Moses P. Payson was a renowned attorney, a selectman, and a moderator of the Bath town meetings for 12 years. He came here as a graduate of Dartmouth College with only his law books under his arm, his horse and one dollar.

From these meager beginnings he was instrumental in bringing this town to its highest level of affluence.

Moses Paul Payson, Esq., was the second attorney to practice law in the town, arguably his was the first successful law practice which eventually brought the town of Bath to its level of prominence and distinction. He gained much esteem and honor for outstanding achievements and trained a number of his successors in the profession of law. The Moses P. Payson Federal Mansion of 1810 gives visual testimony to the historical level of affluence of the town of Bath. According to the first historian of the town, Rev. David Southerland: "The most prominent family in the village was that of Moses P. Payson, Esq."

The following information on Moses P. Payson and the Payson Mansion as taken from the Historical Notes of BATH New Hampshire 1765 - 1965:

This, Bath’s most imposing edifice, was built in 1810 by Moses P. Payson (1770-1828), one of the North Country’s early magnates. A graduate of Dartmouth in 1793, he was Principal of the Haverhill Academy for a year or two, read law with Alden Sprague of Haverhill, was admitted to the bar in 1797 and moved to Bath the next year. When he came to Bath, it was recorded, "he had his sign, a few law books, a horse, and one dollar in cash, which he offered the blacksmith for shoeing his horse, but the blacksmith declined to take it."

The Colonial Inn, formerly known as
the Payson Mansion

On the other hand, The Littleton Argus Feb. 22, 1878 (from which we quote) went on: "Few understood the art of getting and keeping money better then did Mr. Payson". He purchased farms (at one time he owned 1200 acres of land in Bath and Lyman,), sold stock, and loaned money. He was one of the incorporators of the Coos Bank, the first bank in the North Country, and when he died was President of the Grafton Bank and a trustee of Dartmouth College. He represented Bath for several years in the legislature and afterwards in the Senate.

He lived first in Bath in the house on the corner of the Main road and Porter Hill road, which he later sold to Jonathan Smith, another lawyer, and which was later occupied by John L. Carleton, and burned, as we have said, shortly after it has become a hotel. In 1810 he built the brick mansion for $13,000.

An example of the Federalist period of New England architecture. It is reputed to have been modeled on the Sears Mansion in Boston and indeed it resembles it, with its curved facade, beautifully arched doors and tall windows, and its two and a half stories of gray brick (whether it was originally painted gray we do not know). The interior is also said to have been of classical design, with mantels in the manner of the Adam brothers, the famous Scottish architects.