We rebroadcast this earlier conversation today. You may have zoomed right by the broad green signs, but stopping for a moment to read a historical roadside marker gives a sense of the depth and complexity of the state’s past. The markers encompass a broad range of N.H. history: Abenaki Native Americans, poets, painters, contemporary sports figures, meeting houses, stone arch bridges, and long-lost villages, as well as factories, cemeteries, and places where international history was made. Any organization or individual can propose a historical highway marker and shepherd it through to reality. We discuss the process leading to the state's latest marker in Dover, honoring John Parker Hale.
Original Airdate: Aug. 18, 2020; rebroadcast Wednesday, Sept. 2
GUESTS:
- Michael Bruno - author of "Cruising New Hampshire History: A Guide to New Hampshire's Roadside Historical Markers.” He also updates a website of the same name.
- Sarah L. Stewart - Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, which includes the N.H. Division of Historical Resources, which manages the N.H. Historical Highway Markers program with the N.H. Department of Transportation..
- Paul Timmerman - avid historian and Board Chairman of the Woodman Museum in Dover, where he is a docent. He proposed the historical marker in Dover honoring John Parker Hale, seen above.
This link will take you to the N.H. Historical Markers page. Click on this link for an interactive map of all of the state’s historical highway markers.
- The NH Women's Foundation is working with the Pomeroy Foundation to have five National Women’s Suffrage Markers erected in N.H. to commemorate suffrage. Click on this link to learn about The New Hampshire Women’s Heritage Trail.
- Listen to"Marking History," an NHPR series that told some of the stories of the historical markers.
