Dunbarton news : history

Cobbler shop returns to Dunbarton

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:49:00 GMT

BY CAROLE KLEMENT

The old Dunbarton Cobbler Shop returned to its hometown on Friday, Oct. 31, after being located for more than 50 years in Goffstown.

Dating back to before 1850, the cobbler shop was one of 26 known cobblers in the Dunbarton area. It is thought that Thomas Sylvester Wilson, the original shop owner, was able to maintain his business after the birth of the industrial shoe industry because he also owned a tannery, which supplied him with an easy source of leather.

Bud Noyes, the late Dunbarton historian, was working on his book, “Where Settler’s Feet Have Trod” when he discovered the shop in Goffstown at the home of Joan O’Connor and Robert Carberry.

The structure contains many of the original features, including wide-plank floors and horsehair plaster walls. One of the main timbers was taken from an older mortise and tenon structure and reused, so the precise date of the building remains to be determined. A recent discovery was the handwriting on the walls, which will be given closer inspection during the restoration project.

The Dunbarton Historic Awareness Committee spent the summer detaching the building from another structure and preparing it for the return to Dunbarton.

Carl Moorehead, Excavation Innovations and Dan Vankalken, Conifer Hill N.H. Landscaping, donated their equipment and skills, as well as other volunteers, including Roger Gagne, Barbara Torre, Dan Fradette, Andy and Donna Dunn, Bob Carberry, Joan O’Connor, Larry Petersen, and Jan and Janice Van De Bogart.

Though Noyes was not present at the big move, he was symbolically represented by his shoes, hanging from an antique nail on the rear wall of the structure, accompanying home his last historical find.

A glass negative was located that dated to 1865, showing the cobbler shop on its original site with a full view of the entire homestead and the Wilson family.

“The detail is amazing,” said Dunn, the project coordinator. “You can see cats on the stone wall and the lightning rod on the roof of the farmhouse. We hope to reproduce it for the schools so they can use it as a teaching tool for the younger kids.”

Once the building is restored, it will be moved to the Dunbarton Historical Society Museum, situated along the soon-to-be John Stark Scenic Byway.

The Historical Society welcomes all volunteers who would like to participate in this project, and is also looking for period tools, equipment and supplies to outfit the restored shop. An 1800s cobbler bench has already been secured, along with a trove of Dunbarton memorabilia from the Tucker family, including the only known photos of the original shop. All donations will be appraised for tax-deductible value by antiques dealer Mike Malloy.

If you would like to send a financial donation, mail your tax-deductible check payable to “Cobbler Shop Restoration Project” to 1011 School St., Dunbarton, NH 03046.

Dunbarton town historian Bud Noyes dies

Goffstown Editor — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:34:00 GMT

BY JENN McDOWELL

Dunbarton’s town historian, Bud Noyes, was in the process of compiling information for his third book when he died in the early morning hours of Tuesday, Sept. 2, at the age of 84.

Noyes lived in what we now know as Dunbarton for most of his life, and prior to that lived in a part of present-day Hooksett, once part of Dunbarton, on which he was going to write a book.

“He always considered himself a Dunbartonite all the way,” said Selectman and close friend Les Hammond.

Noyes had a heart condition and had surgery about six months ago to replace a valve. He was not the same after that, Hammond said.

Noyes and his wife, Bettyann, now 77, were very active in the Dunbarton community, participating in the town’s Historical Awareness Committee, and Bettyann was a School Board member for more than 30 years.

“We shared a great many things,” said Bettyann Noyes. “He lived here basically his whole life and loved it.”

Bud Noyes worked as an architectural designer and then a home appraiser for most of his life. He was always enthralled with the history of Dunbarton, which he called his hometown, despite having lived in Hooksett until he was about 10. The part of Hooksett he was born in ceded from Dunbarton many years before his birth.

“He loved homes. He designed our first home and our second home,” Bettyann Noyes said. “He never had a college degree, but he was a very talented individual in that area.”

Bud Noyes wrote his first book for children called “A Tale of Dunbarton” in 1999. A second full-length book titled “Where Settlers Feet Have Trod” came along in 2004.

Bettyann Noyes remembers meeting her husband when she was about 25, while taking a restful vacation with her mother in Dunbarton. Noyes and her mother lived in Long Island, N.Y., and had seen an ad in the local newspaper about a woman who took in summer boarders. That woman turned out to be Bud’s mother, and the two hit it off instantly.

The Noyes’, married for almost 50 years, took car trips each year to visit historical sites and admire floral gardens, something that was Bettyann’s passion, she said. They’ve been to just about every state along the eastern seaboard and the inner coastal states.

“We had very nice times together – quiet times, but nice times,” Bettyann Noyes said.

In 2000, the couple took guardianship of their two grandchildren after hardships with their daughter caused the family to go to the brink of ruin, Bettyann Noyes said. The grandchildren came to their grandparents and asked for them to take custody of them.

The Noyes raised the teenagers as they would have their own children, getting both through their high school years.

“It’s a very difficult experience to take two teenagers into your home, but it was a marvelous one,” Bettyann Noyes said.

Donna Dunn served on the Historical Awareness Committee with Bud Noyes and worked with him on many restoration projects and collection acquisitions.

“Bud Noyes was just an absolute inspiration,” Dunn said, adding Noyes was passionate about sharing history with the community. “Bud’s just always been there. He’s literally the wallpaper of Dunbarton.”

“If you had the least bit of interest in history, he thought you were wonderful. If you didn’t have time, you better not ask a question,” Dunn joked.

Dunn said Bud Noyes helped her find the last remaining cobbler shop that used to be in Dunbarton, which a blacksmith who moved into town relocated to Goffstown in 1955. The cobbler shop is still standing in Goffstown, she said, on Main Street.

They also worked on acquiring the Hadley-Tucker historical collection, an assortment of old photographs, post cards and documentation of old buildings in town.

“It’s irreplaceable,” Dunn said of the collection.

Friends and his wife described Bud Noyes as ever-present, thoughtful, passionate and quiet.

“I’ve had some time to be introspective, and I think what I miss the most was the fact that he was a very steady person that was always very low-key,” said Bettyann Noyes. “He felt, I think, that he had a mission in life, and one of his greatest desires was the finish that mission. Unfortunately, he was not able to, but parts of it will have been done.”

Daffodil sale features bulb commemorating town historian

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:40:00 GMT

The Hadley Heritage, a late blooming white daffodil, with a yellow-pink cup and ruffled edge is the 2007 offering for the Dunbarton Garden Club’s third annual daffodil sale.

The bulb commemorates Alice Hadley, who wrote an extensive history of Dunbarton chronicling the town’s development from the pre-revolutionary period until 1966.

“Where the Winds Blow Free,” her 260-page book, records major events, home sites and a town genealogy. Born Alice Bunten in 1883, she lived in Dunbarton until her death in 1966. She ran the family general store in the town center with her father and then her husband.

Hadley taught school, was a library trustee and active member of the Dunbarton Garden Club. Her book was published 10 years after her death by the Dunbarton Historical Committee, who edited and assembled her research and writings.

“Our 10-year project, ‘Daffodils for Dunbarton’ is pleased to dedicate this year’s bulb to a former Garden Club member and truly outstanding Dunbarton citizen,” said Judy Petersen, Garden Club president. “Our goal is to create a spectacular daffodil show throughout the town just in time for our town’s 250th anniversary in 2015.”

Besides the Hadley Heritage bulb, the club is selling three other types of premium daffodil bulbs to local homeowners this fall.

It will offer: The General John Stark Daffodil, a traditional yellow blossom with jumbo trumpet flowers that stand 18-20 inches high-and the Molly Stark Mix, variegated, long-blooming daffodils that blossom 18-20 inches high. Also offered is “The Remembrance” an early bloomer with white petals and a yellow halo at the base of an orange cup growing 18-20 inches.

“We’re building on a fantastic two-year success,” said Peterson. “Over 200 fellow Dunbartonians and friends bought and planted more than 10,000 Garden Club bulbs. We all enjoyed the colorful show that the new plantings produced this past spring.”

The club is now using its proceeds from the sale to fund plantings along highways and in other public areas.

“Combined with private plantings, we hope to see a flourish of color next spring,” said Petersen.

The Garden Club’s goal is to get every resident to plant daffodils.

“Over the next decade, if we get all Dunbartonians to participate, we’ll have an amazing town-wide show that will be perpetuated for decades to come,” said Petersen. “It will be a beautiful legacy for our residents to give the town.”

All bulbs come in packs of 20, costing $20. The club’s master gardener’s discount offers 300 bulb packs at a $60 discount.

“We offer different varieties of bulbs for sale, as we want to create a broad variety of blossoms that extend the blooming period throughout the spring. This will give homeowners the chance to design their own show, as they pick from new offerings each year,” said Petersen.

The Garden Club will also plant the bulbs for residents who would like to participate but don’t have a green thumb. Up to 40 bulbs will be planted for a $20 fee.

“All the bulbs offered are Holland grown bulbs and of the highest quality. They are pest and deer resistant, and vigorous growing,” said Petersen. “They bloom every year, require little attention.”

Gardeners can order bulbs through any Dunbarton Garden Club member, pick up brochures and order forms at local stores or town offices, or visit the town Web site at www.dun bartonnh.org and download a printable order form. Questions can be directed by e-mail to dgcdaffodil250th@aol.com or Garden Club member Barb Wanner at 774--7015.

Housing the hearse

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 19:30:00 GMT

BY DAVE CHOATE

For once, a hearse was a cause for celebration.

On Saturday, Aug. 11, town officials and members of the hearse restoration committee dedicated Dunbarton’s newly revamped hearse and brand-new hearse house. About 100 residents and volunteers turned up at Page’s Cemetery for the dedication, information and refreshments.

“It was a real group effort over the last two and a half or three years, and the new house is really the center of the cemetery. We see this as being the epitome of a small town cemetery,” said cemetery trustee Brian Pike.

Restoration committee member Donna Dunn said the project took four years, including time for research.

The four main members of the committee exhaustively studied documents, scraps and photographs in an attempt to recreate the hearse and house as closely as possible.

“Our policy was ‘do no harm,’” Dunn said. “When re-creating this, we didn’t do anything if we weren’t one hundred percent sure it was the way it was done back then.”

The effort is part of a larger revitalization campaign aimed at making the cemetery active again. Pike said eventually the cemetery will feature new burial plots with three intertwining roads around the land.

The hearse has had an interesting history of its own, having claimed 13 different parts of town as its home at some point in its history. A then-teenage Kevin Bartlett discovered the hearse lying under a pile of rubble during a bike ride back in 1970.

“It’s had a checkered past, but it survived somehow. It was literally sitting there with the roof on it, so I guess nobody really cared about it back then,” said Bartlett, who put the hearse’s old wheels into the hearse house for visitors to see.

Fellow committee member Boynton braved the heat in a black suit and top hat as he drove the hearse and horse Spike around the cemetery yard. Other members of the crowd, including committee members Gail Martel and Nancy Frost, chose to wear the dark-colored period clothing to dedicate in the new hearse with style.

In addition to the house and hearse, displays were set up to show the rebuilding process and the history behind the hearse. There was also a tribute to Henry Provencher, who Dunn said performed countless hours of carpentry work for the hearse project before he passed away on July 7.

Dunn said the committee is still looking for answers as to where the hearse came from, as it was almost certainly originally purchased from another town in the area. There are also photographs which need to be more closely and perhaps digitally scrutinized to reveal their secrets, work that Dunn is hoping the group will have some help with.

“We’re still working on figuring a lot of things out. I’m hoping someone will jump in and help us solve these mysteries,” Dunn said.

Building constructed to house hearse

Bow Editor — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 21:31:00 GMT

BY RYAN O’CONNOR

After nearly three years, members of the Dunbarton Hearse Restoration Committee are seeing their hard work come to fruition.

After the recent completion of the rebuilt and refurbished hearse, which was lost in a fire 50 years ago, the town has constructed a building at Page’s Cemetery to house the historic artifact.

When the hearse’s original storage building burned to the ground in 1958, the hearse was pulled from the fire and doused with water, but the driver’s leather seat and canvas roof were destroyed, the glass was broken, all the interior fabrics were destroyed and the two front wheels were damaged beyond repair.

But in 2005, several residents vowed to restore the hearse to its former beauty.

“It feels wonderful because there was nothing negative about this project,” said Donna Dunn, a member of the restoration committee. “From the beginning, it was really a positive thing, and if I were to add up everyone involved in this, whether it was money, time, a skill or research, there were probably over 100 people.”

The hearse house was brought to the cemetery in two separate pieces and was constructed and put together by inmates from the state prison.

According to Dunn, the prison offers a trade program teaching inmates construction.

The committee, by purchasing the structure through the program, paid only for material plus 10 percent, said Dunn.

“It was a real bargain for us,” she said. “It was a good price and it was very fitting that their trainees helped with this volunteer project because, certainly, we don’t have a lot of money to spend.”

Still, Dunn said the prison program doesn’t openly advertise because it doesn’t want to compete with local carpenters.

Moreover, their production is limited, so Dunbarton was placed on a wait list before
the hearse house could be constructed.

The cemetery trustees, like hundreds of years ago when sextons were in charge of cemeteries, will be in charge of maintenance on the hearse and its home.

“We’re right back to where it was originally, except the hearse house was in Dunbarton Center Cemetery, but there was absolutely no time left there any more.”

The structure, said Dunn, meets all zoning requirements, and she noted the Page’s Cemetery’s facade will likely soon revolve around the hearse house.

“We put it out in the open, high and dry, away from any trees or anything that can fall on it,” she said. “Hopefully there is very little room for vandalism.”

In addition, Dunn said the house has a sliding door so anyone interested in viewing the hearse can do so at any time.

The cemetery trustees are currently drafting a letter of intent to use the hearse as a historical resource and Dunn said it will likely be used in parades, Old Home Day and other memorial events.

The hearse and hearse house will be officially dedicated on the morning of Saturday, Aug.11.

There, “Spike,” a bombproof horse – one that won’t startle to loud noises – will be available to guide the hearse. According to Dunn, all are welcome to attend and are encouraged to dress in traditional old-fashioned clothing.

Historical Society hosts Farm Day on June 9

Bow Editor — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:42:00 GMT

Farm Day at the Dunbarton Historical Society Museum and Blacksmith Shop will take place Saturday, June 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Hear the sound of a clanging anvil, the puff of the bellows and the tap, tap, tap of a blacksmith’s hammer in the Blacksmith Shop. Try your hand with antique farm tools.

Watch demonstrations of heritage arts and crafts – making hand-hewn beams and ox yokes, quilting, carving, spinning, weaving, rug braiding, and more.

Sample homemade ice cream and butter, make your own candle and visit with the farm animals.

Watch the youngsters as they work on crafts and play some old-fashioned games – a three-legged race, a sack race, a scavenger hunt and, of course, a pie-eating contest.

Refreshments will be available and admission is free.

A peek into the past – Caleb Stark’s store ledger found on eBay auction

Bow Editor — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:28:00 GMT

Members of the Dunbarton Historical Awareness Committee recently welcomed members of the Dunbarton Historical Society to a special event, as part of their monthly meeting, held at the Dunbarton Town Offices.

Present for the Historical Awareness Committee were town historian Harlan “Bud” Noyes, selectmen Rep. Les Hammond, Ken Swayze, Stan Hallinan, and Bill and Rebecca Rolke. The Historical Society members included Tom and Eleanor Watts, Nancy Frost, Gert Dulude, Mert Mann and Wayne Mills.

The Historical Awareness Committee invited a Dunbarton resident to present an antique ledger, purchased on eBay from an Ohio collector, and Bud Noyes delivered some background information about the ledger.

Caleb Stark of Dunbarton was the original owner. The ledger came from the store he operated in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Stark’s father, Gen. John Stark, was a Revolutionary War hero.

The business was initially located across from the Molly Stark House; a landmark building at Page’s Corner, at the corner of Routes 13 and 77. Eventually, the store was re-located near Stark Mansion, on Mansion Road. Two barns currently stand across the road from the home. It is not known whether part of either barn, now totally renovated, housed the store. Also, in June 1930, the rear portion of the Stark mansion burned. The main house was saved, due to the presence of water from an outdoor pool.

A successful merchant, Stark owned two clipper ships, which brought store stock to port, for delivery overland to Dunbarton.

Penmanship in sepia-toned ink documents transactions made at the store from 1799 to 1800. People making purchases were described as “Dr,” meaning debtor.

Stark’s store was well-known in early New Hampshire. Entries of purchases of “sundries” made by residents of Weare and Hopkinton attest to the store’s attraction to shoppers from outside of Dunbarton. Visitors to the store from as far away as the Connecticut River Valley area indicate that this was a place known to travelers, possibly on their way to Concord or Manchester.

Payments for goods were often made with cash, butter and “tow cloth,” the latter two probably being made in local homes, for barter. “Tow” was waste fiber left after the longer “line” fiber from the flax plant was used to make linen. It was spun into thick, fuzzy thread, woven into cloth, and made into utilitarian items such as sacks and work clothing. Another frequent method of payment was with ashes and potash, used for soap making and fertilizer.

Of interest were the numerous entries of purchases by John Stark, and the lack of payments for extended periods of time. In the end, he did pay his debts.

Dunbarton native Wayne Mills’ ancestor John Mills was noted as a store patron. Others frequenting the store were Bunten family members related to Les Hammond and Nancy Frost.

Frost also noted her family name, Caldwell, in the ledger.

The 1940s were a time of change for the Stark family. The mansion was sold, and boxes of the family’s belongings were auctioned off. Bud Noyes speculates the store ledger was perhaps among the auctioned items. The new owners of Stark Mansion brought truckloads of the home’s remaining contents to the dump.

Explore Kuncanowet Natural Area March 3

Bow Editor — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:53:00 GMT

The Piscataquog Watershed Association and the Dunbarton Conservation Commission will co-sponsor a winter tracking walk Saturday, March 3, at 9:30 a.m., at the Kuncanowet Natural Area in Dunbarton.

Join PWA member and volunteer Jamie Bodwell for a walk that is becoming an annual favorite for expert and novice trackers.

Following a brief orientation and a look at Bodwell’s display of natural artifacts collected on the property, he’ll lead from the trailhead on Everett Dam Road into the woods to explore the property’s hidden secrets.

Bring snowshoes if snow depths exceed 7 to 9 inches.

The walk should last for two to three hours. Dress appropriately and bring lunch and water.
Contact the Piscataquog Watershed Association at 487-3331 or pwa@pwa-nh.org to pre-register.

For more information on the PWA or for a schedule of future events, call 487-3331 or e-mail pwa@pwa-nh.org.