New Boston Historical Society
New Boston, New Hampshire
Photo: Bob Todd rests during the October 2010 cemetery tour.
EVENT CALENDAR
*** All events are free and open to the public. This schedule is subject to change. ***
Monday, November 11, 2024 11:00 AM on the Town Green
"Veterans Monument"
Speakers: Dick Jardine, Joe Constance, New Boston Space Force Station, Rev. Woodland
On Veterans Day the Select Board will unveil a new plaque on the monument, updated with names of New Boston veterans who served in recent wars.
Thursday, November 14, 2024 7:00 pm at the Historical Society
2024 Annual Meeting
The Annual Meeting of the Historical Society includes the election of officers, a review of the past year, and plans for next year.
(There is no historical presentation planned for the Annual Meeting.)
"12th Annual Holiday Open House"
Come visit our museum and enjoy music, conversation, and refreshments by the fireplace!
(Note the earlier start time for 2024.)
"Redcoats & Rebels: New Hampshire and the American Revolution"
Speaker: Mary Adams, NH Humanities Council
In 2025 we'll celebrate the 250th anniversary of the beginning of the American Revolution. Mary Adams describes New Hampshire's role in the War of Independence.
Thursday, March 13, 2025 7:00 pm at the New Boston Community Church
"The History of the New Boston Space Force Station"
Speaker: Lt. Col. Devin Zufelt, Commander, 23d Space Operations Squadron New Boston SFS
In 1942 the U.S. Army Air Corps requisitioned thousand of acres of land in New Boston, Amherst and Mont Vernon for use as a bombing range to train its pilots. After World War II and the Korean War, the site became a Satellite Control Station, now operated by the United States Space Force. Lt. Col. Devin Zufelt will talk about the history of NBSFS and the mission of the Space Force.
Thursday, May 8, 2025 7:00 pm at the New Boston Community Church
"Tangled Lives: Native People and English Settlers in Colonial New England"
Speaker: Jo Radner, NH Humanities Council
Storyteller/historian Jo Radner juxtaposes Native American oral traditions and stories told by her own New England ancestors to reveal a complex colonial "middle ground" in which English settlers and Native peoples saw one another as defenders and trespassers, pursuers and refugees, relatives and aliens, kind neighbors and ruthless destroyers. (Pending NHHC approval)
Thursday, July 10, 2025 7:00 pm at the New Boston Community Church
"Mr. Whipple and his Farm"
Speaker: Dan Rothman, Historical Society volunteer
Joseph Reed Whipple brought the railroad to New Boston so he could supply his Boston hotels from his Valley View Farm. Join us for an illustrated presentation about this amazing man.
(Scroll up for information about upcoming Historical Society meetings.
Scroll down for a review of past meetings since we moved to our new museum in 2011.)
Past events (2020-2024)
Click here for older events from 2011-2019.
Thursday, January 9, 2020 7:00 pm at the New Boston Community ChurchMusic from the Past: Dulcimer & Harpsichord
Musician: R.P. Hale
Period musician R.P. Hale will perform music from Colonial New Hampshire to Mexican Baroque on harpsichord and hammer-dulcimer, both of his own construction. Historical re-enactor R.P. Hale is also a calligrapher, engraver, scientist and teacher!
Thursday, March 12, 2020 7:00 pm at the New Boston Community Church
The Diaries of New Boston Railroad Engineer William Fiske
Speakers: Dick & Deb Jardine
William Fiske was a railroad engineer who kept a daily diary from 1892-1954. Bill "ran engines" on the New Boston line from 1907 until 1929. His diary entries recorded events of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as weather and social activities during his New Boston years. (Deb Jardine is Bill's great-granddaughter.)
William Fiske & crew c.1908
Tony Hall in his New Boston workshop
Building Period Furniture — from influence & exposure to technique & execution.
Speaker: Tony Hall
New Boston's Tony Hall studied the designs and tools used by early American crafstmen before making his own furniture.
Thursday, July 14, 2022 7:00 pm at the New Boston Community Church
Cog Railway: The Jitney Years
Speaker: Tim Lewis
Journalism professor Tim Lewis shares stories of the Mount Washington Cog Railway where his father Norman "Jitney" Lewis worked as an engineer from 1950-1967.
Thursday, September 8, 2022 7:00 pm at the New Boston Community Church
New Boston in the Roaring 1920s — from the Diaries of William Fiske
Speakers: Deb & Dick Jardine
William V. Fiske (1863-1954) "ran engines" on railroad lines in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He arrived in New Boston in 1907 and resided here until his death in 1954. Bill Fiske kept daily diaries from 1892-1954 in which he recounted important events of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This evening is a continuation of the Jardines' popular March 2020 presentation, and will focus on the decade of the 1920s.
Thursday, November 10, 2022 7:00 pm at the Historical Society
2022 Annual Meeting
The Annual Meeting of the Historical Society includes the election of officers, a review of the past year, and plans for next year.
(There is no historical presentation planned for the Annual Meeting.)
Sunday, December 11, 2022 2:00-4:00 pm at the Historical Society
"10th Annual Holiday Open House"
Come visit our museum and enjoy music, conversation, and refreshments!
"Neither Snow Nor Rain"
Speaker: David Woodbury
Historical Society president David Woodbury tells the story of New Boston's post offices, postmasters, and intrepid delivery people.
"New Boston Home Movies"
Speaker: Tom Shirley & aunts
Lois Hersey's color movies of New Boston 1947-1963 including farming and 4th of July parades.
Jennifer Allocca with actual counterfeit money
"New Boston Counterfeiters of 1804"
Speaker: Jennifer Allocca
A gang of criminals were arrested in New Boston for printing paper money, put in jail, and made a daring escape.
Thursday, July 13, 2023 7:00 pm at the New Boston Community Church
"The History of Agriculture as Told by Barns"
Speaker: John Porter
The evolution of barn architecture tells the story of New Hampshire agriculture. This presentation is a chronological walk through time, with photo illustrations of barns around the state that reflect three centuries of changes.
** Sponsored by the N. H. Humanities Council
Thursday, September 14, 2023 7:00 pm at the New Boston Community Church
"A Journey Along the Second New Hampshire Turnpike" POSTPONED to May 9, 2024
"New Boston Veterans Monument"
Speaker: Dick Jardine
Local historian (and veteran) Dick Jardine tells stories of the Veterans Monument on the town green and of some of the men and women who served our nation in wartime from our town's earliest days to the present.
Sunday, December 10, 2023 2:00-4:00 pm at the Historical Society
"11th Annual Holiday Open House"
Come visit our museum and enjoy music, conversation, and refreshments by the fireplace!
"New Hampshire on Skis"
Speaker: E. John Allen, NH Humanities Council
Professor Allen describes the history of skiing in our state, the importance of jumping, the mechanization of skiing, and how New England and New Hampshire fit into the big picture of America's ski culture.
Thursday, March 14, 2024 7:00 pm at the New Boston Community Church
"How Electricity Changed Rural New Hampshire Life"
Speaker: Stephen Taylor, NH Humanities Council
Imagine a New Hampshire town where some people enjoyed the benefits of electricity — lighting at the flick of a switch and reliable heating controlled by a thermostat — while others lived with smelly kerosene lamps and smoky box stoves. In New Hampshire, during the first half of the 20th century, residents of developed communities enjoyed the transformative benefits of electric power while those in the sparsely populated regions lived and worked in conditions little changed from the 19th century.
"A Journey Along the Second New Hampshire Turnpike"
Speaker: Bill McAuley
The 2nd NH Turnpike was built in 1800 by men and oxen in a straight line from Amherst through New Boston to Claremont. Bill McAuley from the Francestown Heritage Museum tells its story.
Thursday, July 11, 2024 7:00 pm at the New Boston Community Church
"The Fire of 1887"
Speaker: David Woodbury, Historical Society president
David Woodbury tells the story of the fire which destroyed New Boston village in May 1887.
Thursday, September 12, 2024 7:00 pm at the New Boston Community Church
"The Good Young Days — Fun in the 60s and 70s"
Speakers: Gail Parker and Betsy Whitman
Gail and Betsy remember what people did for fun in New Boston in the 1960s and 1970s.
