What are box pews?
ANSWER
Box pews were the traditional seating arrangements in early New England churches. Box pews were purchased by families or those supporting the church. They provided some draft protection on cold days and families would huddle in them with their hand held metal wood/charcoal boxes brought from home. For more and images please see:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/searles-hill-church/
What was the organization named The Grand Army of the Republic and what did it have to do with Salisbury?
ANSWER
The G.A.R. was an organization founded in 1866 to support Union veterans of the Civil War. The last national gathering occured in 1949 and records indicate that it dissolved in New Hampshire in 1945. The post in Salisbury was named Pingree #87. For details please see:
SEPTEMBER 2019
How was the Gerrish Road once important to Salisbury?
ANSWER
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/gerrish-road-and-the-railroad/
AUGUST 2019
Where in Salisbury’s graveyards can you see the influence of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome?
ANSWER
You will find an abundance of classical revival motifs such as willows, urns, obelisks throughout our cemeteries. A pyramid top tombstone exists as well! See if you can find it.
For details see:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/classical-revival-influence/
JULY 2019
In the history of Salisbury published in 1890 on p.23 there is mention of a useful natural material found near Wilder Pond called tripoli.
Where is Wilder Pond and what is tripoli?
ANSWER
Wilder Pond is located in the deep woods of West Salisbury. Tripoli is a natural substance used in a compound known for centuries as a good abrasive and polishing agent. For more information:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/potash-tripoli-flaxseed-oil-plumbago/
JUNE 2019
In the history of Salisbury published in 1890 there is mention on p.23 of a then defunct plumbago mine in Salisbury NH. Where was it and what is Plumbago?
ANSWER
The Boston Lead Mine, off Scribner’s Corners and Buckhorn Road up Little Mountain on the the Salisbury side of Mt. Kearsarge.
Graphite was thought to be a type of lead and consequently was called black lead or plumbago. For details visit:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/potash-tripoli-flaxseed-oil-plumbago/
MAY 2019
What do small vials of toxic strychnine, digitalis leaf, mercury and other herbal agents have to do with the Salisbury Historical Society?
ANSWER
In the 1800’s physicians had a range of approximately 100 medicines at their disposal. Some of these could be considered rather toxic substances. An authentic medicine kit from the 1800’s is a on display at the Salisbury Historical Society Museum.
Museum hours for the spring/summer season begin Sunday on Memorial Day weekend and will be open every Sunday in the summer from 1-4
Doctor’s Kit
APRIL 2019
What do the symbols on the early tombstones mean?
ANSWER
From the earliest days through Victorian times certain symbols went in and out of style. They were often religious in nature and used extensively throughout New England. A new exhibition relating to Tombstone Symbols is being created by our curator Linda Denoncourt to be displayed in the Museum beside the town hearst this spring.
For a glimpse: https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/tombstone-art/Tombstone Symbol
In addition the inventory of symbols on old Salisbury gravestones by graveyard continues.
MARCH 2019
Several prospering Potash factories existed in Salisbury during the early 1800’s. What is Potash and what was it used for?
ANSWER
Potash – (“black salts”) For the early settlers this was a valued material that was a product of timber harvesting and burning, the first cash crop, and an export product. It is also named potassium chloride or lye. It was a strong base used throughout history to make soap, glass, gunpowder, bleach etc. For more:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/potash-tripoli-flaxseed-oil-plumbago/
FEBRUARY 2019:
Nationally, February is Black History Month which might give away the answer to our question for this month.
QUESTION:
What does Salisbury, the movie Glory and a very famous sculpture on Beacon Street near the Boston Commons have to do with each other?
ANSWER:
The connection is James F. Haskell an African American civil war soldier who fought under Col. Robert Gould Shaw in the Civil War at Fort Wagner with the 54th Massachusetts Regiment.
James F. Haskell is buried at the Smith’s Corner/Bean Cemetery in Salisbury. Several researchers including Rebecca Corser of the Warner Historical Society have been studying the the cluster of African Americans who lived in that town and has been very helpful piecing together the African American family ties from Canterbury, Warner and Sanbornton. James Haskell’s grandfather lived on Couchtown Road which extends into Salisbury not far from where the Smith’s Corner Cemetery was, before being moved to ret 4, for the Blackwater Dam project but many questions remain.
The Movie:
The film is about one of the first military units of the Union Army during theAmerican Civil War to consist largely of African-American men (except for its officers), as told from the point of view of Colonel Shaw, its white commanding officer. The regiment is known especially for its heroic actions at the brutal battle at Fort Wagner on Morris Island in South Carolina.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_(1989_film)
The Monument:
Joshua B. Smith, a black businessman, former slave, and former employee of the Shaw family, initiated a campaign for a monument. It wasn’t until 1883 that enough funds were raised to hire a sculptor. Renowned American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens took the job, but the process took him another decade.
For more information on the project:
https://interactive.wttw.com/ten/monuments/robert-gould-shaw-fifty-fourth-regiment-memorial
Salisbury’s Civil War enlistments are now online on our site and can be accessed from this page:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/the-civil-war/
Please note: Additions and corrections to the Roster are always welcome.
Note: The Roster shows casualties and survivors. Survivors buried in our town are shown with the name of the cemetery, others who perished are buried where they fell in the south with the exception of one whose body was returned. As the populations moved and shifted we find only some of the civil war veterans buried in our town. “Substitutes” were paid soldiers who took the place of others and their names are not common to our town and seem to have generally resided elsewhere.
#JamesHaskell #DorcasPaul #AnthonyClark #RobertGouldShaw
JANUARY 2019 QUESTION:
For two weeks during the years from 1922-1937 (with the exception of 1935) the peace and quiet of our town and very likely nearby environs was shattered with incessant booming on the Salisbury slopes of Mt. Kearsarge (Sawyer Hill area ). What was the cause?
ANSWER: Artillery Practice
The area of Smith’s corners is a flat pastureland with a commanding view of the eastward facing slopes of Mt. Kearsarge, notably Sawyer Hill. In 1922 the 172nd Field Artillery and the 197th coast artillery again arrived in Warner and again from 1925-1937 with the exception of 1935 there was an annual artillery practice on the slopes of Mt Kearsarge by the 172nd Filed Artillery of the National guard. To learn more go to: