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!

THE MUSEUM IS CURRENTLY OPEN SUNDAYS

9 am til noon  during the Farmers’ Market

Featuring our newly acquired Acquisitions

For a complete listing of our 2018 programs, click on Events  above.

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The Next Program and General Meeting will be held

at the Stone School Museum, Monday October 22, at 7 pm  

Native American Life Along the Bay until 1600.

 Our Presenter is local historian David Miller, a retired teacher, and past president of the Rochester Historical Society who spent years of research locating the many Native American villages along the Piscataqua River watershed. 

A number of years ago he learned that during the great hurricane of 1938, pine trees were blown over in the Hansen Pines Forest Park in Rochester, and at the base of one large pine was a considerable dump of shells left by the native people.  This led him to wondering who were these people? What do we know about this site?

When he went looking for an accurate detailed study of the Indians who lived in this area he found none existed.  In his early research on the local native peoples, not much had been written.  His research led to a partnership with the University of New Hampshire in the development of an internet interactive STORY MAP entitled “Indigenous Cultural Heritage in New Hampshire”.

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Indigenous Peoples’ Day:

In 2017, Durham became the first community in New Hampshire to adopt Indigenous Peoples’ Day in place of Columbus Day.  Since then, the Town has prepared a varied calendar of events.  Mr. Miller’s presentation here at the Stone School Museum is included in Durham’s schedule of events celebrating the rich history of  New Hampshire Native Peoples.

Other events open to the public: 

Early Stone Tools of the Local Abenaki People,

On display Monday Oct 8th 1-4 pm Durham Historic Museum, 15 Newmarket Rd

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 Art and Artifacts from the Cowacusk Band of the Pennacook Abenaki People,

On display until Oct 8th at the Durham Public Library, 49 Madbury Rd., Durham.

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Ask an Indigenous Person Anything

Mon. October 8, 7:00-8:30 pm,  Durham Evangelical Church

Have you ever met an Indigenous person from New Hampshire? What traditions do contemporary Indigenous people still practice? How do Native people see the Durham Post Office mural? How does one sort through the terms ”Indians,” “Native Americans,” “First Nation People” and “Indigenous People?” Come meet members of New Hampshire’s Indigenous community and ask them anything.

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Colonial Stories: The Tangled Lives of Native Americans and English Settlers​

Sunday, Oct 14 at 1:00 pm 

Durham Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 20 Madbury Rd., Durham 

The stories we hear from our families tell us who we are and how we should view the world. What tales shaped New England identities in the 17th and 18th centuries? In this performance, 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.

 Presented by Jo Radner, Professor Emerita of Literature, American University;  The program is made possible by a grant from the New Hampshire Humanities

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Indigenous Mapping, Descriptive Geography & Place Names​

Thursday, November 15, 6:30-8 pm at the Durham Public Library, 49 Madbury Rd., Durham

Learn how Indigenous people explored, navigated, and traveled. Paul and Denise Pouliot will describe how and why Indigenous people graphically described their world, geology, and geography. Details address place name locations, rivers, lakes, and other geographic features that were important to Indigenous people.

 Presented by Paul and Denise Pouliot. Paul is the Principal Spokesman of the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki People, and Denise serves on the NH Commission for Native American Affairs.    

For a complete listing of all events—films, displays, and discussions—please visit their website:  https://www.durhamipd.org/

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Coming Next on October 22, 2018 :

NATIVE AMERICAN LIFE ALONG THE BAY Until 1600

Long before the European settled along the shores of the Great Bay, established families and tribes had fished the waters, harvested the shell fish and hunted the well-maintained forests of the Piscataqua watershed. 

This is their story, before the plagues of the white man destroyed most of the native population. 

The Great Bay area had all the elements necessary for comfortable survival and prolonged life for the native peoples who lived here before contact with Europeans starting in the late 1400s and early 1500s.  The Basque were secretly fishing here for about 200 years before Columbus appeared on the scene.

(photo: Capt. John Scott’s 1667 map of the Pascatway River)

When one reviews the literature on the native peoples of New England over the last hundred plus years we find various maps each to be different from the other  as to the label being applied to the native people in the Piscataqua River watershed.

The name most frequently given to this subgroup was the Pennacook tribe.  Through his steady research of literature, diaries, letters, deeds, and grants of land — Mr. David Miller discovered several family groups who thrived in this area. 

He has created a detailed map of where the native villages were located and the Indian names for each village as well as the Indian names for surrounding physical features including the rivers, lakes and mountains.  He will be sharing his map, illustrated handouts, and a detailed bibliography. 

(photo: Indian handtool used in the scraping of animal hides found on the banks of the Piscassic River in Newmarket  by Joe Schanda, and donated to the New Market Historical Society by his sister-in-law Priscilla Schanda.)