORWIN AND A FORESTRY TEAM TO TAG TREES IN PREPARATION FOR LOGGING AND DEVELOPMENT. >> OUR JOB WAS T MARK THIS WHOLE FOREST FOR HARVEST. AND AS WE WERE MARKI IT, WE STARTED TO FEEL WORSE AND WORSE ABOUT IT. TED: YOU FELT LIKE IT HAD TO BE SAVED? >> YES. TED: NO QUESTION? >> NO QUESTION. TED: ULTIMATELY, HE HELPED IN ARRANGING A LAND SALE TO THE NATURE CONSERVANCY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE WHICH OWNS AND MAINTAINS THE FOREST TODAY. >> WE COULD NOT HAVE ACQUIRED THIS PROPERTY WITHOUT HUGE COMMUNITY OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT. >> IT IS AMAZING TO BE ABLE TO COME BACK HERE WITH KRISTA 25 YEARS LATER AND WE ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT IT. TED: YOU FEEL SPECIAL ABOUT THIS FOREST? >> I DO. ♪ TED: JUST FIVE MILES EAST OF WILTON, WE STOPPED IN MILFORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE ITS BRIDGE ACROSS TO THE TOWN LOOKED AS S LANDMARK-ISH AS EVER BUT ANOTHER BRIDGE DREW US HERE. >> PEOPLE HAVE LIVED IN TOWN FO GENERATIONS AND NEVER BEEN ON THIS SWING BRIDGE. I WANT TO GRAB THEM BY T EARS AND SAY THIS IS THE COOLEST THING IN TOWN. TED: IT WAS BUILT ORIGINALLY AS A MEANS OF GETTING WORKERS ACROSS THE RIVER TO THE MILFORD MILLS. 200 FEET LONG AND PROTECTED NOW ON THE NATIONAL HISTORIC REGISTER, THE PRESENT BRIDGE WAS BUILT IN 1889 AND IS THE THIRD ONE ON THE SITE. >> THE FIRST ONE WASHED AWAY, THE SECOND ONE BURNED DOWN. THIS ONE HAS BEEN HERE 130 YEARS. TE FIRST STEEL VERSION. THE BRIDGE IS KNOWN AS THE SWING BRIDGE. >> THERE’S A CERTAIN PLACE ON THE BRIDGE WHERE YOU CAN BEND YOUR KNEES AND THE THING WILL START ROCKING. TED: THIS IS THE SWEET SPOT? >> WE’VE GOT TO GET IT SINGING. IT WILL MAKE ALL SORTS OF NOISE. TED: OK, I FEEL A LITTLE STUPID. TRUTHFULLY, THERE IS MORE HIDDEN HISTORY IN MILFORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE. FACT, THE TRAIL OF ONE OF THE TOWN’S MOST SIGNIFICANT NATIVE DAUGHTERS TOOK US TO NONE OTHER THAN OUR NEW FRIEND, DAVE POLANSKY’ HOUSE WHERE A LIKELY STORY BEGINS. >> THIS WAS THE HO OF DAVID HUTCHINSON AND HIS FAMILY. THEY EMPLOYED AN INDENTURED SERVANT, A YOUNG GIRL WHO WAS HALF BLACK, HALF WHITE. THEY KEPT HER HERE AND FED HER AND KEPT HER A PLACE TO SLEEP. EXCHANGE, SHE HAD TO DO ALL THE CHORES WE’D TED: THE YOUNG GIRLS’S PARENTS LEFT HER ON IN THIS DOORSTEP. SHE GREW UP BRAVE AND HIGHLY LITERATE. HER NAME WAS HARRIET WILSON. SHE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT HER EXPERIENCES AS A FREE BLACK IN THE STILL RACIST NORTH. IN 1859, SHE BECAME THE FIRST PUBLISHED AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN NOVELIST IN NORTH AMERICA. >> AGAINST ALL T ODDS, SHE WAS ABLE TO PUBLISH A BOOK. NOBODY THOUGHT SHE WAS INTELLIGENT ENOUGH TO PUBLISH A BOOK. TE THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DIRECTOR OF THE BLACK HERITAGE TRAIL OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SPENT YEARS RESEARCHING HARRIET WILSON AND HELPED DRIVE THE EFFORT THAT 2006 SUCCEEDED IN CREATING A PERMANENT MEMORIAL TO HER IN MILFORD. SHE’S IN A PUBLIC SPACE AND THAT’S WHAT WE WANTED. WE WANTED THE TOW TO ACKNOWLEDGE THIS HISTORY. TO REALLY BRING HER TO LIFE IN THE TOWN. TED: A TOWN IN WHICH HARRIET WILSON WAS A FREED SLAVE, YET NOT FREE. >> I THINK PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS SURPRISED TO KNOW THERE WAS SLAVERY IN THE NORTH. TED: B HERSELF, A MILFORD RESIDENT, IT IS ESPECIALLY MEANINGFUL TO BE ABLE TO HONOR AND SHARE THE STORY OF AN INSPIRING FORMER NEIGHBOR. >> THE TRIUMPHANT STORY. HERE’S A WOMAN WHO WAS MAKING HER O WAY NO MATTER WHAT WAS FOOT BEFORE. THAT IS THE HERO STORY WE ALL LOOK UP TO. ISN’T THAT THE AMERICAN STORY? ♪ ANTHONY: CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, AUTHOR, AND ACTRESS RUBY DEE WAS THE FEATURED SPEAKER AT THE HARRIET WILSON STATUE DEDICATI IN 2006. IF YOU VISIT THE STATUTE IN MILFORD’S BICENTENNIAL PARK, TAKE SPECIAL NOTE OF THE WHITE CHURCH VISIBLE JUST PAST THE SMALL POND. WHEN WILSON WORSHIPPED AT THAT CHURCH IN THE MID-1800’S, SHE WAS ONLY PERMITTED TO SIT IN THE CHURCH BALCONY. UP NEXT, FINDING THE BEAUTY IN NA