TRIVIA QUESTIONS ARCHIVE
PAGE LINKS FOR ANSWERS CAN BE FOUND AT THE BOTTOM
A COMPILATION OF PAST QUESTIONS:
2023:
DECEMBER 2023:
We revisited a topic from when we first started the Trivia Challenge in 2016.
Was Christmas celebrated in the New England colonies in the early days?
NOVEMBER 2023:
What exactly did the Salisbury South Road Village settlement (Crossroads area) look like prior to the 1950’s?__________________________________________________________________
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?__________________________________________________________________
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).
__________________________________________________________________
AUGUST 2023:
TECHNICALLY what is a Colonial In New England architecture?
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?
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?
MAY 2023:
Where were the old inns & taverns located in Salisbury?
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?
MARCH 2023:
There once was a covered bridge in Salisbury. Where was it?
FEBRUARY 2023:
Where was the Riverside Inn and sawmill across the road?
JANUARY 2023:
What 8 basic methods did those that came before use to put up food for the winter?
2022:
DECEMBER 2022:
How did the earlier settlers light their homes?
NOVEMBER 2022:
Approximately how many cords of wood did the earlier settlers use per year?
OCTOBER 2022:
What were the early days of the Salisbury Fire Department like?
SEPTEMBER 2022:
Over the years Salisbury had several Blacksmith shops. Where were they?
AUGUST 2022:
What were early telecommunications like in Salisbury?
JULY 2022:
Who were the Littles of South Road Village?
JUNE 2022:
What is a Bull Rake and where was it made?
MAY 2022:
Who were Mary Campbell and Tasha Tudor?
APRIL 2022
On November 13, 1987 , the Concord Monitor reported an usual even that took place near Mill Brook in Salisbury and caused quite an uproar. What was the event?
MARCH 2022
What was medical and healthcare like in the early days of Salisbury?
FEBRUARY 2022:
What is the New Hampshire Old Tree Project?
JANUARY 2022:
What might be the oldest tree in Salisbury? Oldest five?
2021:
DECEMBER 2021:
Several old buildings in town were once built elsewhere and moved. Which ones are they and where did they come from? Some were built here and stayed here, one was moved into town and a four were moved out of town.
NOVEMBER 2021:
By 1967 a group of determined citizens representing many locals were fighting off an enormous project by the Federal government that would have changed Salisbury forever and they won! What was it?
OCTOBER 2021:
Who was Sinkler Bean?
SEPTEMBER 2021:
What is the origin behind some road or pond names? Do you know the answers? We know a few.
We know these: Mutton Road, Gerrish Road, Stirrup Iron Brook, Old College Road, Searle’s Hill Rd, North Road (actually on the eastside), Smith’s corner
AUGUST 2021:
A tradition established in 1899 with 40 towns participating is one in which we continue in August here in Salisbury. What is it and why was it established?
JULY 2021:
Where was the devastating fire of 1894?
JUNE 2021:
MAY 2021:
Where was the Red Store Tea Room?
APRIL 2021:
What did The Crossroads look like during the revolution?
MARCH 2021:
Who were the Maloons and why were they well known?
FEBRUARY 2021:
Who were the Haskell cousins who fought in the Civil War?
JANUARY 2021:
What is the mystery of Searle’s Hill?
2020:
DECEMBER 2020:
Into the 1700’s and 1800’s why did towns have “Town Pounds” and did Salisbury have one?
NOVEMBER 2020:
Why is there an Old College Road in Salisbury, seemingly going north through East Andover if there is no college anywhere nearby?
OCTOBER 2020:
Often the Society gets genealogy inquiries from the public nationwide inquiring about ancestors who lived in Salisbury. Sometimes we find it is another Salisbury. Currently there are 12 locations in the US with towns or small cities named Salisbury. All of the following states have a Salisbury except one. Which is it?
New Hampshire historians find the term “Range Road” often in their research but what were “Range Roads”?
JULY 2020:
What are definitions for the following?
wormwall, stile, cairn, pin and feather, erratics, stone boat, fence viewer, town pound
JUNE 2020:
On June 1 of the year 1638 something major happened. Colonists at Plymouth Colony in Mass. heard a very loud roar approach them and then suddenly for 4 minutes were thrown off their feet unless holding onto things. Some chimneys collapsed. The island off NH and Mass were violently shaken and ships in the harbor were subjected to large tidal wave like swells. What was this event and what does it have to do with the Salisbury area?
MAY 2020:
What was the Great Sheep Boom?
MARCH 2020:
Are today’s borders of Salisbury the same as they were when the town was laid out in the mid 1700’s?
FEBRUARY 2020:
There were two schoolhouses in West Salisbury, “The Mills”, dated abt 1816 and the second afterwards dated 1885-mid 1920’s. Where were they located?
JANUARY 2020:
2019:
DECEMBER 2019:
What are box pews?
NOVEMBER 2019:
What was the organization named The Grand Army of the Republic and what did it have to do with Salisbury?
OCTOBER 2019:
At Storrowton Village Museum, located within Eastern States Exhibition Fairgrounds in Springfield Mass., there is a church that existed in Salisbury from 1834-1929.
Where in Salisbury was it located and why was it moved?
SEPTEMBER 2019:
How was the Gerrish Road once important to Salisbury?
AUGUST 2019:
Where in Salisbury’s graveyards can you see the influence of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome?
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?
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?
MAY 2019:
What do small vials of toxic strychnine, digitalis leaf, mercury and other herbal agents have to do with the Salisbury Historical Society?
APRIL 2019:
What do the symbols on the early tombstones mean?
MARCH 2019:
Several prospering Potash factories existed in Salisbury during the early 1800’s. What is Potash and what was it used for?
FEB 2019:
What does Salisbury, the movie Glory and a very famous sculpture on Beacon Street near the Boston Commons have to do with each other?
JANUARY 2019 :
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?
2018:
DECEMBER 2018:
Which natural disaster has not occurred to any significant degree in recorded time in Salisbury New Hampshire?
NOVEMBER 2018:
There was once a simple tenpin alley in Salisbury that on stormy days provided an entertaining rendezvous. Where was it?
SEPTEMBER 2018:
There is an interesting and baffling flag flying at Salisbury Heights with the British Union Jack and the 13 rebellious stripes of the Colonies. What is it?
AUGUST 2019
What were the original 13 colonies?
Why are there Rattlesnakes on some of our Historical flags?
JULY 2018:
Why are there Pine trees on some of our Historical flags?
JUNE 2018:
There is a flag flying at the Heights, in front of the Library, that looks just like an American Flag but the stars are in an odd alignment in the canton. What is it?
MAY 2018:
What serene and idyllic part of Salisbury has seen a blacksmith shop, a general store with a post office, two schools over the years, about 5 mills (grist mills and saw mills), twin bridges, two other bridges, was home to extraordinary cabinetmakers, a swimming hole, a cluster of a several sites called “the Connecticut Camps”, two homes that were inns for summer boarders and one also as a boarding house for mill millworkers, has a large cemetery and also small graveyard but never had a church?
APRIL 2018:
In what part of Salisbury did the following exist over the years: at least 2 taverns, hatshop, two large inns, glove factory, shoe store/workshop, a farm stand, bull rake factory, steam shingle mill, cider mill, several general stores, potash manufacturing site, a Tea House, two Doctor’s residences, the single grave of one Doctors wife, a large historic cemetery hidden from view, a Doctors’ office, a Grange Hall with many members used for agricultural talks, large suppers, plays, orchestral entertainment etc., a cement block workshop, 3 public schoolhouses, an advanced program school, possibly a meeting place of the Samaritan Lodge of Masons, ice cream store, blacksmith shop, filing station, a house that exists now in its prominent location but was actually moved there by horse from another location in Salisbury, a fire station, a church that was moved 3 times, a home that once belonged to a judge in which a very famous person to be was once married, post office, four historic structures which burned all in one night: Grand Army Hall used as a public hall including dances, a boarding house and a parsonage.The last clue will likely give it away. Site of the telephone company building since perhaps as early as 1899 and the general location since.
FEB/MARCH 2018
4 QUESTIONS:
Where did Daniel Webster study?
Where was Daniel Webster married?
Where did Daniel Webster worship?
Where did Daniel Webster teach?
JAN 2018
Daniel Webster was born in Salisbury, New Hampshire on January 18, 1782 so why is his birthplace located in Franklin, New Hampshire?
2017:
DECEMBER 2017
It was 1843 and a group of people in Salisbury sold their property at merely nominal prices, closed their shops and their farm crops remained unharvested. Why?
NOVEMBER 2017
What was the first one room schoolhouse in Salisbury dated 1772 and how many after that date were there?
OCTOBER 2017
On Sept 6th 1881 a strange phenomena referred to as “Yellow Day” occurred in Salisbury and elsewhere in New England and somewhat beyond. What was it?
SEPTEMBER 2017
There are 6 trick questions for September to see how well you know Salisbury NH geography
AUGUST 2017
There are 2 questions for August.
QUESTION #1: According to statistics calculated every 10 years records show that in 1790 the population of Salisbury was 1,372. Currently, give or take a few we are nearly at that point. Between then and now however the population dropped to 350. When was this?
QUESTION #2: A tradition established in 1899, is one which we continue in August here in Salisbury. What is it and why was it established?
JULY 2017
What is the hill close to the center of Salisbury at one time but no longer the center? CLUES: It once served as a signal warning site for Indians. At the top sat Salisbury’s earliest church frequented by the Websters whose Reverend once “chased the Devil”. It had a school nearby, cemetery on top, several residences up along its steep sides and on top, all gone now. It afforded a spectacular view of the countryside and was described as a beautiful site from below looking upwards as well.
JUNE 2017
What was the once thriving part of our town that had a small community with a school, church, post office, cemetery, farmable flat pasture land, a small sawmill at one time, running water, and several homesteads one of which had a beautiful large barn. Barely a trace of it exists now and why?
MAY 2017
The Trivia Challenge question for May is regarding several American Revolutionary War era flags in particular: Why does the rattlesnake appear on some flags and why are the British Union Jack and the Continental stripes together on a flag?
APRIL 2017
What is a Freshet?
MARCH 2017
Who were the “Wild Irish?
FEB 2017
What are the “Love Letters ” in the Salisbury Historical Society archives?
JANUARY 2017
What did the early settlers do to remove snow?
2016:
DECEMBER 2016
QUESTION#1 :How did the Puritans and early settlers celebrate Christmas?
QUESTION#2: Who was Sal S. Bury and what did he have to do with the town of Salisbury’s Christmas decorations?celebrate Christmas?
NOVEMBER 2016
Two Trivia Questions relating to the 1940’s
QUESTION#1: What do ladies in West Salisbury and knitting mittens have to do with Hitler?
QUESTION#2: The school children attending Salisbury’s little school house at the Heights were sent into Salisbury’s fields to collect Milkweed pods during WW2. Why was that?
2023:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/trivia-history-challenge-2023/
2022:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/trivia-history-challenge-2022/
2021:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/trivia-history-challenge-2021/
2020:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/trivia-history-challenge-2020/
2019:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/trivia-challenge/
2016-2018:
https://www.salisburyhistoricalsociety.org/trivia-challenge/