�n �cabemp at �etu �ampton by Norma Jean Moore
n 1748 General Jonathan Moulton and his associ ates had been granted by the Masonian Proprietors a township, later to become Moultonborough, New Hampshire. Because of the outbreak of the French and Indian War in 1754, however, there was little new settlement in northern New Hampshire until 1763. According to popular legend, in 1764, having explored his new territory and finding that much of it consisted of Red Hill, Lake Winnipesaukee, and the Ossipee Mountains, Moulton traveled to Portsmouth to the colonial governor, Benning Wentworth, and in exchange for the gift to the governor of a 1400-pound ox was granted an additional "small gore of land," which today comprises the towns of Center Harbor and New Hampton. New Hampton was incorporated in 1777 and named for Hampton on the Atlantic seacoast, Moulton's home town. In midwinter 1775 Samuel Kelley of Exeter, having been granted the area which came to be known as Kelley's Hill (the present Pinnacle Hill), made the trip to New Hampton overland with his family. Probably with a sled pulled by oxen carrying all their posses sions, they crossed the ice of Kelley Pond (the present Pemigewasset Lake), climbed the hill and, it is believed, spent the first night camped out on a large boulder. The first settlers of New Hampton, Kelley and his family cleared the land under the Pinnacle and established a farm (the present home of T. Holmes and Norma Jean Moore). They were followed the next year by Thomas Simpson, who was married to one of the Kelley daughters. The Simpsons settled down the road a quarter of a 8 THE HAMPTON/A
mile to the east (the present Jessie Ordway property). Other settlers followed, clearing land and building homes in the Center (near the Town House), the
Dana Hill area, the Fiske District (Old Bristol Road), the Oxbow area to the north off Dana Hill Road, and the Winona District. By 1805 six school districts, each with its own one-room elementary school, had been established; between 1807 and 1871 there were 17 districts. Nrsw HAMPTON ACADEMY
1821-1826
In 1798 Samuel Kelley built the present Town House as a church and a meeting house at the Center. Beginning in 1811 there was interest among the citizens of the Center, the wealthiest and most progressive section of the town, to establish an academy to provide secondary education for their children. In 1820 William Bow doin Kelley, the first postmaster, John Kelley Simpson (who in 1805 had walked from his native New Hampton to Andover, Massachu-
setts, to enroll at Phillips Academy and had gone on to become a prosperous Boston merchant), and others took action to establish a secondary school at the Center. They built an "elegant building" on the common a few rods east of the Town House. In 1821 a group of the leading citizens of the Center procured a charter and became the proprietors of New Hampton Academy. William B. Kelley, Nathanial Norris, and Joshua Drake made up the first board of trustees. The school was a success from the beginning in spite of the fact that the "new and elegant building... a two-story frame structure, twenty-four by thirty-two feet in size, had only one room ready for the opening of the first term. It was without libraries, apparatus or even blackboards, furnished with plain unpainted seats and heated by a large open fireplace." The site of this first school house is now marked by a large boulder bearing a bronze plaque, gift of the New Hampton School Class of 1921. John Kelley Simpson of Boston persuaded 13 "Boys from this City" to make the difficult journey to central New Hampshire to attend the new academy and by corre spondence was insistent that regular reports be made to their parents. His patronage had a great deal to do with the success of the new school. When his own children became old enough, they moved to New Hampton with their mother so that they might attend. THE ACADEMICAL AND THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION IN NEW HAMPTON,
1826-52
After the short terms as Preceptor of Mr. George Richardson, an Episcopalian and a graduate of Dartmouth College, and the Rev.
Bezaleel Smith, a Congregational minister from Vermont, the school passed under the control of the Baptist State Convention and, in I 826, the name of New Hampton Academy was officially changed to "The Academical and Theological Institution in New Hampton" and the Reverend B.G. Farnsworth became principal. As a result of the change, enrollment skyrocketed to 321 pupils in 1831. The school had gained strong patronage and, with the establishment of a theological department in 1832, the church gained a seminary for the training of its ministers. A Chapel was erected in 1826 on the west side of the Town House, and in 1829 a three-story brick building, 36 feet wide by 100 feet long, was built across the road from the Town House. Called "the Brick," it housed students and had classrooms as well; rooms were let for a quarter per week. Many students boarded with farmers who I ived nearby. In 1827 and 1830 respectively the Literary Adelphi and Social Fraternity were founded; they became important student literary societies. In those days Exhibition Day during Anniversary Week lasted from 9:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon, each student taking part with
declamations, essays, and two or three plays. According to Edwin Lewis, whose articles, "Memories of New Hampton," were published in the Laconia Democrat in the early 1900s, "the wide common at the Town House was alive with tents where lemon ade, confectionary, and baker's ginger bread were eagerly taken by the hungry crowd." In 1829 the people of "Smith's Village," so called for Daniel Smith, its most prosperous citizen, built a large two-story "Seminary" and a small chapel north of the present Village cemetery and received permission to move the girls' department there. It was so remote a location it was considered unusable during the winter months, at which time classes were held in the Centre House, a boarding house for young women which stood in front of the present Berry Hall. The first principal was an extraordinary young woman named Martha Hazeltine, who had graduated from New Hampton in 1827 and, in 1829, started teaching
at the new location. Her love of learning and imparting knowledge, "unusual force of character... and a clearly defined and exalted notion of the true mission of a teacher" made her, according to Edwin Lewis, "an inspiration in the classroom, the friend, confident [sic], and mentor of her pupils." A Small Gore of Land reports from her diary that she introduced calis thenics into the Seminary, though some townspeople objected: "They say I have taught a dancing school." The town history contin ues: "It is further significant commentary on her social indepen dence that when she had her beauty perpetuated in the official painting that has hung for generations in New Hampton's halls, she defied church and society to preserve for us the graceful symmetry of an undraped shoulder." Martha Hazeltine was succeeded by her friend and colleague, Sarah Sleeper. According to the writings of Frank Preston, "both women were veritable pioneers in the higher education of women... they sought to make good scholars and independent thinkers, but aimed especially to form strong healthy Christian character...." In 1833 Professor Eli B. Smith, D.D. became principal of the boys' school at the Center. He was a Calvinist Baptist, as were many of the school trustees at that time, though most of the faculty of the school were Free Will Baptists. In 1851 Smith and the trustees applied to the Baptist State Convention for permission to move the school, retaining its New Hampton name, The Female Seminary, Church, and Randall Hall, 1853
THE HAMPTON/A 9
�n �cabemp at �etu �ampton by Norma Jean Moore
n 1748 General Jonathan Moulton and his associ ates had been granted by the Masonian Proprietors a township, later to become Moultonborough, New Hampshire. Because of the outbreak of the French and Indian War in 1754, however, there was little new settlement in northern New Hampshire until 1763. According to popular legend, in 1764, having explored his new territory and finding that much of it consisted of Red Hill, Lake Winnipesaukee, and the Ossipee Mountains, Moulton traveled to Portsmouth to the colonial governor, Benning Wentworth, and in exchange for the gift to the governor of a 1400-pound ox was granted an additional "small gore of land," which today comprises the towns of Center Harbor and New Hampton. New Hampton was incorporated in 1777 and named for Hampton on the Atlantic seacoast, Moulton's home town. In midwinter 1775 Samuel Kelley of Exeter, having been granted the area which came to be known as Kelley's Hill (the present Pinnacle Hill), made the trip to New Hampton overland with his family. Probably with a sled pulled by oxen carrying all their posses sions, they crossed the ice of Kelley Pond (the present Pemigewasset Lake), climbed the hill and, it is believed, spent the first night camped out on a large boulder. The first settlers of New Hampton, Kelley and his family cleared the land under the Pinnacle and established a farm (the present home of T. Holmes and Norma Jean Moore). They were followed the next year by Thomas Simpson, who was married to one of the Kelley daughters. The Simpsons settled down the road a quarter of a 8 THE HAMPTON/A
mile to the east (the present Jessie Ordway property). Other settlers followed, clearing land and building homes in the Center (near the Town House), the
Dana Hill area, the Fiske District (Old Bristol Road), the Oxbow area to the north off Dana Hill Road, and the Winona District. By 1805 six school districts, each with its own one-room elementary school, had been established; between 1807 and 1871 there were 17 districts. Nrsw HAMPTON ACADEMY
1821-1826
In 1798 Samuel Kelley built the present Town House as a church and a meeting house at the Center. Beginning in 1811 there was interest among the citizens of the Center, the wealthiest and most progressive section of the town, to establish an academy to provide secondary education for their children. In 1820 William Bow doin Kelley, the first postmaster, John Kelley Simpson (who in 1805 had walked from his native New Hampton to Andover, Massachu-
setts, to enroll at Phillips Academy and had gone on to become a prosperous Boston merchant), and others took action to establish a secondary school at the Center. They built an "elegant building" on the common a few rods east of the Town House. In 1821 a group of the leading citizens of the Center procured a charter and became the proprietors of New Hampton Academy. William B. Kelley, Nathanial Norris, and Joshua Drake made up the first board of trustees. The school was a success from the beginning in spite of the fact that the "new and elegant building... a two-story frame structure, twenty-four by thirty-two feet in size, had only one room ready for the opening of the first term. It was without libraries, apparatus or even blackboards, furnished with plain unpainted seats and heated by a large open fireplace." The site of this first school house is now marked by a large boulder bearing a bronze plaque, gift of the New Hampton School Class of 1921. John Kelley Simpson of Boston persuaded 13 "Boys from this City" to make the difficult journey to central New Hampshire to attend the new academy and by corre spondence was insistent that regular reports be made to their parents. His patronage had a great deal to do with the success of the new school. When his own children became old enough, they moved to New Hampton with their mother so that they might attend. THE ACADEMICAL AND THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION IN NEW HAMPTON,
1826-52
After the short terms as Preceptor of Mr. George Richardson, an Episcopalian and a graduate of Dartmouth College, and the Rev.
Bezaleel Smith, a Congregational minister from Vermont, the school passed under the control of the Baptist State Convention and, in I 826, the name of New Hampton Academy was officially changed to "The Academical and Theological Institution in New Hampton" and the Reverend B.G. Farnsworth became principal. As a result of the change, enrollment skyrocketed to 321 pupils in 1831. The school had gained strong patronage and, with the establishment of a theological department in 1832, the church gained a seminary for the training of its ministers. A Chapel was erected in 1826 on the west side of the Town House, and in 1829 a three-story brick building, 36 feet wide by 100 feet long, was built across the road from the Town House. Called "the Brick," it housed students and had classrooms as well; rooms were let for a quarter per week. Many students boarded with farmers who I ived nearby. In 1827 and 1830 respectively the Literary Adelphi and Social Fraternity were founded; they became important student literary societies. In those days Exhibition Day during Anniversary Week lasted from 9:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon, each student taking part with
declamations, essays, and two or three plays. According to Edwin Lewis, whose articles, "Memories of New Hampton," were published in the Laconia Democrat in the early 1900s, "the wide common at the Town House was alive with tents where lemon ade, confectionary, and baker's ginger bread were eagerly taken by the hungry crowd." In 1829 the people of "Smith's Village," so called for Daniel Smith, its most prosperous citizen, built a large two-story "Seminary" and a small chapel north of the present Village cemetery and received permission to move the girls' department there. It was so remote a location it was considered unusable during the winter months, at which time classes were held in the Centre House, a boarding house for young women which stood in front of the present Berry Hall. The first principal was an extraordinary young woman named Martha Hazeltine, who had graduated from New Hampton in 1827 and, in 1829, started teaching
at the new location. Her love of learning and imparting knowledge, "unusual force of character... and a clearly defined and exalted notion of the true mission of a teacher" made her, according to Edwin Lewis, "an inspiration in the classroom, the friend, confident [sic], and mentor of her pupils." A Small Gore of Land reports from her diary that she introduced calis thenics into the Seminary, though some townspeople objected: "They say I have taught a dancing school." The town history contin ues: "It is further significant commentary on her social indepen dence that when she had her beauty perpetuated in the official painting that has hung for generations in New Hampton's halls, she defied church and society to preserve for us the graceful symmetry of an undraped shoulder." Martha Hazeltine was succeeded by her friend and colleague, Sarah Sleeper. According to the writings of Frank Preston, "both women were veritable pioneers in the higher education of women... they sought to make good scholars and independent thinkers, but aimed especially to form strong healthy Christian character...." In 1833 Professor Eli B. Smith, D.D. became principal of the boys' school at the Center. He was a Calvinist Baptist, as were many of the school trustees at that time, though most of the faculty of the school were Free Will Baptists. In 1851 Smith and the trustees applied to the Baptist State Convention for permission to move the school, retaining its New Hampton name, The Female Seminary, Church, and Randall Hall, 1853
THE HAMPTON/A 9