Monadnock Historical Societies Forum

04/06/2026

The Fort at No. 4

03/20/2026

Now Showing! The newly released documentary film on the history of "The Old Homestead". Starring filmmaker Larry Benaquist, author/historian Howard Mansfield, and Swanzey Historical Society's Lee Dunham, the film is playing in the Putnam Exhibit Hall at the Historical Society of Cheshire County now through April 4th during regular business hours and on Saturday, 3/21 & 4/4 from 9-12. The film will be playing on a loop throughout the day.

This 25-minute film takes you through the fascinating history of the beloved 19th century play by Swanzey's Denman Thompson and the subsequent silent films (1915 and 1922) it inspired — a true piece of New Hampshire heritage.

Best of all? It's FREE! Stop by and enjoy this special screening during your next visit. We'd love to see you!


Lawrence Benaquist
Swanzey Preservation Society Swanzey Historical Museum Whitcomb Hall

03/19/2026

03/19/2026

Come hear about the man credited with giving NH its motto
LIVE FREE OR DIE

03/06/2026

Two hundred and fifty years ago, ordinary people in our own backyard faced an extraordinary choice:Rebel or remain loyal. This trailer invites you inside a c...

02/25/2026

Join the Alstead Historical Society tomorrow, Thursday, February 26, for a program by Adair Mulligan on New England's Great River.

07/14/2025

Author’s novel ties the American Revolution to Keene area

Jane Hulse, who grew up in Keene, will talk about her latest novel at the Toadstool Bookshop, Friday, Aug. 1, at 6 p.m.

Outcasts of Essex, published earlier this year by Open Books, follows 15-year-old Sarah Barrett as the American Revolution heats up in the Monadnock Region in 1775.

Sarah hates the mess of childbirth, yet she’s the unwilling apprentice to the town’s only midwife—her mother. She longs to be a writer like her father, who publishes the weekly Essex Journal in the fictitious town of Essex, N.H. Her father’s pro-British views turn the town against the family. Troubles deepen when a smallpox epidemic hits the town, and her mother pushes a crude, controversial inoculation.

Sarah finds herself questioning everything: the fight for independence, her father’s judgment, her own failings, and more to the point, why it’s considered unthinkable for a young woman to write for a newspaper.

When she learns the redcoats and the patriots will soon clash over a stockpile of munitions in Essex, she comes up with a risky plan to thwart the bloodbath.

Hulse got the idea for the novel from her father, Charles Tarbox, who took her on a hike and showed her a cave near Keene where a British sympathizer hid from the patriots during the war.

She graduated from Keene High School and later Syracuse University with a degree in journalism. She worked for small newspapers in Colorado and then for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, one of the city’s two major papers at the time. After moving with her husband to California, she did freelance reporting for the Los Angeles Times. She was city editor at the Santa Barbara News-Press. Most recently, she was editor of Central Coast Farm & Ranch, a Southern California agricultural magazine. Hulse, who has a grown daughter, is married to journalist Steve Chawkins and lives in Ventura, California.

Outcasts of Essex is the prequel for Hulse’s first novel, Prisoner of Wallabout Bay, published in 2023. That book follows Sarah to New York City and tells the story of the deadly British prison ships. She is working on a third in the series. For more information about her books, visit her website: www.janehulse.com

Toadstool Bookshop is at 12 Emerald St., Keene. (603) 352-8815.

Book details:
Outcasts of Essex by Jane Hulse (Historical Fiction; Young Adult)
ISBN-13: 978-1948598835
SRP (Paperback) $19.95 / SRP (eBook) $9.99
Available at www.open-bks.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and independent bookstores.

Watch the official book trailer for Outcasts of Essex on Youtube: https://youtu.be/fxpVsWjxrZs

06/26/2025

"The Allure of Tourism: Dublin as a Tourist Resort 1870-1920’s" is Dublin Historical Society's summer exhibit. The show will focus on tourism in Dublin from 1870’s to 1920’s, featuring souvenir ceramics which was popular during this time period.

The Schoolhouse Museum on Main Street will be open every Saturday, July 12th to September 13th from 11 am to 1 pm.

Below is a photo of The Leffingwell Hotel in Dublin in operation from 1871-1908.

05/28/2025

Join Marlow NH Historical Society this Sunday, June 1 for our first event of the season co-sponsored by the Marlow Parks and Recreation Committee. We look forward to seeing you!

03/16/2025