Trivia Challenge 2023
- The Trivia & History Challenge will present a monthly question pertaining to Salisbury in some way in print in Lifelines, on our Website and on our Facebook page.
- We hope you will find the questions intriguing and find the answers interesting.
- Parents and Educators: Some topics may very well lend themselves to further research for school children’s projects and reports.
- Previous Questions with links to answers are Indexed on the following: https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/trivia-history-challenge-index/
- Do you have an interesting question and answer for the challenge? Please let us know.
- Should we make a factual error please do not hesitate to contact us.
- All additional data, images, corrections or questions are always welcome.
DECEMBER 2023
We are revisiting a topic from when we first started the Trivia Challenge in 2016.
Was Christmas celebrated in the New England colonies in the early days?
Clue: DEFINITELY NOT.
NOVEMBER 2023
What exactly did the Salisbury South Road Village settlement (Crossroads area) look like prior to the 1950’s?
Answer
The answer depends on when, as the Crossroads area also known in history as South Road Village has had many different looks.
Prior to the Revolution there was a small scattering of enterprises and about 5 or 6 homes, 2 inns and lodging.
Between 1777 and the early 1900’s there was a potash factory, cider mill, cement block workshop, tinsmith, harness and saddle shop, blacksmith, Grange, Post Office, Masonic Hall, telephone company office in a home, Bull Rake factory, shoemaker, hatter, the Grand Army of the Republic Hall, a parsonage, lodgings, a glove factory, 3-4 merchandise stores over time and a filling station.
By the early 1900’s the population was seriously dwindling. In1820 the population was 2,016 and by 1930 it was 350.
There were 2 large fires in the late 1800’s that changed the junction forever as well as the biggest change to traffic configuration. That occurred in the mid 1950-s when a section of land was taken from the farmland of Rene Beaudoin for use as an extension of Rte 4. For details please visit our website:
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OCTOBER 2023
Up until the latter 1950’s there was a turn in the road so sharp that on occasion cars would slide right off the road. Where was this?
Answer
It was the junction of Rte 127 & Rte 4. Up until the mid 1950’s according to an resident eye witness, on occasion a car would take the sharp turn and slide into the parking lot of the Crossroads Store due to bad weather, speed or inattentiveness. This was remedied by the extension of Rte 4 through the crossroad beginning about that time.
SEPTEMBER 2023
Are there any pre Revolutionary War era houses left in Salisbury that are not in the style of what we COMMONLY call “colonials”? (style; two story with attic, front: center doorway, four lower windows, five upper windows).
Answer
Images can be found in Historic Salisbury Houses by Paul S Shaw
- 1760: pgs 100-103 Chestnut Cottage-Stevens House, Loverin Hill Road, Center Rangeway, modified Cape style
- 1760: pgs 132-133 Samuel Judkins House, North Road near the Webster Birthplace, Cape style
AUGUST 2023
TECHNICALLY what is a Colonial In New England architecture?
Answer
They are structures built during the colonizing period that bear stylistic similarities influenced by the country of origin of the colonists. A New England Colonial has English elements. There is some dutch influence in NJ, NY and Penn.
Note: structures can be termed “colonial” in style throughout the US if built by colonists prior to these dates:
Before 1819: 1819 Spain to the US, The Florida Purchase Treaty. Spain to US. There are Spanish colonial structures in St Augustine. “Spanish Colonial” architecture.
Before 1803: 1803 France to the US: 1803 The Louisiana Purchase. There are French Colonial houses in Missouri. “French Colonial” architecture
Before 1848: 1848 Treaty with Mexico/Spain that ceded California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona Colorado and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming and claims to Texas. The Palace of Governors, Santa Fe built 1601, “Spanish Southwest Colonial” style.
JULY 2023
As part of our Historical Flags Project we chose for the collection the blue flag with stars that is flying near the Congregational Church at the Crossroads in Salisbury. What is it’s significance and why do we fly it?
Answer
It is the George Washington Commander In Chief Standard/Flag and was flown at Valley Forge and wherever he went.
We remember our soldiers.
According to Dearborn’s History of Salisbury the following Salisbury sons died at Valley Forge:
Ephraim Heath Valley Forge camp 1778, from exposure and sickness
Reuben Greeley Valley Forge camp 1778, from exposure and sickness
Philip Lufkin Valley Forge camp 1778, from exposure and sickness
William Bayley Valley Forge camp 1778, from exposure and sickness
For Details:https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/new-the-flag-project/
JUNE 2023
A part of our Historical Flags Project is a flag with only 9 alternating white and red stripes and no stars.
What is its significance?
Answer
In 1765 James Otis a distinguished Boston lawyer and orator invited 13 colonies to the Congress in New York to petition the King and parliament “making note of their rights and declaring their protests against the Stamp Act”. Nine attended including NH.
Aug 1765 “The Sons of Liberty” soon produced a flag and as the story goes hung it on the Liberty Tree in Boston high above the tree branches. A later version included all 13 states with the stripes horizontal.
MAY 2023
Where were the old inns & taverns located in Salisbury?
Answer
We count 12 places plus 1 “almost”. How many do you know? Did we miss any?
For details: https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/taverns-inns/
APRIL 2023
Recently there was a discussion online about how Sturbridge Village has on display the account book of William Cate of Salisbury NH
Who was William Cate, what did he do and where did he live?
Answer
William Cate was a Deacon of the Baptist Church and our town’s tailor with apprentices and lived in Salisbury Heights.
He occupied the residence from 1795-1850.
In 1905 Henry Heath purchased the property and possibly converted a smaller building near the road into a filling station however we have no way of knowing when this smaller building was actually constructed and if it indeed was the Tailoring Shop of William Cate.
Location 624 Old Turnpike Road (Rte 4).
Photographs from Historic Salisbury Houses by Paul Shaw.
MARCH 2023
There once was a covered bridge in Salisbury. Where was it?
The old covered bridge was in West Salisbury. Bay Road turns into West Salisbury Road near the Pingree Bridge which goes up into Mountain Road. Going a little further on West Salisbury Road one gets to the Blackwater River crossing into the Flood Plain. The bridge was to the left of the new bridge.
FEBRUARY 2023
Where was the Riverside Inn and sawmill across the road?
Answer:
By the Blackwater River across from the Pingree Bridge in West Salisbury.
The large home was built in 1813 by John Dunlap, son of the famous cabinet maker Samuel Dunlap. It remained in the hands of the Dunlap and Prince families for 110 years. It became the ‘Riverside” inn for a time. Riverside became a popular spot for summer boarders. Later mill workers boarded there.
The sawmill was located across the road along the river and was built in 1905. It was moved to the foot of Sanborn Hill on Bay Road where it ran under diesel by Ray prince. It no longer exists.
JANUARY 2023
What 8 basic methods did those that came before use to put up food for the winter?
ANSWER:
1-Pickling
2-Fermentation
3-Canning
4-Drying
5-Curing
6- Smoking
7-Burial in Cellars
8-Freezing
DETAILS:
#1- PICKLING: Anaerobic fermentation in brine or vinegar (acidic solution or pickle vinegar). Green Beans, Beets, Peas, Carrots, Peppers, Pears, Cucumbers, Eggs, Cabbage, Fish etc
#2 FERMENTATION: The process of creating food or changing the properties of food using micro organisms. Cheese making, making vinegars and brewing use micro organisms.
Cheese Making: On the first day of cheesemaking lactose is fermented into lactic acid. By 1790 colonists were so prolific in cheese making that they were shipping wheels back to England. Wine, Beer and Cider: starches and sugars react with micro organisms and produce alcoholic beverages which can be stored.
#3- CANNING: Putting food in glass jars, sealed with cord and sealing wax and placed in a boiling water to disinfect.
#4- DRYING: Herbs, vegetables, fruits and nuts were air dried in the sun. An Apple Evaporator existed near what is currently the Salisbury Town offices. Evaporators used heat to speed up drying.
#5- CURING: Meats & Fish. Curing preservation is through drying with salt over days which by osmosis draws the moisture out, reducing microbes.
#6- SMOKING: Meats & Fish. Another type of air drying is by exposing food to smoke and heat from a burning or smoldering materials. Some of the chemicals in wood smoke are natural preservatives as well.
#7- BURIAL IN COOL CELLARS Eggs: Preserving Eggs: Eggs, salt, lard layers covered with straw to keep from them from freezing could protect preserved eggs for up to a year. Vegetables: Cool & damp storage for beets, carrots, winter squash, potatoes and turnips. Corn & Grains: Dry bins Fermented wines and beverages.
#8- FREEZING: Root cellars or caves provided very cool places using ice blocks wrapped in hay which kept ice cellars cool like a refrigerator.
