Jefferson Historical Society

Jefferson Historical Society The Jefferson Historical Society invites you to travel back in time with us as we explore our town? Page co-maintained by INformOUTloud dba Kate Savage

Don’t forget!! Mark your calendar if you haven’t already!! Ben, Brad, and Cynthia will be performing this coming Friday...
08/29/2026

Don’t forget!! Mark your calendar if you haven’t already!! Ben, Brad, and Cynthia will be performing this coming Friday evening at the Jefferson Community Center. You don’t want to miss this!🎶

We are sad to report that Randall H. Bennett, known to us all as Randy, passed away last Friday. Randy has been a membe...
08/25/2026

We are sad to report that Randall H. Bennett, known to us all as Randy, passed away last Friday. Randy has been a member of the Jefferson Historical Society for a couple of years now, but for the past 50 years he has been a renowned figure in White Mountain history. As an avid collector of White Mountain material, author of several White Mountain books, as well as past Director of the Museums of the Bethel Historical Society in Bethel, ME, Randy shared that history with all. He was a well known figure in Maine and New Hampshire history circles.

As a descendant of the Whipple family, Randy was proud of his tie to Jefferson through that link. He had a vast collection of White Mountain ephemera, books, photos, and art, and recently decided it was time to share that collection with others. Everything he had in his collection pertaining to Jefferson, and there was a lot, he gifted to the Society. We have so much more to share now because of Randy.

But even more importantly, Randy enjoyed being a Society member, keeping tabs on what we’ve been doing, and offering valuable suggestions and advice for our organization. He was amazed with what we, as a volunteer group, have managed to do to this point. He was also very keen on being part of our progress as we plan and build our museum going forward. He checked in at least two or three times a week, right up to his passing. All of this was a big help, and quite a boost from someone with his background.

Our sympathy goes out to Randy’s family. We will all miss his friendship, humor, and guidance.

Our photo this week is a familiar scene, Cherry Mt. with Waumbek Station on the Waumbek Golf Course, probably about 1900. It is one of many Randy recently gifted to the Society.

A great little postcard from Jefferson’s Bennett’s Landing, mailed on September 27, 1912. We are still looking for any ...
08/16/2026

A great little postcard from Jefferson’s Bennett’s Landing, mailed on September 27, 1912. We are still looking for any info we can find on this forgotten name place. This was at the beginning of Valley Road, going in from Rt 115, and we believe it was a where train cars were loaded with wood to be shipped to Berlin. It had a post office from 1909-1927, which was for at least part of that time located in the Highland Station.
The Society has several postcards from members of this same family going back and forth from Bennett’s Landing to Norway, Maine. If anyone has knowledge or photos, or anything of this name place from our town’s past, we would love to see it. A lot of railroad history there!

Coming back to Jefferson!Benjamin Sears & Bradford Conner, with Cynthia Mork, return for another concert in benefit of t...
08/15/2026

Coming back to Jefferson!

Benjamin Sears & Bradford Conner, with Cynthia Mork, return for another concert in benefit of the Jefferson Historical Society. This year they are celebrating one of Hollywood’s most prolific songwriters, Harry Warren, with This Heart of Mine. “People are likely to say ‘Harry who?’ when they hear his name,” says Brad, “but list a few of his songs and the response is ‘I know that!’ Some of the songs we’ll be singing are Chattanooga Choo Choo, Jeepers Creepers, Forty-Second Street, You’ll Never Know, That’s Amore, and of course, This Heart of Mine.” The trio promises some other favorites along with a few lesser-known gems. “It’s always a pleasure to do this concert and share our music with the town,” adds Ben.

“We are delighted to once again have Ben, Brad, and Cynthia performing for our community, their shows are always entertaining. We look forward to seeing everyone there,” says Society president Joe Marshall.

The concert is Friday, September 4 at 7:00 at the Jefferson Community Center. Show admission is by donation at the door, with proceeds going to the Historical Society.

Those summer days at the Waumbek swimming pool…how many of you dove from the two boards, played “find the golf ball” in ...
08/02/2026

Those summer days at the Waumbek swimming pool…how many of you dove from the two boards, played “find the golf ball” in the deep end, spent lots of time in those waters, maybe just laid on the beach? A lot of fun memories for Jefferson to be sure! The pool was built in 1944 when Herbert Malcom purchased the hotel.

We are still sorting through the most recent donations to the Society, and this, one of the many by member and White Mou...
07/26/2026

We are still sorting through the most recent donations to the Society, and this, one of the many by member and White Mountain collector Randy Bennett, will provide us with research material for some time. This gift of Randy’s to us is an original leather bound entire one-year volume of Coös County’s first newspaper, the White Mountain Aegis. It was published in Lancaster for only one year beginning on May 22, 1838. It was founded as an outlet for the thinkings of the Whig political party, and while there is a fair amount of politics, it also contains local information, Jefferson included!

Here are a few interesting items, Jefferson oriented, that we saw while checking out a few issues. Almost the entire front page of the June 26, 1838 issue is dedicated to Jefferson’s Nancy Barton story, and that is based on an interview with the early North Country medical practitioner, Deborah (Vicker) Stalbird, more familiarly known as Granny Stalbird. (She lived in what is now the Applebrook Inn) Stalbird was Nancy Barton’s replacement as Colonel Joseph Whipple’s housekeeper, after Nancy’s tragic and now immortalized passing, which is told of in this piece.

Also, there are a couple items about Jefferson land sales, note how many 100+ acre lots were available, Jefferson was sparsely populated back then. Also a public auction notice regarding a significant land sale in Jefferson Mills, what would later be called Riverton. It was called Jefferson Mills because of the large saw and grist mills on the Israel River there. It is these mills and accompanying lands that were being auctioned.

And rounding this out is a notice proclaiming the swift speed of 2 days from Lancaster to Boston by horse-drawn coach to get the mail moved. Much faster than today’s speeds actually?
Thank you again Randy Bennett, we are learning much about our town by way of your generosity!

For your convenience, we have included a link to a copy of the Nancy Barton story, which is also at the Library of Congress, in case the image we’ve provided is too small to read.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84023310/1838-06-26/ed-1/?sp=1&r=-0.666,0.044,2.333,1.474,0

We recently had a query from Lincoln, Nebraska about a 1950’s era gift shop on Rt. 2 in the Highlands owned by “The Kreb...
07/20/2026

We recently had a query from Lincoln, Nebraska about a 1950’s era gift shop on Rt. 2 in the Highlands owned by “The Krebse.” They attached a photo of a carved bear with a tag on the bottom. It was a head scratcher, but with a quick look into Rupert Corrigan’s Jefferson Before 1996, we found the answer.

This was located across the street from where Fuller’s Maple building is today, just west of the Randolph town line. This original gift shop/snack bar building was moved to Hyfield Ln, but no longer exists today. It was replaced with a larger one, which eventually became the home of the Challinor family.

Today, July 10th, is the 141st anniversary of Jefferson’s Cherry Mountain Landslide. At 6:00 a.m. on this day in 1885, ...
07/11/2026

Today, July 10th, is the 141st anniversary of Jefferson’s Cherry Mountain Landslide. At 6:00 a.m. on this day in 1885, Oscar Stanley and two local carpenters were putting the finishing touches on Stanley’s new home. His family was to move in later that day. Stanley’s wife Ellen, and their three daughters, Della, Grace, and Mora, were at her parents home one-half mile uphill from the new house. They had been staying there since a fire five weeks earlier had destroyed the Stanley’s previous home.

Another man was also at the new home site, he was tending to the animals in Stanley’s barn. His name was Donald Walker, 24 years of age.
The men in the house heard a rumbling sound that grew louder with every passing second, and upon looking outside, Stanley saw a huge wall of mud and debris heading towards the house from the mountain. The men barely escaped with their lives, leaving the soon to be destroyed new home, as they ran to higher ground. Don Walker, the hired hand in the barn, was not as lucky and was trapped under the ruins of the farm building.
The other men could hear Walker’s faint cries for help, and found him almost completely buried. They frantically dug him out, extracting him from the debris. He was gravely injured, and brought to the home of Ellen’s parents where he passed away four days later following the amputation of his badly damaged leg.
Much is written about the Cherry Mountain Slide and its aftermath, the Stanley families plight, and the thousands of tourists who came to witness the aftermath of this natural disaster. The Society has posted on the subject, and those accounts can be found elsewhere on our page.

We’d like to honor the memory of Donald J. Walker this anniversary. We have a photo of him that was donated by Marilyn Eastman Walker. We also have several photos of his gravestone in Forest Vale Cemetery. In another photo, Della (19) and Grace (9) Stanley are standing at the spot Don was found. Family lore says Della Stanley was supposed to have wed Donald Walker.

🥳Happy 250th Birthday America from the Jefferson Historical Society!!!🥳These 4 ladies are taking part in a Jefferson 4th...
07/04/2026

🥳Happy 250th Birthday America from the Jefferson Historical Society!!!🥳

These 4 ladies are taking part in a Jefferson 4th of July parade from about 1912. Left to right: Lilla Hicks, Velma Miller, Madge Davis, and Eva Roberts. Photos donated to the JHS by Bernadette Nay from her late husband John’s family album.

Looking for something to do during July that is fun and celebrates our country’s 250th birthday? The Jefferson Historic...
07/04/2026

Looking for something to do during July that is fun and celebrates our country’s 250th birthday? The Jefferson Historical Society, is partnering with the New Hampshire Historical Society in their statewide month long “603 History Hunt.”

The JHS is taking part by having our portrait of Col. Joseph Whipple, Jefferson’s founder, visible from outside the JCC building (right hand gable on the front) for participants to see. There are many more treasures to hunt statewide, and there are prizes. See the accompanying info sheet, and use the QR Code to get all the details. This takes place from July 1, to August 1, 2026. We’ve already had several parties stop by to check Mr. Whipple off of their lists!!

New Hampshire Historical Society

Address

178 Meadows Road
Jefferson, NH
03583

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Jefferson Historical Society posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Museum

Send a message to Jefferson Historical Society:

Shortcuts

Share

Category