The Town of New Ipswich 175th Anniversary

The 275th will be held next year (2025)

1750 - 1925

1750---1925 The Town of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, on August 21, 1925, celebrates her 175th Anniversary and invites her children and friends to aid her to do so in a fitting manner. 

   The hills and forests are unchanged save to grow more beautiful each year; but many of the people have passed beyond our vision. Come to renew the friendships of years with those you knew as children, and welcome the New Americans whom we are glad to meet as fellow citizens. 

ORDER OF EXERCISES 

   At 10 A. M. (Standard Time) on the Academy Campus, there will be sports of various kinds, foot races, tug-of-war, etc. At 12 dinner will be served in Academy Hall by a caterer. Those who wish tickets for the dinner will please apply to Philip F. Gordon at New Ipswich not later than August 15, enclosing the money and an addressed envelope. 

  If desired, tickets will be reserved if pre-paid. Price, $1.50. At 1 o'clock an Historical Address will be given by ex-Governor Robert P. Bass, to be followed by a brief period of after-dinner speaking. 

   At 3 P. M., ball game on the Campus. Academy Hall will be open in the evening for the continued sociability of old friends, and music will be furnished by an orchestra. 

   The route for automobiles from Boston follows the state road through Concord, Groton and Townsend to Ashby, thence by good roads six miles to New Ipswich. 

The trip is easily made in a day. Applications for lodging over night may be made to Mr. Philip F. Gordon. 

W. A. PRESTON, Secretary, 
H. W. LEWIS, Chairman, 
SARAH FISKE LEE, KATHERINE PRESTON ANNIE F. THAYER, Publicity Committee.

Appleton Academy

Original building

James Roger diary entry

September 20^th 1908(Sunday)

Cool fair and sunny.  No smoke today yet the papers are filled with accounts of forest fires in Maine and other districts.  Mr. Peacock preached on “The Parable of the Talents”.   S.S. after C.R. 7³⁰ pm.  Topic “Church Workers”.  I led.

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Hidden History: New Hampshire’s Past of Abolition, Slavery, and Underground Railroad

Presented by Michelle Arnosky Sherburne

Saturday, September 21 at 2:00 p.m.

New Ipswich Library (6 Main Street)

Vermont historian, author, and newspaper publisher, Michelle Arnosky Sherburne will delve into New Hampshire’s fascinating hidden history of abolition, slavery, and Underground Railroad networks, highlighting the work of abolitionists to move freedom seekers northward to safety in Canada.

Despite the fact that Portsmouth served as a slave-trade hub for New England, 19th- century NH historians chose to exclude black heritage and history from their publications. In recent decades researchers like Sherburne have uncovered the rich history and significant contributions of enslaved people and discovered that the Underground Railroad network was active throughout the Granite State. With connections to Massachusetts’ abolitionists, such as William Lloyd Garrison, Nathaniel Peabody Rogers and Stephen Symonds Foster, freedom seekers were certainly prevalent in New Hampshire.

Sherburne will share what she has learned from her extensive research over the past 30 years.

A resident of Newbury, VT, Michelle Arnosky Sherburne has spent four decades in the newspaper business. In 2022, she and her husband took over the stewardship of the Journal Opinion, a weekly publication in Bradford, VT. Sherburne’s longstanding interest in the Civil War inspired her research of Vermont and New Hampshire’s Underground Railroad and the Abolitionist Movement, which has led to TV appearances, consultancies, in-school residencies, and the publication of four books and numerous articles. With a history project always in progress, Sherburne enjoys traveling around Vermont and New Hampshire lecturing and sharing her insights into New England’s rich history.

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