The Smithsonian in Exeter

Our little hamlet may be getting some national attention in the coming months! Earlier this Fall, a writer for the Smithsonian Magazine named Abby Tucker contacted EHA President Sheila Reynolds Boothroyd. Abby was looking for information about poor Mercy Brown, who, as many of us know, was cast as a vampire after her death from tuberculosis in 1892. Abby recently travelled to Exeter to conduct first-hand research on Mercy, and to  meet with Sheila. They are pictured below, in the lobby of the Radisson Hotel near the Providence airport.

With Sheila's assistance, Abby has been busy doing primary-source research on Mercy and her family, pouring over census records and newspaper articles from the the 1890's. While we don't yet know when the article will be published, we're sure it will be quite interesting! Stay tuned!

You can learn a lot from a cemetery - adopt one today!

Here in Exeter, we are lucky to have time capsules of history located literally right in our own yards. There are dozens and dozens of small cemetery plots scattered all over town, and each one has amazing stories.

The Peckham Holocaust mass grave is located in the
northeast corner of Cemetery #25 (foreground, left side).

For example, did you know that Cemetery #25, at the intersection of William Reynolds and Purgatory Rds, is the location of a mass grave from a horrible fire that claimed the lives of eight people and made national news in 1839? The Peckham Holocaust was a result of arson at the home of Mr. and Mrs  Timothy Peckham, who ran a boarding house as the town "Poor Farm". The story about the fire originally ran in the Providence Journal and the Rhode Island Republican (a Newport paper) on April 17 of that year. Within one week of its publication, it was picked up by 9 other newspapers, from Alexandria VA to Brattleboro VT.

Do you have a cemetery on your land, or near your house, that you'd like to know more about? The Exeter Historical Association is starting an "Adopt-a-Cemetery" program. We'll be posting more information about this program in the coming months, but if you'd like to get started in caring for a cemetery on or near your property, contact us at exeterhistory@yahoo.com

Official Opening of Woody Hill School! Sat Sep 10

"Irene" has come and gone, 
and we have a new date for this event!

The members of the Exeter Town Council 

cordially invite you to attend an

Open House 

at the newly restored 

Woody Hill One-Room Schoolhouse

Woody Hill Rd, Exeter RI

Please join us on

Saturday, September 10, 2011

from 1:00 to 3:00 pm

Ceremony will begin at 1:30

Refreshments will be served!

- restroom facilities will not be available-

A cool new way to view a cool old building - 3D video of Exeter Old Town Hall

A core group of EHA members have started working on a plan to move Exeter's old Town Hall from its current location over to the property where the Library is located. This move would not only bring the building to a spot where more people would see it, but would also allow us to use it to house the many known and as-yet-unknown treasures from Exeter's vibrant past.

EHA member Gary Boden took a bunch of pictures of old Town Hall, and used a great new 3D video site called PhotoFly to make this super-cool mini movie:

One-Room Schoolhouse Reunion Weekend is here! Two events this weekend!

Once again, it's time for all the former Exeter One-room Schoolhouse alum to get together and catch up on what's been going on.

Woody Hill School, as it appeared in June 1941

This year, the Exeter Historial Association is showing off the newly-restored Woody Hill School on the day before the Reunion.

On Saturday, July 9th, the  school will be open for viewing from 2 PM until 4PM. Woody Hill School is located on Woody Hill Rd, near the intersection of Ted Rod Rd (Rte 165). Come and see the progress of the restoration. It's almost done!!!

Invitations have been sent to all those who come to the reunions, so hopefully some of the former students will be able to stop by and see the progress while they are in town.

One of course, on Sunday, July 10th, from 1 to 4pm, it's the main event - the 6th Annual One Room Schoolhouse Reunion, which will take place as always at the Exeter Public Library, 773 Ten Rod Rd (Rt 102) in Exeter.

So come on out and enjoy some refreshments and reminiscing about old times in Exeter! No matter what your age, or even if you don't have any connection to the One Room Schools at all, it's always a very interesting time. There will be lots of old photos and other memoriabilia on display to look through!

Hope to see you there!

6th Annual One-Room Schoolhouse Reunion - July 10, 2011

Once again, it's time for all the school chums from yesteryear to get together for the annual One Room Schoolhouse Reunion! It will take place on Sunday, July 10, from 1:00 to 4:00, at the Exeter Public Library, 773 Ten Rod Rd, Exeter. Additional details will be forthcoming!

Woody Hill School - again! But this time, restored!

On May 18th, three members of the EHA Board had an on-site visit with Brian Patch, who has been working on renovating the  Woody Hill School.  The desks are back inside; the stove is about to be reinstalled; windows and doors almost completed.  The outhouses were inspected to see if they could be salvaged.  Plans are being made for the opening in late June or early July - hopefully along with our annual One Room Schoolhouse Reunion event! (Many thanks to Gary Boden for taking these pictures!)

Sheila Reynolds-Boothroyd, Karen Colberg, and Gary Boden
discuss the renovations with Brian Patch (far left)

...maybe we can even restore the outhouses!

Do you remember what Exeter looked like before Interstate 95 was built?

It seems like just about everyone on the East Coast takes Interstate Rte 95 for granted. Whether you revere it or curse it, or do a bit of both, the road has become part of our culture.

But how many remember what was there before the highway? What homes or business existed before the construction? Which intersections are no more, and which roads were rerouted or cut off? 

If you lived in Exeter before the highway came through, consider gathering your memories and photographs of life before I-95 for a joint project with the Richmond Historical Association, to be published in an upcoming book.  RHA is currently gathering stories about Richmond and Hopkinton, and they would very much like to includes stories about Exeter too.

Check out the Richmond Historical Association web page for a short explanation about the project! And email us at exeterhistory@yahoo.com if you have recollections of life in the slow lane to share.

Of Schools and Town Halls

EHA members came out of hibernation on  Thursday March 3 for an update on our current projects!

Woody Hill School Sheila reports that all the interior work is finished, and the original furnishings have been put back in the building. The windows have also been redone, but will not be re-installed until the doors are refinished and replaced. She also reported that shutters were made for the windows as well! We are all looking forward to seeing the completed work once the nicer weather arrives. We're hoping to have a Woody Hill School restoration ceremony on the same weekend as our annual Exeter One Room Schoolhouse Reunion, sometime in June.

Pictures of Woody Hill School, taken December 2010 by Gary Boden:

..waiting for restored doors.

We hope to restore the outhouses too!

Town Hall Project Wouldn't it be great to turn the never-used old Town Hall  back into a hub of activity again?  The building was the center of town activity in the 1800's, and was used as a schoolhouse until 1952,  but now is all but forgotten. EHA members are currently working on securing a grant to move the old Town Hall building, currently located at the intersection of Ten Rod Rd and Town Hall Rd.,  onto a new foundation near the Exeter Public Library.  Not only would we save and restore a historic building, but we could also use it as a public meeting place, as well as a museum to house and display Exeter's treasures. Stay tuned for updates!

Making progress on all fronts!!!!

If you missed the January 6th meeting of the Exeter Historical Association, you missed a lot of news!

First off, the Woody Hill School restoration project is almost complete. All of the contracted restoration work is done. In addition, the Exeter Town Council voted to allocate additional funds that were slated for the Old Town Hall to be used to restore the front doors of the school - something that was not in the original restoration plan. In the coming months, Woody Hill School's official  celebration will take place. All of this information will be posted here, of course! And pictures too!

Second bit of news: We are starting to come up with a plan to move the Old Town Hall, currently located on Old Ten Rod Rd, over to the property where the Library is currently located on Rte 102. The building now sits in an area of town that does not get much traffic. Let's be honest - how many in town even know there's a Town Hall on Town Hall Rd?  At the same time, the Exeter Historical Association has no real place to store items and papers of signficance, and even the new Library is short on space. So how about we both save an old and beloved building, and give the town another meeting place? It will take lots of work (and some luck!) to pull the plan together, but we're optimistic that it will happen.

And last but not least: We have our 501 (c) 3 status!! Ok, well almost. But we're a stone's throw away from being an official non-profit organization, which will allow us to do lots of stuff such as apply for grants. A HUGE thanks to our friend Pete Lacouture for his pro bono work on the application.


So all this news qualifies are pretty darn exciting, around these parts.  Dontcha think?