"To establish a highway by prescription it must appear that the way was used by the general public continuously without interruption for a period of twenty years [R. L., c. 90, pt. 1, s. 1, as inserted by Laws 1945, c. 188] under a claim of right without the permission of the owner." Wason v. Nashua, 85 N.H. 192, 198; Windham v. Jubinville, 92 N.H. 102; Blake v. Hickey, 93 N.H. 318. The road was a well defined road which provided access from one main road to another and connected with a road to Half Moon Pond. It had been used at various times for access to a brickyard, a sawmill and a slaughterhouse, and to haul logs, lumber, sawdust, hay and ice. Fishermen, hunters and berry pickers used it as well as property owners and others in their right. It could be found the use made was a public use, and no "claim of right in words, or a declaration that the use [was] adverse" was required. Smith v. Putnam, 62 N.H. 369, 372.
We have recognized that public roads may be established by prescription during a twenty-year period prior to 1948. See Williams v. Babcock, 116 N.H. at 824 (road existed by prescription before 1827); Blake v. Hickey, 93 N.H. 318 (1945); Windham v. Jubinville, 92 N.H. 102 (1942). Even if the public use ceased by 1948, so long as the public had already used the road continuously and uninterruptedly for a period of twenty years, a public highway by prescription may be established.
This interpretation of RSA 229:1 has not substantially changed. See, e.g., Leo Foundation v. State, 117 N.H. 209, 211-13, 372 A.2d 1311, 1313, cert. denied, 434 U.S. 890 (1977); White Mt. c. Co. v. Levesque, 99 N.H. 15, 17, 104 A.2d 525, 526 (1954); Blake v. Hickey, 93 N.H. 318, 319, 41 A.2d 707, 708 (1945); Windham v. Jubinville, 92 N.H. 102, 103, 25 A.2d 415, 416 (1942). This definition has therefore been interpreted to require more than a showing of public use for twenty years; the public use must additionally be shown to have been "adverse."
The use, although intermittent and of slight volume, was "characteristic of the kind of road claimed." Leo Foundation v. State of New Hampshire, 117 N.H. at 212, 372 A.2d at 1313; Blake v. Hickey, 93 N.H. 318, 321-22, 41 A.2d 707, 709 (1945). [5, 6] Defendants also contend that there was insufficient evidence to find that the plaintiffs' use of Road A was "open and notorious."
Such use, while it may have been "intermittent and of slight volume," is nevertheless sufficient to sustain a finding that Pond Road was established by prescription, the use being "characteristic of the kind of road claimed." Blake v. Hickey, 93 N.H. 318, 321-22, 41 A.2d 707, 709 (1945). Such use is also continuous when not interrupted by assertion of any paramount right. Williams v. Babcock, 116 N.H. 819, 368 A.2d 1166 (1976); Jean v. Arsenault, 85 N.H. 72, 75, 153 A. 819, 820-21 (1931).
Parking is obviously an incident of modern highway travel and the owners of land abutting upon a highway cannot prevent or control it. It is well settled that the right to use a public highway includes the right to use it in all the modes now customarily in use in the locality and others which may arise with the natural development of means of transportation. Blake v. Hickey, 93 N.H. 318, 321; State v. Scott, 82 N.H. 278, 279; Richmond v. Bethlehem, 79 N.H. 78, 81. Any such use must, therefore, be held to be within the original purpose for which highways were taken and laid out and it must be assumed that compensation for such use was included in the damages awarded at the time of the original taking. "The highway `easement is bought by the public when it is reasonably necessary for the public accommodation.