New Boston Historical Society
New Boston, New Hampshire
NB Beacon
Mary Atai created the "Behind the Door" column for the New Boston Beacon in 2019.

"Behind the Door" — New Boston's Historic Houses

Historical Society volunteers write a column for each issue of the New Boston Beacon, our town's local newspaper. Mary Atai is the author of the popular "Behind the Door" series which features a different old house every other month. We intend to reproduce all of Mary's columns here after publication. This is a work in progress!

(You may read about the history of our town's newspapers here. We thank New Boston Beacon publisher Keith Gentili for keeping the tradition alive!)

"Behind the Door" columns on this page are in alphabetic order by road name, followed by columns which are not house-specific. There's a table below which lists all columns by publication date.

Click on a house photo to read the article for that address.

19 Baker Lane 19 Baker Lane
Charlie & Emily Baker's house

6 Bedford Road 6 Bedford Road
The Hills/Wason house

15 Bedford Road 15 Bedford Road
The Adams/French house

214 Bedford Road 214 Bedford Road (1st in the series)
Willson / Jones / Michaud / Hinman

1 Bradford Lane 1 Bradford Lane - Part 1
The Priest Bradford house

1 Bradford Lane 1 Bradford Lane - Part 2
Shaw-Clark

200 Clark Hill Rd 200 Clark Hill Road
The Simon Dodge farm

280 Colburn Road 280 Colburn Road
The Colburn homestead

229DepotSt 29 Depot Street
The Railroad Depot

99 Francestown Rd 99 Francestown Rd
Richards / Parker / McAlpine / Colburn / Hechtl

336 Francestown Rd 336 Francestown Rd
Todd Homestead

70 Gregg Mill Road 70 Gregg Mill Road
The Gregg/Lang Farm

16 High Street 16 High Street
Whipple / Kane / Neville / Lanzillotti

131 Hooper Hill Road 131 Hooper Hill Road
Goodhue / Mansfield / Babson / Webber

9JoeEnglishRd 9 Joe English Road
The "Bloody Blunder"

206JoeEnglishRd 206 Joe English Road
Lewis / White / Brown / Duke / Dorwart

4LullRd 4 Lull Rd
Gregg / Lang / Heath / Young

37McCurdyRd 37 McCurdy Road
The Samuel Jones farm / Frank & Caroline Rogers

255MeadowRd 255 Meadow Road
McMillen / Holt / Jenness / Christoph

9MeetinghouseHillRd 9 Meetinghouse Hill Road
Farley / Ryan

5MillSt 5 Mill Street
Nan's House

14MillSt 14 Mill Street
Parker's Mill

365MontVernonRd 365 Mont Vernon Road
Marden / Hill / Leavitt — Greystone Cottage

8RiverRd 8 River Road
Fiske / Kane / Manna

96ScobieRd 96 Scobie Road - Part 1
Langdell / Morgan / Wason

96ScobieRd 96 Scobie Road - Part 2
Hundred Acres monastery

14SheddRd 14 Shedd Road
Todd / Tucker / Hodge / Shedd / Schwabe / Jencks / Callen-Hess

170SouthHillRd 170 South Hill Road
Crombie / Prince / Poole / Kress

238SouthHillRd 238 South Hill Road
Moor / Fuller / Keyes

266SouthHillRd 266 South Hill Road
Cochran / Upton / Townes

nb1970 Turn Back the Clock to 1970
New Boston — 50 years ago

villagebridge The Village Bridge
The wrought-iron bridge that collapsed in 1947

stencil Early American Stenciling
Wall decoration after the French & Indian War

Articles by publication date
DateAddress or Title
July 2019214 Bedford Road
September 2019200 Clark Hill Road
November 201999 Francestown Road
February 20201 Bradford Lane, Part 1
March 20201 Bradford Lane, Part 2
May 202037 McCurdy Road1
August 202070 Gregg Mill Road2
September 2020Turn Back the Clock to 1970
November 2020131 Hooper Hill
January 2021280 Colburn Road
March 202119 Baker Lane3
May 20219 Joe English Road
August 2021238 South Hill Road
September 2021266 South Hill Road
December 2021The Village Bridge
February 20226 Bedford Road
April 2022Early American Stenciling
June 20228 River Road
September 202296 Scobie Road, Part 1
October 202296 Scobie Road, Part 2
December 20225 Mill Street
February 202315 Bedford Road
April 20239 Meetinghouse Hill Road
June 2023170 South Hill Road
August 20234 Lull Road
October 2023336 Francestown Road
December 202314 Shedd Road
February 202416 High Street
April 202429 Depot Street
June 202414 Mill Street4
August 2024206 Joe English Road
October 2024255 Meadow Road
December 2024365 Mont Vernon Road

All articles were written by Mary Atai except:
1 "37 McCurdy Road" by David Woodbury
2 "70 Gregg Mill Road" by James Johnston
3 "19 Baker Lane" by Betsy Moody
4 "14 Mill Streer" by Gail Parker

About the author: Mary Atai and her husband Amir moved to a historic house on Hooper Hill in 2017. For each "Behind the Door" column Mary interviews the current home owner and conducts extensive research, often driving to the Registry of Deeds in Nashua.