You’re probably thinking, “Okay, Thornton Wilder is certainly a well-known person but who the heck is Fletcher Dole?” My guess is unless you grew up in Peterborough, NH in the middle of the 20th century you don’t know Fletcher Dole and how he was connected to Thornton Wilder. Here’s a hint — Howie Newsome. Here’s […]
A few weeks ago there was something on NH Chronicle about female pilots in New Hampshire. I immediately thought of Amelia Earhart, probably the most famous female pilot of all time, and wondered if she was ever in the Monadnock Region. She was. Here’s what we know… In the summer of 1931 Earhart and her husband, publisher George […]
A few years ago, I toured one of the most beautiful historic homes I’ve ever visited. It was the home on Samuel L. Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Clemens and his wife Olivia spent 17 years in this 25-room house in Hartford, CT, with their three daughters. At a desk in the corner of […]
A few years back I visited the boyhood home of Calvin Coolidge in Plymouth Notch, VT. While looking into Calvin’s parent’s sitting room, I could almost picture the morning of August 3, 1923, when Calvin’s father, a notary public, conducted the oath of office that would make his son our 30th president. The ceremony was […]
I wonder if any of you ever got to meet Julia Child during one of several trips she and her husband Paul made to the area in the 1980s and 1990s? The closest I ever got was a glimpse of her as she passed me in the hallway at South Meadow School in 1993, when […]
Before Covid forced many museums to temporarily close their doors, I had the chance to visit Ralph Waldo Emerson’s home in Concord, MA. Emerson and his second wife Lidian lived with their four children in their Concord house for 47 years. Upon purchasing the house in 1835, he wrote to his brother that he […]
Back in Time for Lunch with Eleanor Roosevelt While browsing through the 1936 issues of the Transcript, I came across a blurb about Eleanor Roosevelt driving through New Hampshire and stopping in Peterborough. That got me thinking about how I would have entertained Eleanor if I had the opportunity to meet her. Here’s what we […]
Back in Time for Dinner with Lavinia Warren (Mrs. Tom Thumb) I love looking through old copies of our local newspaper. You never know what you will find and often the advertisements are as interesting as the news articles. One ad that caught my eye was from the October 4, 1875 issue which promoted the […]
Greetings, my name is Brigham Boice. I am a Senior at ConVal High School, and the owner of Newpast, LLC. I am excited to announce the release of the virtual historical experience, Peterborough 1886 to the members of the Monadnock Center and the community at large. What Is Peterborough 1886? Peterborough 1886 is a virtual […]
I first learned about Bette Davis’ summer in Peterborough from the timeline history in the Monadnock Center’s entry gallery. Later, I attended a talk by local historian Tracy Messer called, “Peterborough Seen Through Bette Davis Eyes.” That got me thinking about what it would have been like to meet Bette and her family. Here’s what […]
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