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We want to see your Exeter photos too! 

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1855 Map of Exeter

EHA President Sheila Reynolds-Boothroyd came across a delightful discovery about Exeter last month, while visiting the Langworthy Public Library in Hope Valley. 

1855 Walling map - Exeter portion

A resident of that town was trying to find her own house on some old maps. One of the librarians brought out an original 1855 map of the State of Rhode Island, published by Henry F. Walling.  Just by coincidence, Sheila happened to notice that the map clearly showed the Town of Exeter. It's one of the earliest maps we have which identifies Exeter as a separate entity, despite the fact that Exeter had split from North Kingstown over a hundred years earlier!

The map is  identified by the title, "Map of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations from Surveys Under the Direction of Henry F. Walling, Civil Engineer." 

Walling was a civil engineer from Providence who developed a penchant for mapmaking. As a rising star in the field, on his way to being appointed "Superintendant of the State Map" for the state of Massachusetts, Walling surveyed much of Rhode Island, and began producing state maps in 1846.

But it turns out, you don't have to visit the Langworthy Library to see this map! Harvard University also owns a copy, and what's more, it's been digitized and made available for viewing! The link is below, and it's best viewed on a computer with a keyboard and mouse, not an iPad or smartphone. (Thanks to Ken Hornik for this info!)

http://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/view/5271618?buttons=y

Hall School is getting a much needed facelift!!!

Thanks to a grant from Preserve RI,  which we applied for and received last summer, the EHA has been able to undertake some long-needed repairs to the Hall School (located on Ten Rod Rd, next to the Exeter Town Hall). The building is nearly 250 years old!!

Work is being done in stages, with the most critical maintenance underway first. Brian Patch of Plan B Construction Co., who so expertly repaired Woody Hill School last year, is doing the work.

As the grant we received (from Preserve RI's "1772 Foundation") is a matching grant, the Town of Exeter will fund the remainder of the work in the Spring.

Wood deterioration at gable end

More rotted wood!

Plan B Construction Co repairing and replacing exterior wall.

Sill and threshold repair.

Ready to be repainted!

The Tillinghast Nightmare

UPDATE!!! Due to last week's snow/rain/wind storm, the screening of this film will now take place on WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 14, at 7:00 PM, at the Exeter Public Library!!

It's October in Exeter, and try as we might, we can't escape the legend of vampires! Helping us embrace our haunted history is a film production company called Firesite Films. They're in the midst of producing a documentary called "The Tillinghast Nightmare", which will both entertain and educate people as it gives insight into the practice of vampire exorcism in eighteenth and nineteenth century New England.

A free screening of this film will take place on Wednesday, November 7  November 14 at the Exeter Public Library (773 Ten Rod Road, Exeter)!

Take a few minutes to check out the website below - read about the legend of the Tillinghast family of Exeter!

http://www.tillinghastnightmare.com/LEGEND.html

Vampires, Exeter and Smithsonian Magazine

This image of Mercy Brown's headstone, along with an 

article featuring Exeter, RI, appears in the 

October 2012 issue of Smithsonian Magazine.

You may remember that back in December of last year, we featured a post about a visit to our humble  litte town by Smithsonian Magazine author Abby Tucker. Abby was here to do research on an article she was writing about vampires in New England, and wanted to get the REAL story about our own "vampire", Mercy Brown, directly from EHA President Sheila Reynolds-Boothroyd.


All this was no ghost story! The Great New England Vampire Panic appears in the October 2012 issue. Not only does the article contain quotes from Sheila, as well as RI paranormal historian Michael Bell, but Exeter, RI is mentioned numerous times. 

It's well worth the read - and you may find yourself marveling over the similarities of the vampire hunters of yesteryear, and those that come to Exeter looking for Mercy's grave to this very day!