Welcome to the New Market Historical Society

We are dedicated to increasing public understanding and enthusiasm for our local history and preservation.  Our mission is to provide a central location, where we can store, introduce, interpret, and stimulate the study of local history. Our goals are to tell Newmarket’s story, preserve its local artifacts, and sponsor historical events and educational opportunities.  Please consult our program of events for exact dates, times, and locations for our meetings and events. 

The public is always welcome to attend our educational meetings, which are free except for select special events.

Donations are always welcomed and greatly appreciated!

Join us during our 2019 year long celebration of

Newmarket’s Immigrant Families & Their Stories

With special programs, stories, letters, photographs, news articles, and textiles dedicated to refugees, and immigrant families from Ireland, French Canada, Poland, Laos, Italy, Russia, and Germany … those who came and changed the fabric of the town.

The New Market Historical Society recently began a family genealogy section with information supplied by town residents over the years, as well as those created through our own research.  People from across the country have contacted us looking for family connections and have submitted their own family trees as well, which are now housed in the Stone School Museum.

We welcome all our members and visitors to share their family stories of  journey and struggle. 

We invite you to join us each Wednesday night during the Month of May between 6 - 8 p.m. at the Newmarket Library where we will interview and film those willing to share their stories of how their ancestors came to the country and to town.  Newmarket resident David Smith will edit all the interviews into a program  for the Historical Society and the Library, which will be shown next year.

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Check our events page for a schedule of  our 2019 programs….

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The Stone School Museum is now closed for the season.

Our summer open hours are:

June, July and August — Sundays from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to coincide with the Newmarket Farmers’ Market held again this year between the Stone School and the Stone Church.

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We will be open on Sunday, June 2nd at 10 a.m. during the Raid Rockingham 2019 Bike Ride.

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April 10th is the anniversary of the disastrous dive of the USS Thresher and the death of all 129 men aboard. 

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One of those who perished off the coast of Cape Cod was Richard Fisher, a former teacher at Newmarket High School 1960-1961.

This fall a memorial will be placed in Arlington National Cemetery honoring all those who died aboard the nuclear submarine. 

For our personal remembrance of Mr. Fisher please see the Biography Section of our website.   

http://www.newmarketnhhistoricalsociety.org/docs/biographies/remembering-richard-fisher/

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Coming Next on July 14, 2019 :

WELCOME HOME CELEBRATION

This special event features the public display of unique artifacts from Newmarket’s past:

• the  Folsom clock (restored and donated by Diana Kavanagh Reed)

• Judge Griffin’s roll top desk (donated by Rolfe Voltaire)

• Dr. Towle’s car (displayed—weather permitting—by current owner Loret Simonds of Keene, NH)

The Folsom clock — made by Newfields craftsmen, it first took up residence in Josiah Folsom’s Hersey Lane home around 1822.   (Five years later his daughters would carry the clock to safety as the house burned down.)  Recently restored, it is now part of the Haines Family Collection at the Museum. 

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Judge Griffin’s rolltop desk — perennially covered with stacks of letters and invoices — sat in the office at Griffin Hardware while owners came and went) for almost a century.

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Dr. Towle’s car — In 1935, longtime Newmarket physician George Towle purchased a Pontiac with a “Doctor’s Addition” (a completely outfitted medical bag in its own compartment).  Dr. Towle died within months of the purchase, and his new Pontiac passed through several owners before settling into its current rather pampered existence in Keene.