Derryfield Old Home Day kicks off summer celebration of Nutfield’s 300th Anniversary
This summer a series of events have been planned to commemorate the establishment of the towns and villages that later become known as Derry, Londonderry, Windham, Hampstead, and Manchester.
MANCHESTER, NH – This year is the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the first permanent European settlers to the early New Hampshire settlement known as Nutfield. This summer a series of events have been planned to commemorate the establishment of the towns and villages that later become known as Derry, Londonderry, Windham, Hampstead, and Manchester.
The Nutfield settlement was renamed Londonderry in 1722 and the place where the townspeople pastured their cows became known as Derryfield. In 1810 the residents of Derryfield, which was an independent town by then, renamed the place Manchester to promote its potential as a manufacturing center
Derryfield Old Home Day was held on May 25 in the area of 97 Mammoth Road which was known as Manchester Center. Although Hall’s Tavern is long gone and the original Meetinghouse burned down in the 1970s, the cemetery and the Isaac Huse House remain.
The Huse House was built in 1809 and served as the first post office, a library, a store, and a tavern. The current owner, Monique Labbe, bought the house from descendants of the family and is committed to preserving it. Her yard was the site of most of the events. Her brother Matt Labbe, who is an archaeologist and historian, conducted tours of the cemetery and the house. The Labbe’s received a stewardship award this year at the Manchester Historic Association’s Historic Preservation Awards.
In addition to the tours, a Concord Coach was brought in by the Abbot-Downing Historical Society as a nod to the significance of Mammoth Road as an important stagecoach road. The location of the Huse House on Mammoth Road meant that the mail could be delivered there and that was a key reason it was selected as the site for the post office.
Other participants in the festivities included the Friends of the First Parish Meetinghouse, the Manchester Historic Association and re-enactors from The Burlington Minuteman Company. Merrill Lewis, author of Moxie, was there to sign books and offer free samples.
The driving force behind the Nutfield 300th celebrations is Paul Lindemann of Derry. He has done extensive research on the early colonial history of the area and maintains the Nutfield History website. The activities began in April with a conference in Derry to commemorate the arrival of a group of Scots-Irish settlers from Ulster led by Rev. James McGregor. It was recorded that on April 12, 1719, in what is known today as East Derry, he preached a sermon on the banks of Beaver Pond. The First Parish Church, built by the congregation in 1769, is a stone’s throw from that site.
Additional events are planned throughout the summer in the original Nutfield communities culminating with a final closing event at Derryfest in September. For more information about the Nutfield 300th activities visit their webpage or Facebook page.
