New Boston Historical Society
New Boston, New Hampshire
For many years, the Church on the Hill stood in the field next to the home at 15 Bedford Road.
Behind the Door: 15 Bedford Road
by Mary Atai (February 2023)
Thomas deeded 15 Bedford Road to his son, Peter, and he appears to have rented it out. In 1852, Deacon Marshall Adams, who had a carding, dyeing, and clothing business on Lyndeboro Road, moved to rent out this land. Here he began to pursue farming interests. He and his wife had 13 children, and by 1875, his older sons and sons-in-law joined together to buy the property. This is where he died.
Deacon Marshall Adams was a very pious man. At that time, the beautiful Church on the Hill stood right next door, currently a field at the top of Molly Stark Lane. He loved living in this house beside his church, where he was superintendent. In his old age, he became feeble. His good friends Charles Colburn and Charles Fogg would come to his house every Sunday, wheel him next door to the church and then carry him in.
The Adams family were highly regarded, and their home was a hub. All of Marshall Adams' children grew to be productive members of their communities. When their first-born son grew up, he bought and donated about 175 teaching volumes to the Sabbath School. This was a significant contribution to the religious foundation of the town's youth for years to come.
It was Marshall Adams' daughter, Charlotte (Lottie) Adams, who, with her friend Mercy Dale, went running next door to ring the Paul Revere bell in the Old Church when the catastrophic fire broke out in the village in 1887. Another son, Charles A. Adams, was the manager of Varick's Store in Manchester for 60 years. It was this son who bought out all his sibling's rights to the property after his father's death. He mostly lived in Manchester, but, at times, lived in this house.
In November 1900, Charles was coming from Manchester through the village by train. That day the steeple of the Church on the Hill had been struck by lightning. He could see the burning steeple "like a giant torch" from the train. He knew his house was only 150 feet away from the fire. The firemen could not save the church, but by continually pumping the hand tub to keep his house wet and removing the barn door to shield the house against flying sparks, they saved his house. In appreciation, Mr. Adams gave the Fire Company a reward of $50 ($1,772 in today's buying power). The firemen started a relief fund with this money to help members who might sustain injuries while fighting fires.
In 1893, the house was being rented to boarders. Famous portrait and landscape painter, Frank French, and his wife Alice, stayed there. Frank completed a watercolor of the steeple of the Old Church. This painting was donated to the New Boston Historical Society by the family in 1981 and hangs in our museum. The steeple painting is especially wonderful to have, knowing that only seven years later the steeple was destroyed by the fire.
It was Frank French who also designed the Soldier's Monument, located by the gazebo on the village common. Frank French's son, Frank, and Charles Adams' daughter, Ethel, later married. When Charles died in the early 1930s, he left this house to her.
In 1937, while Ethel lived there, there was another fire. This time the barn burned down, but the house only had smoke damage. The REO pumper stationed by the large brook on the property saved the day.
Charles E. French, one of Ethel's two sons, lived in this house for many years. He organized the town's bicentennial in 1963 and was instrumental in collecting memorabilia to preserve town history. His work encouraged the formation of our historical society five years later. He sold this house to relatives in 1966. Because it was owned by the same extended family for more than 135 years, it is still sometimes referred to as the Adams' house. Since last year, new owners, the Shobe family, have happily become part of this house's ongoing story.
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