Stephanie Tickner Watercolors

The Orchard School Holiday Craft Fair was November 21 and 22 at the Walpole, NH Town Hall. This fair has been held in Walpole for several years now. When I started thinking about the history of the various buildings where I exhibit, I thought it might be fairly easy to find the story of the Walpole Town Hall. Like with my research into the Whetstone Studio, I spent much more time than I expected looking for information. I really enjoyed reading through materials that are available online, especially when tales were told of areas I know, including interactions with Native Americans, various historic battles, and even run-ins with bear and catamount! There are parts of this area that are still very wooded and somewhat wild. It must have been incredibly challenging and, at times frightening, for early white settlers here.

I spent quite a bit of time browsing through an online book, "Walpole as it was and as it is: containing the complete civil history of the town from 1749 to 1879, together with a history of all the church organizations; also, a history of one hundred and fifty families that settled in the town previous to 1820, with biographical sketches of a large number of its prominent citizens, and also, a census of the town taken April 1, 1878" (how's that for a book title!). I'm especially excited that it is available as a downloadable pdf file so that I can go back and read more later. From this book, and also from the online books "An Address Delivered at the Re-opening of the Town Hall at Walpole, N.H." by Frederick Newman Knapp, and "In the Woods, and Elsewhere" by Thomas Hill, I learned that, "In 1786 the Town of Walpole voted to build a new New Meeting House, which was located on Meeting House Hill and completed in 1789. In 1826 the building was removed to its present site in the village of Walpole. It was used both as a Church and Town Hall from 1789 to 1842, and since for town purposes only. In 1886 it was remodelled, and reopened Feb. 1, 1887."

I am always amazed to read about these large buildings being moved during the 1800s. It must have been such a sight to see. I also read in the online article, "Tale of two towns: A Walpole, Mass. native's look into Walpole, NH" that, "Walpole Town Hall, located at Westminster and Elm, was rebuilt a year after the devastating 1917 lightning-sparked fire that destroyed the original building which nearly a century before had been moved there from its original home on Prospect Hill in the 1820s." As much as I searched, however, I could not find any other records that mentioned this fire.

The Orchard School Fair was very fun, as always. I enjoy seeing old friends, and meeting new people. Along with two floors of local crafters and artists, there is delicious food available from the cafe, supported by Orchard Hill Breadworks and families of current Orchard School students, and roaming musicians who add to the festive feeling. When my family watched my table, I was able to finish so much Christmas shopping of my own.



Historically, this same weekend in November, I have been set up at Christmas on the Pond, organized by the Marlow Women's Fellowship of Christian Service. Unfortunately, this year The Orchard School Fair had to change weekends due to conflicts at the town hall, so I missed the Marlow fair. That said, I have participated for many years in this fair in the town where I live, set up on the second floor of the historic Jones Hall. The ground floor of Jones Hall houses the Marlow Town Library. The second floor has a stage up front, and a balcony in back. Benches can be moved in place for when there is a play or other event on the stage. The wooden floors are wavy and move when people walk on them. It makes it challenging to display paintings on a standing rack and have them stay straight! I have read a lot about Marlow history in the book "History of Marlow, New Hampshire" from the writings of Elgin Jones, who died in 1934. His book was never finished, but in 2002, the Marlow Historical Society printed a version, edited by Elizabeth Batchelder, former president of the historical society. It was then republished in 2011 for Marlow's 250th anniversary, with added history and photos. According to the book, "Jones Hall has had a long, and sometimes stormy history. The first action taken to build a meeting house for the town was an article voted upon at a Town Meeting called on September 13, 1792, when the town voted on an article 'to see if the town will vote to build a meeting house and agree upon where to put it.'" It was agreed to put the building on Marlow Hill (up the hill from where I live), "but warring factions, mostly between the Baptists and the Universalists delayed the building and not much progress was made." It was listed in the Cheshire Country Registry of Deeds in May 1799, having been completed by private citizens. Throughout its history on Marlow Hill, it was "used as a meeting house by the Methodists, Congregationalists, Universalists, and Baptists" as well as for town meetings, "until 1845 when it was taken down under the direction of a man from Alstead and moved to South Marlow", the current village, where it was reconstructed and still stands today. Other buildings in the current Marlow village were also moved down from Marlow Hill, which can be seen in these photos from the 2011 edition of the book.