The Old Stone Wall Volume XII, Number 4 State of , Department of Cultural Resources, Spring 2005 Division of Historical Resources MAJOR DEVELOPMENT POSSIBLE AT FAMILY FARM James L. Garvin, State Architectural Historian he Daniel Webster Few New Hampshire TFarm in Franklin is properties in private the focus of a proposal to ownership possess deeper place a large residential history or greater cul- development on its land. tural, archaeological, and Farmed since the 1740s, ecological value than the the property includes the 140-acre Webster Farm. Webster family home, Its prime alluvial soils which is a National His- have been designated toric Landmark. as some of the most The Sisters of the productive farmland in Holy Cross, owners of the state. The natural the property since 1960, fertility and extensive placed the farm on the river exposure of the market four years ago at a site guarantee that the price of $1.2 million, in an land is rich in prehis- attempt to compensate for toric archaeological their dwindling member- resources. The property ship and straitened finan- Daniel Webster Family Farm, West Franklin, NH also includes the site of cial condition. Several ..."this is the most beautiful place on earth." (Daniel Webster, 1848) a fort built in 1745 to parties expressed tenta- (Photograph by Linda Ray Wilson) help defend the northern tive interest in the site, frontier against Indian but none made a commit- would require a zoning variance. The attacks. ment to purchase the property. Franklin Zoning Board of Adjust- (continued on page four) Last fall, however, P. D. Associ- ment held meetings in January and ates of Auburn signed a purchase- February, each lasting until midnight, HIGHLIGHTS and-sales agreement on the Webster to hear arguments for and against Farm. The developers proposed to such a variance. The board met DANIEL WEBSTER FAMILY FARM ...... 1 cluster 130 manufactured homes for a final deliberative session on VIEW FROM THE SOLARIUM ...... 2 along 5,000 feet of frontage on the March 2, and on March 3 voted to CURATOR’S REPORT ...... 2 Merrimack River, to designate some deny the request for a variance. P. D. MOOSE PLATE GRANT DEADLINE ...... 2 acreage for continued farming, and to Associates has, however, expressed dispose of a group of historic build- a determination to proceed with SCRAP SUMMER FIELD SCHOOL ...... 3 ings that include the Webster home. the purchase. Franklin zoning rules NATIONAL REGISTER LISTINGS ...... 3 The land is currently zoned for would permit the construction of as MOOSE PLATE LICENSES ...... 3 conservation. To place a “manufac- many as 60 individual homes on the NH FARM & FOREST EXPOSITION ...... 4 tured housing park” on the property 140-acre property.

Spring 2005 THE OLD STONE WALL 1 maintenance and financial hardship. NH Division of View From The The Moderator will ask for feedback Solarium and offer best practices along the way. Historical Resources If you are in the trenches locally, http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr h, Spring. As much as we love working to protect and enhance your the beauty of our James McConaha A community’s heritage, you don’t want Director & State Historic Preservation Officer Winter, Spring is the season of pos- to miss this conference. Information sibility, the season that brings most can be obtained by calling OEP at P. Russell Bastedo of us back to life and gets our juices State Curator 603-271-2155 or by going to http:// going for those big projects we have Patricia Blevens nh.gov/oep/events/springconfer- put on the list for the coming year. ence05.htm. Program Assistant Understanding all that, Spring is Richard A. Boisvert the season for conferences and work- James McConaha State Archaeologist shops that whet our appetite and Director, Division of Historical Edna M. Feighner give us ideas and point us to useful Resources, NH State Historic Historical Archaeologist & resources. One such event is the Old Preservation Officer Review and Compliance Coordinator House and Barn Expo, highlighted Deborah J. Gagne in the NHPA newsletter and not to Program Assistant be missed by any old house and barn Curator’s Report James L. Garvin owner or aficionado. State Architectural Historian One of the largest conferences in The Joint Legislative Historical Elizabeth H. Muzzey New Hampshire, and invaluable to Committee is arranging for the State State Survey Coordinator those who make decisions locally that House portraits to be photographed Christine Fonda Rankie affect land use, development, and the in both digital and film formats, for National Register, Preservation Tax preservation of natural and historic upgrading the state web page entries Incentives & Covenants Coordinator resources, is the Annual Spring Plan- and preparing for publication of the Christine Saint Louis ning & Zoning Conference orga- information in hard copy format. Resource Inventory Technician nized by the State Office of Energy Simultaneously, research is focusing Linda Ray Wilson and Planning, now in its 12th year. on the New Hampshire state militia, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer This year’s conference will be formed in 1792 and legislated out of [Vacancy] held Saturday, April 9, at the Center existence in 1851. The records are Grants Manager & Certified Local of New Hampshire in Manchester voluminous, and are being tran- Governments Coordinator and is open to planning and zoning scribed as time permits. [Vacancy] board members and conservation, Preservation Planner Russell Bastedo heritage and historic district com- State Curator STATE HISTORICAL mission members. To get a flavor of RESOURCES COUNCIL the Historic Preservation Planning Jason Hoch, Littleton, Chair sessions, check this: Mary Rose Boswell, Laconia Getting Started. There is a lot Gail Nessell Colglazier, Londonderry to do to launch a heritage or historic Sheryl N. Hack, Canterbury district commission successfully—re- Robert Macieski, New Boston Duffy Monahon, Peterborough search, public education and advo- Carl W. Schmidt, Orford cacy, warrant articles, ordinances, David R. Starbuck, Plymouth, Vice Chair management practices. Wherever David Watters, Dover you are in the process, this panel will offer tips and answer your questions. [Appointment pending], Practical Communication Gordon Jones explaining how he rescued Governor’s Designee Strategies for Commissioners. Tired his historic dairy barn—see Farm & Forest James McConaha, Ex-officio Exposition story on page four. Patricia Blevens, Secretary of being misunderstood (or ignored) (Photograph by Linda Ray Wilson) by local residents, the media or even DEPARTMENT OF City Hall? Panelists offer advice for CULTURAL RESOURCES developing and implementing strate- Van McLeod gies that will help you share your Commissioner messages effectively with all of these Applications for The DHR is a state agency, supported by the State audiences. DHR Moose Plate of New Hampshire, by the federal Historic Pres- Mock Historic District Com- ervation Fund (through a matching grant admin- istered by the National Park Service of the U.S. mission Hearing. Consider how your Grants are due Department of the Interior), and by donated funds commission handles key issues as you and services. In addition to its state functions, the attend this historic district commis- April 29, 2005 DHR is also responsible for administering the sion hearing where commissioners For more information, go to http:// federal preservation program in New Hampshire. will consider significance and integ- www.nh.gov/nhdhr/moose.html rity, preservation treatments, deferred

2 THE OLD STONE WALL Spring 2005 Recent National Register Listings

(Photomontage by Richard A. Boisvert)

NH SCRAP Tucker Mountain Schoolhouse, An- (State Conservation and dover NH. Listed in March, 2005. Rescue Archaeology Program) (Photograph by Edwin Hiller.) 2005 Summer Field School Suncook Village Commercial/Civic The Tucker Mountain Schoolhouse June 28 – August 5, 2005 Historic District, Pembroke NH. was built in 1837 and remains essen- Listed in March, 2005. (Photograph tially unchanged to this day. It is sig- Overlooking Amoskeag Falls, the by Maureen Taylor.) nificant as a well-preserved example of 2005 field school will explore the 8,000 The Suncook Village Commercial/ an early 19th century rural school. It year history of the surviving portion of is the only one of the 13 schoolhouses the famous Neville Site, a large multi- Civic Historic District is located roughly in the center of Suncook, that once served Andover to survive component Native American fishing intact. The building was in use as station. Results of the field school will originally a mill village straddling the Suncook River in the towns of a school for 55 years. Later it was a be used to guide future decisions on the community center, the site of activi- use of the property. Pembroke and Allenstown along the Merrimack River. Its mills and brick- ties such as Sunday afternoon prayer Fieldwork will be supplemented meetings and evening candy-pulls. with lectures by specialists in related yards supported the development fields. Completion of the field school of Suncook Village as a commercial will provide a solid introduction to center positioned between the state field methodology equivalent to that capitol, Concord, to the north and employed in cultural resource evalu- the manufacturing center of Man- ation and management projects. chester to the south. Field school sessions will begin June 28, July 12 and July 26. The field school is co-sponsored by the NH Division of Historical Re- sources under the State Conservation and Rescue Archaeology Program Interior of Tucker Mountain (SCRAP), the Sargent Museum and Schoolhouse, Andover NH. Plymouth State University. All field- (Photograph by Edwin Hiller.) work and instruction will be directed After a period of disuse, ownership by Dr. Richard A. Boisvert, NH State The village continues to reflect the reverted to the heirs of William Archaeologist, and conforms to the Tucker, the original owner of the standards for archaeology set by the trends of community development during the Industrial Revolution land. In 1972, two of Tucker’s great- National Park Service. granddaughters deeded it to Frank Both volunteers and students with its concentration of commercial buildings along the main thorough- and Madelyn Baker who cared for seeking undergraduate and graduate the schoolhouse and later donated credit are welcome. All applicants fares, the use of brick in building construction, and wider streets. This it to the Andover Historical Society must submit a registration form and a in 2004. brief statement indicating why they mixed use area is currently the focus wish to join the field school. For of revitalization efforts under the Christine Fonda Rankie more information, see: http://www. impetus of Meet Me In Suncook, a National Register and mv.com/ipusers/boisvert/nevillesite- local preservation group. Tax Incentives Coordinator website/index.html. Registration must be received by June 6, 2005. For more information about Better than a bumper SCRAP, please visit our web site at http://www.nhscrap.org, or contact sticker for saving NH's us by email at preservation@nhdhr. special places: state.nh.us. Richard A. Boisvert www.mooseplate.com State Archaeologist

Spring 2005 THE OLD STONE WALL 3 Daniel Webster Family Farm stitution was one of the first American NH Farm & Forest (continued from page one) orphanages to be located in a health- ful rural environment, away from the Exposition grime and congestion of cities. At first housed in the Webster dwelling, the institution eventually expanded to in- clude nearly a dozen other buildings, most of which remain on the property. At the center of the farm is Webster Place Cemetery, which holds the graves of several of the Welcoming visitors at the barn preservation exhibit: Webster family, including Ebenezer, (L to R) Gabrielle DiPerri, NHPA, Debbi Gagne, and those of many local residents and NHDHR, Jim Deely, Sanborn Mills Farm, Elizabeth Muzzey, NHDHR. (Photograph by Linda Ray Wilson) View west toward the Orphans' Home a number of orphans who lived and buildings; the Webster Home is the white died on the property. The annual NH Farm & Forest dwelling at center left, In keeping with preservation Exposition returned to the Center (Photograph by Linda Ray Wilson) practice at the time, the National of NH in Manchester on February Park Service designated only the Ebenezer Webster bought the farm in 4-5, 2005. Through the generosity eighteenth-century Webster home of the Expo’s Board of Directors, 1799. When the elder Webster died as a National Historic Landmark in in 1806, the property passed to his the Historic Agricultural Structures 1974. Preservationists have since Advisory Committee (better known sons Ezekiel (1780-1829) and Daniel gained a deeper understanding of (1782-1852). Upon Ezekiel’s prema- as the “Barn Committee”), the NH the significance of the setting of Preservation Alliance, and the NH ture death, Daniel purchased full title cultural properties. The National Division of Historical Resources to the farm. Park Service’s northeast regional shared a high-visibility exhibit at Daniel Webster was a tower- office recently wrote that “our office the entrance to the trade show. ing figure in American politics and believes that there are grounds for The three partners presented a statesmanship during the first half considering an amendment to the workshop on barn preservation as of the nineteenth century, attain- original National Historic Landmark part of an all-day series sponsored ing fame as one of the greatest legal nomination that would include the by the NH Coalition for Sustaining scholars and orators of his period. property in question within the Agriculture. John Porter of UNH Webster used the property as a delineated boundaries. The apparent Cooperative Extension and dairy retreat, a model stock farm, and a high level of integrity existing on the farmer Gordon Jones of Chiches- meeting place until his death in property that formerly served as the ter showed how the Jones family 1852. In 1848, he wrote to his son, Webster Farm strongly suggests that rehabilitated their historic 19th Fletcher, “this is the most beautiful this [land] should be considered as century dairy barn for continued place on this earth.” part of the NHL.” dairy use, under budget and at The Webster Farm holds some substantially less cost that build- of the strongest connections with James L. Garvin State Architectural Historian ing a new replacement barn. They Daniel Webster of any property in saved a local landmark without ever the United States. In recognition of missing a milking or changing their its significance, the National Park herd management practices. Service listed the Webster family At the trade show exhibit, home as a National Historic Land- NHPA and DHR staff welcomed old mark in 1974. friends and made new ones, while In 1871, philanthropists estab- distributing information and provid- lished the New Hampshire Orphans’ ing technical assistance for farm and Home on the Webster Farm to Steve Taylor, Commissioner of the NH barn preservation, and for all other care for the fatherless and homeless Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food, aspects of historic preservation in children left by the Civil War. The in- visiting with Gabrielle DiPerri, NHPA, at the barn exhibit. (Photograph by Linda Ray Wilson) New Hampshire as well.

State of New Hampshire • Department of Cultural Resources • Division of Historical Resources 19 Pillsbury Street, Concord, New Hampshire 03301-3570 603-271-3483 or 603-271-3558 • FAX 603-271-3433 • Voice/TTY Relay Access 1-800-735-2964 • [email protected]

This newsletter has been financed in part with a federal ‘Historic Preservation Fund’ matching grant from the National Park Service of the United States Department of the Interior, to the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources/State Historic Preservation Office. Part of the cost of this newsletter has been paid by the DHR’s annual federal program grant. However, its contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of the Interior. Regulations of the US Department of the Interior strictly prohibit unlawful discrimination in departmental federally assisted programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, or disability. The State of New Hampshire (under RSA 275 and RSA 354-a) prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, sex, race, creed, color, marital status, physical or mental disability or national origin. Any person who believes that he or she has been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility operated by a recipient of federal assistance should write to: Director, Office of Equal Opportunity, National Park Service, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington D.C. 20240.

4 THE OLD STONE WALL Spring 2005