In 1771, Timothy Nash of Lancaster and Benjamin Sawyer of Conway made a bargain with Governor John Wentworth to bring a horse through Crawford Notch in order to prove the route's commercial value. The pair succeeded by dragging and lowering the animal down rock faces. Sawyer's Rock is said to be the last obstacle they encountered before reaching the Bartlett intervales. Nash and Sawyer were rewarded with a 2,184 acre parcel at the northern end of the Notch. Sawyer's Rock symbolizes the determination and foresight that helped open and develop trade and travel into the White Mountains Region.