by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, October 19, 2024.

In the early 1800s, one of the most popular forms of travelling entertainment was the arrival of a panorama show. Broadsides plastered onto local fences and buildings would announce the arrival of these shows. A hall was let, the audience lighting was dimmed, and a large paper scroll would be unrolled in front of brightly lit oil lamps onstage. People would gasp at the excitement of painted scenes of far-away places. One of the most popular panorama shows was The Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage ‘Round the World, which played across the country beginning in 1848. Exeter’s most popular program was a panorama of New York City, which was shown at the Congregational Church. Panoramas provided visual entertainment in a portable and more cost-effective way than dramatizations. People were yearning to see the world around them.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, September 25, 2024.

The unnamed hurricane that hit New England in September 1938, left the town of Exeter in shambles. Front Street was blocked by fallen trees, the electricity was out for two days, and telephone service was suspended longer. The Exeter News-Letter, in an article titled “Our Woes,” noted, “remarkable were the escapes of persons and buildings from falling trees. It seemed as if the destroying angel that drove the wind felt commiseration at the last moment and diverted the blast from the path of greatest destruction. It was a freakish gale, following open courses and river valleys that ran in its direction striking here with crushing force, and skipping there, a hurricane that had missed its way.” Although Exeter escaped the full force of the wind, the late afternoon storm was frightening. 41-year-old Betty Kreger, waiting for her husband to arrive home, hastily scrawled in her diary, “Our pines began falling across the driveway – street. Tried to get Bob. No tel. No lights. Kept hearing trees fall in the woods.” When morning dawned, there were so many trees down on her street that she noted “crowds here to see our trees.”

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, July 17, 2015.

If you’re feeling revolutionary this weekend, consider the life and untimely death of Exeter’s Brigadier General Enoch Poor. There’s a historic road marker highlighting Poor on Newfields Road just past Swasey Parkway erected in 1979 by the New Hampshire Historical Commission. Read it at your own peril – the location is on a narrow bend with ‘no parking’ signs threatening the history-buff photographer who may wish to stop. If you don’t want to risk it, the text reads: “Brigadier General Enoch Poor. Born in Andover, Mass. June 21, 1736, Enoch Poor settled in Exeter, becoming a successful merchant and ship-builder. In 1775 he was appointed colonel in the 3rd New Hampshire Regiment. Poor was at Stillwater, Saratoga and Monmouth and served under Washington, Sullivan and Lafayette. Congress commissioned him Brigadier General in 1777. Mortally wounded in a duel fought September 8, 1781, he was buried in the First Reformed churchyard in Hackensack, New Jersey.”

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, June 20, 2025.

When travelling to Boston, it is nearly impossible to avoid seeing the Bunker Hill monument. An imposing granite obelisk, it stands atop Breed’s Hill in Charlestown. To New Englanders, the monument is frequently a school field-trip – one of many stops on the Freedom Trail. Most of us learned the basics of the battle that was fought there on June 17, 1775.  

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, September 25, 2024.

The unnamed hurricane that hit New England in September 1938, left the town of Exeter in shambles. Front Street was blocked by fallen trees, the electricity was out for two days, and telephone service was suspended longer. The Exeter News-Letter, in an article titled “Our Woes,” noted, “remarkable were the escapes of persons and buildings from falling trees. It seemed as if the destroying angel that drove the wind felt commiseration at the last moment and diverted the blast from the path of greatest destruction. It was a freakish gale, following open courses and river valleys that ran in its direction striking here with crushing force, and skipping there, a hurricane that had missed its way.” Although Exeter escaped the full force of the wind, the late afternoon storm was frightening. 41-year-old Betty Kreger, waiting for her husband to arrive home, hastily scrawled in her diary, “Our pines began falling across the driveway – street. Tried to get Bob. No tel. No lights. Kept hearing trees fall in the woods.” When morning dawned, there were so many trees down on her street that she noted “crowds here to see our trees.”

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, September 13, 2024.

“Velocipedes are the rage among the Parisian bucks just now, and Prince Murat, Count Savern, and other eminent scions of the aristocracy, may be seen propelling the Bois de Boulogne near the cascade. Some have become so skillful as to go fifteen miles an hour.” This announcement, which ran in the Exeter News-Letter on October 14th, 1867, is one of the first times we find the velocipede, an early form of bicycle, mentioned in Exeter. A Dr. Warren, author of a popular book called “Family Physician” was bullish on the invention for overall health. He felt the velocipede would, “enable invalids to travel in an inexpensive and independent style, and (in) keeping their minds occupied with the constant change of scenery and surroundings, divert their attention from their symptoms, and hasten their restoration.” Before any invalids might benefit from the ‘constant change of scenery and surroundings,’ however, they would first have to master riding the dang thing.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, January 10, 2025.

Exeter started 1924 with a massive snowstorm. Even for one hundred years ago, this storm was notable – so much so that photographers like Arthur Tytus had their photos printed on postcards. At least three feet of snow fell in many areas. Within a week, the temperature had risen to 57 degrees, melting most of the deeper drifts.

In October 1974, five Coast Guard Academy cadets and their project officer traveled to Lubec, Maine, to exhume the remains of Captain Hopley Yeaton, the first Revenue Marine officer. The cadets, selected for their academic and military excellence, undertook the task of digging up Yeaton's grave, which had not been disturbed for 162 years. ​ Despite initial concerns from some locals, the community was supportive. ​The remains were temporarily interred at West Quoddy Head Light and later moved to the Coast Guard Academy chapel in 1975. ​ The event is remembered as a unique and historic experience for the cadets involved. ​

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, August 30, 2024.

Three centuries ago, Exeter used a teaching plan called a “moving” school, sharing one teacher between three schools. At the 1727 town meeting, it was “voted that school be kept five months in the (town) schoolhouse and four months at Pickpocket, and three months at Ass Brook.” Within a decade of this vote, the town seems to have stopped the moving school plan and established separate schools, each with its own teacher. The school building on Hampton Road (near “Ass Brook,” which is today called “Ashbrook” due to 20th century sensibilities), was enlarged in 1765 to accommodate all the students in that part of town.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, August 13, 2024.

In the years following World War II, Exeter, like most towns in the United States, found housing to be one of the challenges facing the community. The war stopped nearly all construction of new homes, making it difficult for returning veterans to find places to live. By the 1950s, with no zoning regulations in place, Exeter realized that a new form of housing had begun to expand in town – the mobile home.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, July 23, 2024.

Junius Jackson was no ordinary barber. In a town that had ten barbershops in 1911, Junius Jackson stood out. For one thing, he was the town’s only Black barber. Nationwide, this would have seemed unusual even in a very white society like Exeter. Cutting hair and blacking boots were the realm of many independent Black businessmen in large part because they were barred from other occupations simply because of their race. The African American population of Exeter had been shrinking from its height in 1790 of 4.8% of the population to just a few families by 1900.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, July 2, 2024.

The summer of 1924 was hot and dry. The month of June had been cool enough, but by July 4th the Exeter News-Letterreported the first of many “protracted hot wave” weeks that would plague the months of July and August. Only a few showers – mostly in the form of thunderstorms – brought any relief. On July 11th, the Congregational Church steeple was struck. “During the severe thunder shower of Thursday afternoon, lightening struck the top of the spire of the Congregational Church, setting it on fire. The pinnacle, on which was the weathervane, burned freely and not until a stream from the steamer put out the fire was anxiety for the safety of the building dispelled. The loss is likely to be considerable.” It took the remainder of the summer to repair the damage.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, June 21, 2024.

Nothing seemed amiss at the wedding. At least, as far as anyone could tell. Mary Rust Hardy, married Henry H. Folsom, on a beautiful September day in 1898. Henry was a lawyer with family ties to Newmarket. Mary grew up in Dover, graduated from Smith College just two years prior to their marriage and it seemed like their’s would be a happy pairing. They set up housekeeping in Somerville, Massachusetts where Henry had a reputation as a solid citizen. His legal practice was doing well.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, June 4, 2024 (originally prublished May 9, 2014)

In the early years of the twentieth-century, New England was invaded and towns like Exeter scrambled to fight back. The invaders were two types of invasive moths – and their caterpillars – that had been accidentally introduced into the region. Both the spongy moth, then called gypsy moth and the brown-tailed moth were capable of stripping trees season after season resulting in the death of the tree.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, May 14, 2024.

When asked about the collections in the archives of the Exeter Historical Society – whether they are comprised of papers, images or objects – our best answer is “mixed.” There are things we’d love to have, like diaries of every early town resident, that simply don’t exist. We’d love to have a firsthand account of Abraham Lincoln’s visit to town, but we don’t. It would be wonderful to have a copy of the Declaration of Independence printed in Exeter in 1776 (these exist, but regularly sell far outside of our ability to bid). We own the press that printed the declaration, but not the document itself. Most of our collections have been donated by generous people who no longer have space for them. We appreciate these gifts.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday,  April 5, 2024.

In August of 1932, three 17-year-olds gathered in the cemetery field off Linden Street to watch the highly anticipated solar eclipse. The boys were well equipped with at least one pair of eclipse glasses from the Harvey & Lewis Company, an optical firm founded in Hartford, Connecticut in 1890.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday,  March 15, 2024.

In 1915, it was proposed that Exeter’s Robinson Female Seminary offer a ‘commercial’ course of study. The Seminary offered a general course, college preparatory course and, (for a time) a teacher training course. The addition of courses in bookkeeping, stenography and typewriting would allow the students better access to the growing fields in business. The following year, the town approved spending of $585.60 to equip the school with the necessary tools including state of the art typewriters.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, March 1, 2024.

A year before passage of the 19th amendment opened voting to women, suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt proposed the creation of a women’s organization to help facilitate and educate voters. Speaking before the National American Woman Suffrage Association in St. Louis, she suggested a “League of Women Voters” should the new amendment pass. The members didn’t wait, and the League of Women Voters was organized in February of 1920, months before women’s suffrage was settled in the U.S. Constitution.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, February 16, 2024.

Of the dozen or so history writers of Exeter, Benjamin Franklin Swasey is probably the least known or cited. It’s a shame, because his writing is filled with delightful tidbits not generally found in most historical works.

Benjamin Swasey was born in Exeter in 1837 and, except for only a few years, lived his life in town. Swasey grew up on his father’s farm on the west side of the Squamscott River. One of five surviving children, his most notable sibling was his younger brother, Ambrose Swasey, who is known for his generous gifts to the town (the Swasey Pavilion and Swasey Parkway). Swasey wrote of his father, “he was a great reader of ancient history and of the standard works on astronomy. He took much interest in the affairs of his native town and was elected on the Board of Selectmen in 1847-48.” In a period when a great deal of civic life included passing around the rum jug, Nathaniel Swasey refused to partake.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, February 2, 2024.

In the early 1960s, Exeter’s once thriving shoe industry was waning. The two shoe factories – Wise Shoes on Front Street and Alrose Shoes on Rockingham Street – were both finding it hard to compete in a growing international market. It surprised everyone when a new shoe company set up shop in Exeter on Court Street.