Town Wide Yard Sales

Nelson/Munsonville

Small Yard Sales on Town Common

Larger Yard Sales at Individual Homes

Pick up your map/directions and description to these sales at the Nelson Town Common!

Questions, or sign up?

Elizabeth (Beth) Williams, 847-9064, elizabeth48@earthlink.net

Location:Nelson Congregational Church
$4.00 / $5.00 for ice cream (concert is free)
Local ice cream, hot fudge, hot butterscotch, strawberries, whipped cream and toppings.
Bring friends and families to enjoy this summertime favorite!
Contact Nelson Congregational Church 847-3280
or Joy Birdsey 847-9533
Volunteers needed and Welcomed!

Household items, all sorts of odds and ends, plus some gems:

• bunk bed
• aluminum boat
• electric organ

New donations welcome – please call Leonard or Marion Frazier at 847-3231

Open House of One Room Schoolhouses and Academies

The Monadnock Historical Societies Forum, or Roundtable Forum, is hosting an open house of many of the remaining one room schoolhouses and academies in the region.  The public is invited to visit each site to learn what it was like to attend school during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

There are 6 sites available to visit:  Red School House and Melville Academy in Jaffrey Center, Nelson Village Schoolhouse in Nelson, District No. 3 Schoolhouse in Sullivan, Academy Building in Walpole, and Corner School House in Westmoreland.  Please stop by at these locations on Sunday, June 13th  from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

This open house is part of a series of programs associated with the Society’s exhibit Nursery of Liberty:  School and Education in the Monadnock Region.  The exhibit, a collaborative effort by the Roundtable Forum, explores the evolution of schooling with artifacts, photographs, and archival material from each of the participating organizations.

For further information please contact Tom Haynes at the Society 603-352-1895.

Remember to bring your own lawn chairs to Old Home Day. You’ll be much more comfortable while eating lunch and watching the festivities.

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Old Home Day Games
Town Common 9:00 a.m.
Possibly the last bastion of amateur excellence in American sports. Foot races, frog-jumping, tug of war, egg toss, and more.

Races
Town Common 9:00 a.m.

Bike race (helmets required) and Nelson Marathon.
Please note that the races start at 9:00 a.m.

Book Sale
Town Hall 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Thousands of great (and once-great) books on every imaginable subject – priced to move! Get there early for best selection and to beat the dealers.
Dollar a bag sale at 12 noon.
All proceeds benefit Olivia Rodham Library.

Photo Exhibit
Town Hall 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Pull out your oldest pictures from long-ago Nelson Home
Days and add them to this growing display.
Contact Beth Williams at 847-9064 or email elizabeth48@earthlink.net.

Make A Craft
Library 9:00 a.m. til 12 noon
The library will be open with a craft table for children to make and take

Chicken Barbecue /Town Band Concert
12:00  Nelson Congregational Church Lawn

Old Home Day Association Meeting
1:15 – Church Lawn
Includes awards for the various morning activities

The Old Home Day Speaker
1:30 – Church Lawn

Sergeant Robert Hall, a 19th century resident of Nelson, will join other former Nelson residents  for the annual celebration of  Old Home Day. Mr. Hall, an old veteran, will be the speaker and will reminisce about what life was like in Nelson in the “Good Old Days!”  Imagine if you will what life was like when folks went for months without a bath, and a trip to the dentist usually involved going to the blacksmith or the barber.

Robert D. Hall, Jr. is a former Massachusetts resident who is an historian, author, and new resident of Winchester, New Hampshire. He has spoken on New England historical subjects in all 6 New England States to Historical Societies, clubs, organizations,and schools with an emphasis on Civil War and pre-Revolutionary War Colonial subjects such as “Massachusetts Praying Indians,” a “Gettysburg Ghost Story,” and the” Irish Invasion of Canada”. He is the Historian and Newsletter Editor for the Needham, MA Historical Society, a Trustee for MassBay Community College, founder of the Olde Colony Civil War Round Table, member of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts, the Lincoln Society of  Boston, and the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. He is a veteran of WW2 and the Korean War and was Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Veterans Services for Massachusetts before retiring.

Waterball
2:30 p.m. Mackenzie’s Field
Bring your A-game and a towel (or two or three)! All the youth in town like this event. Most years it’s girls against the boys!

Softball Game
3:00 p.m. Eagle Field
For those with energy left to give, here’s a chance to test your skills with and against Nelson’s formidable ball-playing talent. Bring a cooler, a glove, and pick a side.

Nelson Folks Concert
7:00 p.m. Nelson Town Hall
Join your friends for an evening of wonderful music played by your talented Nelson neighbors or folks strong Nelson Connections. Always an enjoyable and varied show.

Hardly a substitute for the amazing hard work of the original production, the “revisit” has mildly adapted some of the original works to better accommodate the busy lives of those who are helping with this production.  We’ve also, reluctantly, cut and pasted here and there in order to make room for some newness that hopefully will speak for the ever-evolving newness that is Nelson – the new guests at the Hotel!  And to top it off, we’ve added a few PowerPoints here and there – well, there weren’t any computers in the late 19^th century!

Those helping, who were not involved in the 1997 Hotel Nelson, are enjoying the opportunity to learn a little about the process that produced the original theatre; to learn some of the songs that were written and sung, and to otherwise be a part of something that again brings friends and neighbors together, in the spirit of community.

We hope that you’ll join us to learn a little about our town’s past and present, to witness some of our extensive local talent as they hold forth on (and off) stage – some reliving their 1997 roles, others filling in for those not available this time, and still others adding some additional flavors to the show.

In order to be certain not to exceed the fire-code seating limits (155) in the Town Hall, we’re asking you to reserve a seat by e-mail at: shansel@peoplepc.com or by phone at: 847-9918.  It’ll be first come, first served, and Susan will check your name off when you arrive at the Town Hall on March 27.  Remember that admission is free, but donations will gladly be accepted at the door.

In 1997, the people of Nelson raised funds from private donations, the Town of Nelson and the Nelson Congregational Church to sponsor The Hotel Nelson, a musical theatre that was created by, for, and about the Town of Nelson. Facilitated by Larry Siegal of Westmoreland, it was performed in the Nelson Congregational Church on August 14 and 15 to sold out audiences.

In 1840, The Nelson House was built to house the hotel, the post office, the library and a store.  The three-story brick building burned down in 1894!  So, for 54 years, sitting on the village common, it was literally the center of the town.
Thus, it is the metaphor from which our theatre, The Hotel Nelson, was born:

“When I built this hotel I put a porch on the front.  It was the best decision I ever made.  People come and sit out there, from the end of black fly season until the first snowfall.  Now granted, that’s not a very long stretch of time, but it’s enough time for some good stories to get told, and for more stories to get made.  The town goes by, day by day, and just when I think I’m getting to understand how it works, something happens and I realize I really don’t have it figured out after all.  But I love it here – this place, this land, these people.  I’ve found myself quite a home here….  Please… come in.  You might stay for a night, or for a summer.  And if you can’t figure out how to leave, well – you won’t be the first. “
Narrator in “The Hotel Nelson”
(from the opening scene)

From the above scene onward, songs were sung and stories were told by the same people who researched, wrote and composed them.  They covered some of
Nelson’s history and politics, some of its notables and characters, and many anecdotes past and present.

Some of the songs that were sung are simply too good to relegate to the archives, so we’re going to sing them again…with your help.

So, please join us on Friday night, January 29, 2010, 6:30 pm, at the Nelson Town Hall.

After a potluck supper (please bring something to share), we’ll have some skilled musicians teach us a few of the songs so that we can all join in.  But, if you don’t sing, that’s OK.  Just come to enjoy the festivities.

“The mud can’t get deeper on Old Stoddard Road.
My white car is brown: what a sight to behold.
I’d give anything for a driveway that’s dry,
And to taste the tart pleasure of fresh rhubarb pie.”
From “Sing Halleluiah!”

“The world is full of gladness, and joys of many kinds.
There’s cure for ev’ry sadness, each troubled mortal finds.
My little cares grow lighter.  I cease to fret and sigh.
My eyes with joy grow brighter, when she makes lemon pie.”
From “The Lemon Pie Song”

“When you’re a kid in Nelson you’re like a tall oak tree
Roots reach down into the past
Arms reach for eternity
Whether we’re playing baseball
Or biking through the square
There’s always something happening
And music fills the air”
From “Being a Kid in Nelson”

And, stay tuned for more:  On Saturday, March 27, 2010, we will incorporate the songs that we learn on January 29 with more of the original songs and many of the stories (and perhaps even some new ones!) into another evening out at The Hotel Nelson Revisited.

“There’s one thing certain about the future, which is — it’s always going to be there.  Some folks worry about it, some try to plan for it, some think it’s preordained, and some spend so much time thinking about it that today becomes tomorrow with nothing in between.

“Now the past is always there too.  And we might not worry so much about it, but people can get to dwelling on that too, and lose the present.

“I like it here in Nelson, ‘cause folks seem to enjoy the past, the present, and the future, all in good measure.

“When I’m away from here I tell people about this place.  And sometimes someone will ask – tell me, that town of yours, and that Hotel, is it real, or is it just make believe?

“And I answer:  yes.”
Narrator in “The Hotel Nelson”
(from the closing scene)

Severing the Last Colonial Ties

The close of the Revolution saw a much-changed Packersfield.  Breed Batchellor, the man who was ultimately the agent of His Majesty’s Royal Governor, had fled the town in 1777 to join the British Army and he eventually drowned in Nova Scotia. Thomas Packer, for whom the town had been named, had died in 1771, but after the Revolution his son, Thomas, began to sell the family holdings which included the land from the French’s Farm and the Warners all the way north and west to the Stoddard and Sullivan town lines including all we know today as Munsonville.

Parke Struthers and Samuel Wadsworth wrote that the original naming right had come with Packer’s promise to deed 500 acres to the town. His failure to fulfill that promise is said to be the reason the town began the effort to change its name, shedding any outward evidence of the early association. There is little direct evidence of Packer’s original promise. Book 3 page 249 at the Cheshire County Registry records that Thomas Packer sold Josiah Willard and Breed Batchellor 104 acres of land in the Northeast Quarter of Packersfield for five schillings on September 3, 1768 “ for the common public use of the inhabitants of said quarter.”  Five schillings was almost a gift, as the land was worth something in the neighborhood of ten times that. When he fled in 1777, Batchellor still owned the 104 acres; it passed out of his family in 1824 never having been put to public use.

Two other factors are possible motives for the push to re-name Packersfield. Packer’s agent in town, Breed Batchellor, had fled in disgrace. When Batchellor fled political support probably disappeared. Packer’s reputation for high handedness may have offended people. In 1768 Packer had pushed ahead the execution of a young school teacher, Ruth Blay of South Hampton, who was accused of killing her illegitimate child.  He is said to have rushed the hanging so he could have his supper. The governor’s stay of execution arrived too late.

For whatever reason the town wanted no more of Packer and at town meeting held January 29, 1778 voted to have the name of the town changed to Sullivan.  They were to try three times during the next thirty-six years.

The documentable record, of this process is not entirely clear. The effort in 1778 to name the town after General John Sullivan, New Hampshire’s highest-ranking soldier, was unsuccessful.  The current Town of Sullivan was ultimately formed from parts of Packersfield, Keene, Stoddard and Gilsum in 1787. But that was nine years later.

In 1783 Packersfield tried again. At a Town meeting held on March 31st the town “Voted to have the town of Packersfield called Groton.” The vote was 35-0.  There is a town named Groton in New Hampshire, but it wasn’t Groton at the time.  It had been chartered in 1761 as Cockermouth after Charles Wyndham, Baron Cockermouth. Cockermouth’s efforts to change its name began in 1788 when it tried to become Danbury. It had no luck, but did successfully petition for Groton in 1796 naming the town after Groton, Massachusetts home of one of its original proprietors.  There is no record of why the name Groton was chosen by Packersfield residents or why it got nowhere in the Legislature.

The final chapter is odd to say the least. Packersfield voters met in town meeting on the second Tuesday of March 1814 and “voted to instruct the selectmen to petition the General Court to change the name of Packersfield to Troy.” There is a flowery document in the Nelson Archives dated in June 1814 signed by legislative officials and the governor changing the name to Nelson effective in November 1814. The act signed June 13, 1814 said in part: ”Whereas the Selectmen of said Packersfield have petitioned the Legislature to have the name of said town altered to that of Nelson…..” The town of Troy was formed and incorporated in 1815, named after Troy, New York.

What happened between the March vote of the town meeting and state action in June?  There is no record of the Packersfield voters changing their minds. The Sentinel published in Keene at that time is silent except to record the fact of the state action.  The records of the New Hampshire General Court only record that they changed the name to Nelson on petition of the residents. The timing of the Packersfield petition and the 1815 incorporation of Troy is close enough to suggest the name “Troy” was already spoken for.

Nelson was probably named in honor of Admiral Lord Nelson, hero of the battle of Trafalgar (1807.) Trafalgar was a resounding naval victory by England over the combined fleets of France and Spain. Nelson died at the height of the fight. Parke Struthers explains naming our town after a British naval hero during a war with that country, by pointing to the Anglophile sympathies prevalent in New England at the time and the return to power in the statehouse in Concord of the anti-war, anti-embargo Federalist Party. Voters in New Hampshire had thrown out the pro-war and Francophile Republican Party.

Hardy family lore records another possible connection: Admiral Nelson died in the arms of his most trusted aid and flag captain, Captain Thomas Hardy. Nelson and Hardy had served together since Hardy served as First Lieutenant on Nelson’s ship Captain in 1797. Hardy was present at his wounding and death aboard the HMS Victory. Among the Admiral’s dying words were: “Kiss me Hardy.” The American branch of the Hardy family was an early settler of Packersfield, Noah Hardy arriving in 1779.  The family is still resident in Nelson in the person of Al Struthers.

There was strong feeling in Packersfield against the foreign policy of the United States at the time. The Embargo Act of 1807 outlawed trade with England and France. It was an attempt to forestall war and was ardently opposed by the trade-dependent New England states and keenly felt in Packersfield. There was much sentiment in New England to leave the union. On January 16, 1809 Packersfield voters approved a lengthy petition to the Congress of the United States that read in part:

“We are generally cultivators of the soil earning our bread by the sweat of the brow.  Many of us are in debt for our land or buildings; we have no means of paying our contracts or taxes, or purchasing necessaries for our families but by selling our surplus produce.  Of this modest payment we are deprived by the embargo restrictions. Impressed with the truth of those considerations we exercise the privilege granted us by our excellent constitution and earnestly pray that your honors would repeal the embargo laws and relieve your petitioners from its calamities.”

The resolution had passed 117 – 1. Clearly the townspeople were severely affected by the national policy.

One wonders what was the ultimate process that let to Packersfield being re-named Nelson . Perhaps a poke in the federal eye was just fine with a farming community so adversely affected by the hated trade embargo. With its early, difficult years behind them, settlers thus began the difficult job of building their town.

Sources: Nelson Town Records, New Hampshire State Papers: Town Charters; Deeds of land: Cheshire County Registry of Deeds; Samuel Wadsworth, Historical Notes with Keyed Map of Keene and Roxbury 1932, A History of Nelson New Hampshire 1767-1967, Parke H. Struthers, editor; Nelson a Personal History, Christopher Hibbert, 1994; and New Hampshire Town Names and Where They Came From, Elmer Munson Hunt, 1970; Harpers Monthly Magazine June-November 1921: The Town that was Strawberry Banke

Scroll down for more pictures.

Will the roof get on before the first snow?