Wakefield Heritage Commission

09/30/2026

Wakefield Wednesday:

HAVE YOU EVER DRIVEN THROUGH THE HISTORIC DISTRICT AT WAKEFIELD CORNER AND WONDERED ABOUT THE GRANITE TROUGH WITH A HAND PUMP ACROSS FROM THE WAKEFIELD LIBRARY?
That is our historic “town pump” and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the nineteenth century, Wakefield Corner was a busy place with six stage lines merging there. Wakefield visitors would congregate to visit and also to speak with summer visitor John Greenleaf Whittier. A teenage girl, Mary Howe Gibbens of Leighton Corner, heard her Aunt Hattie Frobisher and Whittier talking on the porch, “Isn’t it awful to see all those poor horses struggling up such a steep hill, and when they finally reach the top, there is no water for them.” Mary and several friends decided to do something about that. On three consecutive afternoons a hay wagon was seen traveling the local countryside with the group of young people dressed as gypsies. They stopped at many homes offering a performance of singing and dancing and then passed a hat for donations. In the end they had raised $80! For this $80, Mark Remick who lived on Stoneham Rd chiseled out and set up the horse trough now located in Wakefield Corner. Research confirms that water was there already. That was 1895. For many years summer residents would stop here and fill their jugs for drinking water at their camps. In the 1940’s the Lovell Union Grange refurbished the pump. More recently Forest Pump of Rochester restored the pump and would then store it for the winter and put it back in the spring.

09/23/2026

Wakefield Wednesday - BALM-ELIXIR REMEDIES, SANBORNVILLE, NH

According to “Footsteps of the Past” book, by Elizabeth Banks MacRury, the Balm Elixir Corporation had advertising claiming it was “ The World’s Best Remedy for Family and Stable”. It was made right here in Sanbornville in the years around 1908. Elizabeth reportedly had people tell her that it was the most marvelous cure-all for any ache or pain that one had. However, the owner, Alpheus Judson Hamm, would never name the ingredients or give the recipe to anyone. His grandson, L Winston Hamm, reportedly told Elizabeth that he believed the compound to be a combination of natural, organic ingredients. I guess we’ll never know! The medicine for animals was called “Healthtone”.
Also shown is a detailed model replica of the Balm Elixir Mill structure made by Jay Ehlen and shown here in its protective acrylic case. It can be seen at the Freight House at Heritage Park Museum, home to the HO-scale model replica of the Boston & Maine Railroad in the 1909 era.
This building's original structure was the largest in Sanbornville during that time period, encompassing approximately 9,000 square feet. Historic records indicate that by 1905 this building was home to the Balm Elixir Company. It was built in 1897-1898 for Lewis, Gross and Company, footwear manufacturers and it was located where Sarah’s Spa used to be, now near the Town Hall’s parking lot. Sometime later, the building was home to the Wakefield Slipper Company. A third story was added to the building before the building burned in 1922.
Learn more about your town at the Wakefield Heritage Commission’s website: historicwakefieldnh.com.

09/17/2026

Thank You, Connie: Celebrating More Than 20 Years of Service to Wakefield's Heritage

On Wednesday, September 9, members of the Heritage Commission gathered with Connie Twombley's family and friends at the Poor People's Pub to celebrate and honor more than 20 years of service, as Connie retires from the Commission. She will be missed.

Connie's connection to the Heritage Commission began through her work as a Wakefield Selectman. The Board of Selectmen appoints one of its own members to represent them on the Heritage Commission, and Connie took on that role. When her time as Selectman ended, she didn't step away. She stayed on as an appointed member of the Commission and kept serving for years afterward.

The Wakefield Heritage Commission is part of town government. New Hampshire adopted the enabling legislation for heritage commissions, and Wakefield was one of the first eight towns in the state to vote one into existence in 1993. Since then, the Commission has restored and now maintains a remarkable list of town properties: the Union Railroad Station with its caboose, the 1903 snow plow, and the B&M water tower, along with the Freight House, the Wentworth Cobbler Shop, the Blacksmith Shop, the Lovell Union Grange, the East Wakefield School, and the Spinney Meeting House.

Connie's tenure covered much of the era when the Commission was actively acquiring these buildings, work made possible in part by the proceeds from restoring and selling the Garvin building. When the Commission purchased the Union Railroad Station, Commission members did the restoration work themselves as volunteers. Connie was right there with them. Longtime members remember her helping pull the blue vinyl siding off the building's exterior by hand.

Connie was also the person the Commission could always count on for fundraisers and events. She baked for every one of them, and her pumpkin whoopie pies became a favorite. As a lifelong resident of Wakefield, she has a deep well of local history to draw from, and she's shared it generously. She participated on the "Do You Remember?" panel at Heritage Day twice, telling stories about local history.

Twenty years is a long time to show up for a town, and Connie showed up for Wakefield's history again and again: with a hammer, a mixing bowl, and a good story. Thank you, Connie, for everything you've given to the Heritage Commission and to this town.

09/16/2026

Wakefield Wednesday: The Town Pound

Every New England town had a Town Pound and a Pound Keeper or “Pounder”. The Town Pound was where stray animals were taken and held until the owner came to get them. Horses, mules, cattle, swine, sheep and geese were held at the Pound if they strayed from their owner’s property. Geese could be sold after one day, the other animals were held up to three days. The common charges for horses, mules, swine and cattle were 12 cents and 5 mills, sheep was one cent and four mills. Each goose was assessed 8 cents. If the animal was not claimed, it could be sold. In addition to the fee charged, the animal owner was liable for the any damage the animal may have caused.
Wakefield’s pound was created in 1774. It is a square structure built of stones with a wooden gate located at the end of East Side Rd. Wakefield’s last Town Pounder elected was in 1894. The following year it was voted that the Selectmen would appoint the Pounder.
In 1974 as part of the Town’s 200th birthday celebration, Sam Paul was named Pounder for the year. He rode in the celebration parade. That year, the local Boy Scouts cleaned and restored the Town Pound and erected a sign there. That sign was recently and voluntarily replaced by Francis Marcoux and we thank him for this.

09/15/2026

By the later years of the Revolution, fighting for independence had become something more complicated than patriotic fervor. New Hampshire was sending quotas to each town — specific numbers of men required for new campaigns — and local enthusiasm had begun to thin. Wakefield still had to fill its share.

When a quota arrived, the selectmen called all eligible men to gather at the home of Colonel Jonathan Palmer. It was a substantial house for its time, built around a large central chimney with fireplaces, two rooms in front and three behind. Neighbors filed in and waited.

The process was simple and entirely without ceremony. A slip of paper was prepared for every man present. For each soldier the town owed, one slip was marked with a single word: GO. The rest were left blank. All the slips were folded, mixed together inside a tall beaver hat, and placed on the mantelpiece.

Then the men marched around the chimney. One by one, as they passed the hat, each man reached in and drew out a slip. Blank meant you went home — for now. GO meant you were going to war, unless you could find a substitute willing to serve in your place.

That house is long gone — it burned — but the chimney around which those men walked, hearts likely pounding, was a real place, right here in Wakefield.
No distant office. No formal system. Just neighbors, a fireplace, a hat, and a folded slip of paper that could change everything.

Don't miss the next story.

As we mark 250 years since the era you’ve just read about, we’re uncovering more ways the Revolution touched everyday life in Wakefield. To follow along with the rest of this series, subscribe for email updates at https://historicwakefieldnh.com/.

09/11/2026

In 1776, a document circulated through the towns of New Hampshire asking men to do something deceptively simple: sign their name.

But this was no ordinary petition. The Association Test was a public loyalty pledge; a declaration that the signer was willing to support the American colonies "with arms" against the hostile actions of British fleets and armies. In a conflict whose outcome was anything but certain, signing your name was an act of genuine courage. And notably, the names of those who refused to sign were recorded too.

Wakefield was barely two years old when this moment arrived. With roughly 320 residents, the town was still sorting out roads, schools, taxes, and town offices, the ordinary work of a young community. Sixty-two of these residents were men over the age of 21, and all 62 stepped forward.

• David Copp
• Nathaniel Balch
• Samuel Willey
• John Wentworth
• Joseph Perkins
• Simeon Dearborn
• John Horne
• Joseph Maleham
• David Hain
• Elisha Piper
• Samuel Allen, Jr.
• Nathaniel Balch, Jr.
• Eliphalet Quimby
• Nathan Mordough
• John Wingate
• John Cook
• Eliphalet Philbrook
• Benjamin Philbrook
• Richard York
• Samuel Sherborne
• Samuel Haines
• Jeremiah Gilman
• Jeremiah Gilman, Jr.
• Noah Kimball
• Benjamin Perkins
• Isiah Wiggin
• John York
• Joseph Haines
• Samuel Hall
• Moses Copp
• Stephen Hawkins
• Daniel Hall
• Ebenezer Cook
• Jacob Wiggin
• William Moor
• Wm. Blaisdell
• Richard York
• John Carr
• John Hills
• Joseph Sanborn
• Joseph Leavitt
• Robert Hardy
• Nathaniel Cook
• Thomas Perkins
• Jon. Palmer
• Jonathan Copp
• Samuel Scribner
• John Kimball
• Benjamin Kinnene
• Clenet Steel
• Clenet Steel, Jr.
• Samuel Allen
• Abner Allen
• Josiah Page
• Tobias Hanson
• Simeon Wiggin
• Reuben Davis
• Henry Robens
• Andrew Gilman
• John Gilman
• Jonathan Gilman
• Jonathan Gilman, Jr.

Read those names slowly. Many of them are still woven into the landscape and families of this region today. Many of the residents still in town today are descended from these men. Are any of them your ancestors?

These weren't soldiers yet. They were farmers and settlers in a frontier town who looked at a widening war and chose a side, in writing, for the record.
Don't miss the next story.

The people in this story lived and worked on the same roads, hills, and shorelines you see today. If you want to keep meeting more of the neighbors who came before you, visit https://historicwakefieldnh.com/ and subscribe to receive new posts by email.

09/10/2026

Wakefield was barely a year old when its men first formed a company and prepared for war.

On November 25, 1775, Captain David Copp mustered a company of minutemen in the Town of Wakefield. The muster roll recorded the full officer structure: Captain David Copp in command, with Moses Yeaton as First Lieutenant, Andrew Gilman as Second Lieutenant, and Samuel Wallingford as Ensign. Below them on the roll were 96 privates — one hundred men in all, drawn from Wakefield and the surrounding settlements.

Read down that list and the surnames jump out even today: Gilman, Horn, Pike, Sanborn, Wiggin, Hardy, Quimby, Furber, Wentworth, Roberts, and many more. These were not professional soldiers. They were farmers, laborers, tradesmen, and fathers — many of the same men who had just helped petition for the town's incorporation and lay out its roads and meeting house.

Now picture them assembled in the late autumn of 1775, in the field that is now the Lovell Lake Cemetery, learning to wheel and turn by command, shouldering muskets and bayonets, while no one knew how long the war would last or how far it would reach. For these men, the Revolution was not an idea debated in distant halls. It was the sound of a drum on a cold morning, the weight of a musket, and the sight of their neighbors' names written on the same company roll as their own.

The American Revolution was not won only at Lexington, Concord, or Saratoga. It was also sustained in towns like Wakefield, where ordinary citizens formed companies, drilled together, and quietly committed themselves to something larger than their own lives.

Stories like this one are all around us—buried in old records and in the places we walk past every day. If you’d like more of Wakefield’s early years brought back to life in your inbox, visit the Wakefield Heritage Commission at https://historicwakefieldnh.com/ and subscribe for future posts.

Thank you to the Lafayette Artillery Company of Lyndeborough, New Hampshire for the photograph.

09/09/2026

Imagine signing the papers to officially establish your new town and barely having time to elect your first selectmen before word arrives that you may be going to war. That was Wakefield in 1774 and 1775.

On August 30, 1774, a group of local residents successfully petitioned Governor John Wentworth to transform their scattered settlement — then called East Town — into an official incorporated town. Wakefield was born. The ink was barely dry when the world began to change around it.

By the spring of 1775, the same neighbors who had been dividing land and laying out roads were suddenly weighing something far more urgent: muskets, powder, and militia duty.

Wakefield's original town record book tells the story with remarkable clarity. At a meeting "legally warned and held at the meeting house in Wakefield on Friday the 12th of May 1775" — not even nine months after the town's founding — voters gathered to conduct the ordinary business of a young community. But before they adjourned, the meeting had taken on a very different character.

They set penalties for soldiers who missed their duties: "each soldier that shall neglect his duty shall pay a fine of two shillings for every offence." They authorized Nathaniel Balch to purchase half a barrel of powder, two hundred weight of lead, and two gross of flints. They also empowered him to buy twelve firelocks and to hire a man to come into town to mend the guns. And then, most vividly, they voted "that the soldiers meet at four o'clock each day of exercise."

Every afternoon. Together. Drilling in preparation for a war that just twenty-three days earlier had already begun at Lexington and Concord.

For Wakefield's founders, the Revolution didn't arrive as distant news from another world. It arrived at their own meeting house door and they answered it.

Less than a year after incorporation, this small frontier town was already acting on a much larger stage: building roads and schools, yes. But also preparing to defend a nation still taking shape around them.

In the last few months of this year, as we mark the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, Wakefield’s Heritage Commission be sharing more of these stories of the men and women of Wakefield who experienced these extraordinary events firsthand. These were real people, your neighbors' ancestors, and their stories deserve to be told.

Don't miss the next story.

Visit the Wakefield Heritage Commission website at https://historicwakefieldnh.com/ and sign up to receive posts like this one directly in your inbox and get more stories of local history delivered to you.

A special thank you to the Lafayette Artillery Company of Lyndeborough, New Hampshire, for the reenactment photo.

09/09/2026

Wakefield Wednesday:

Did you know…. that in colonial times, potash was one of the biggest cash crops in America?
Potash (and pearl-ash) served as the young country’s first major industrial chemical and most critical cash crop. Trees were one thing the colonists had in abundance which was both a blessing and a curse for the early settlers. Many of the trees were used to build and heat their houses. But the colonists soon realized that these trees could also become an important “cash crop” in ashes! Showing how important this product was, (Smithsonian Magazine reported) that President George Washington signed the first patent bearing a United States seal which describes a new process for making potash and pearl ash in 1790. Potash was also an important ingredient in saltpeter, which was in turn an ingredient in gunpowder, an important substance during the revolutionary years. Pearl ash, a more refined version of potash, was briefly also used a pre-baking soda food leavener, writes food history blogger Sarah Lohman. They were both made by burning hardwood trees and soaking the ashes. The new process, which involved burning the ashes a second time in a furnace, allowed more potash to be extracted.

“Pot-ash” was literally manufactured from the ashes of hardwood trees. Colonies could either import their wood ashes to Great Britain or make their own potash, using the potash kilns (often made from clay near a river) or using heavy manufactured iron kettles similar to the one shown in the picture provided, that was found in Plainfield, Massachusetts. Potash was used worldwide for making soap, glass and fertilizer and is still used today to enrich soil and nourish crops, though “Potassium” is now mined from underground.

The local “ashery” produced lye (potassium hydroxide) by leaching water through wood ashes collected from cleared land and household hearths. In early settlements like the Wakefield Corner area, this alkaline lye also served a crucial role in the local tanning industry. Tanners utilized the strong alkaline solution (lye) primarily to loosen the hair, fat, and flesh from animal hides during the prepping phase in the tanning operation to help soften hides.

Learn more: .com

09/02/2026