This May issue of The Andover Beacon will contain a new full-color brochure published by the Andover Historical Society (AHS) and describing its holdings: five properties, a parcel of land, and two railroad cars. The booklet was designed by AHS volunteer and summer visitor Linda Grant and printed with funds from an anonymous donor.
AHS President Pat Cutter elaborated on what AHS will be up to in the coming months, saying, “Probably more than in any previous summer.”
Already on AHS’ calendar are the following:
Our annual Clean-Up Day will begin at 9 AM on Saturday, May 9. We’ll need help raking leaves and picking up debris on the Potter Place grounds and vacuuming and dusting the exhibits and other materials in the railroad station and general store. Please come, and bring your favorite rake or dust cloth.
The museum, which comprises the station, general store, and caboose, opens for the season on Saturday , May 23. Our annual exhibit this year is a very special one: a selection of two dozen or so enlargements from a portfolio of more than 2,000 assembled by Wilmot commercial photographer Charley Freiberg as part of a 2013 project documenting the construction of the rail line by the Northern Railroad in the middle of the 1800s.
By the way, volunteer stationmasters are always needed to greet visitors to the museum, which is open to the public between the hours of 10 AM to 3 PM on Saturdays, and 12:30 to 3 PM on Sundays, between the last week in May and Sunday, October 11. Two people are needed for each shift. Some orientation will be necessary, so if you’re interested, please contact Pat at 735-5628 or Pres@nullAndoverHistory.org.
Next on the schedule, the annual visit to the museum by the fourth grade classes from Andover, Salisbury, and Webster is on Wednesday, June 3, between 9 AM and 2 PM. Volunteers entertain the students with games in the general store, tours of the caboose and garden, sessions about local history in the station, and an obstacle race.
On Friday, June 5, the Society will conduct a class for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), an educational program for lifelong learners age 50+ offered by Granite State College. The subject is the 19th-century magician Richard Potter, who gave his name to Potter Place.
Dr. John Hodgson, a new year-round Andover resident after retiring as a Princeton English professor, will make a presentation based on his research into Potter’s life. He’ll be joined by Ken Cushing of Grafton, who has spent many years researching the history of the Northern Railroad. This program is open only to OLLI enrollees, who have paid tuition to attend.
The next day, Saturday, June 6, is National Trails Day, and to help attract visitors to our rail trail, our Society is partnering with the Friends of the Northern Rail Trail-Merrimack County to hold a grand opening of the photo exhibit described above at a late-afternoon public reception. Look for details in the June issue of the Beacon.
On Sunday, June 14, the Tucker Mountain School, an AHS property and Andover’s only remaining one-room schoolhouse, will start its 2015 schedule and will be open to the public on the second Sunday of the month through October, from 1 to 3 PM.
On Thursday, June 25, our annual public presentation will be held at the Highland Lake Grange Hall in East Andover at 7 PM and will feature Jeff Warner, a performer and interpreter of traditional music. Jeff was with us last year at the June meeting and was so well received that we invited him back for a return engagement.
Our annual Old Time Fair will be on Sunday, August 2, from 9 AM to 2 PM. We’ll have the usual auction, flea market, arts and crafts showcases, activities for the kids, and historical displays. Live music will be by Lindsay Schust and the Keasarge Mountain Band.
For the flea market and auction, we’d be happy to take any lightly used items. Just give Pat a call for a fast response and pickup. All income goes to support the work of the Society.
Thursday, October 15, is the date of our annual meeting and public program to be held at the Highland Lake Grange Hall at 7 PM. Historical re-enactors and storytellers Sharon and Steve Wood from Claremont will entertain us with their presentation, Abraham and Mary Lincoln: The Long and Short of It.
In addition to working on all these events, we’ve also been busy developing a theme and gathering visual material for the 2016 edition of the Society’s fund-raising calendar. For the theme we’ve settled on, Then and Now in Andover Center, we’ve culled historical photos from our collection and from the collections of members, and we’re working with local photographers Steve Colardeau and Jay Fitzpatrick to match them with current views. The Beacon’s production team, as usual, will pull everything together for the final product. Again, all proceeds from sale go to support the Society and its work.
Finally, we hope to begin collecting materials soon to include in the basket of gifts we raffle off each summer. Our basket-maker extraordinaire in the past, Wanda Smith, has left these parts for Florida, so we’re looking for another volunteer to step up to the task. Anyone interested?
Two more things. First, we’re always looking for new members to support the Andover Historical Society through their work and through their donations of historical artifacts and money. There’s a membership form in the brochure that readers can fill out and return.
Second, readers may want to be assured that the Andover Historical Society is fully accredited as a 501(c)(3) non-profit and tax-exempt organization by the Internal Revenue Service. This means that all gifts qualify for tax deductions on federal tax returns, as allowed by law.