The NH Division of Historical Resources' history of the NH Historic Preservation Movement offers important perspective for today's activities:

In 1792 Jeremy Belknap completed the publication of his three-volume The History of New Hampshire, affording citizens their first comprehensive overview of the state's past. By 1823, interest in the state's political and social history led the legislature to charter the New Hampshire Historical Society as a private corporation. Through books and magazines, interest in the past became increasingly evident. Articles, like Charles Warren Brewster's "Rambles", published in the Portsmouth Journal of Literature and Politics beginning in 1825, focused attention on "antiquities" in the seacoastregion.

The first house in New Hampshire known to have been opened to visitors for its historic importance was the Benning Wentworth Mansion in Portsmouth. By 1845 the owners were giving tours of the house, decorated with its original wallpapers and many of its furnishings from the 1750s and 1760s.

Events like the "Return of the Sons" celebration in Portsmouth in 1853 established the tradition of bringing home native sons who had moved elsewhere for a nostalgic reconnection with their roots. Eventually such events inspired the idea of the "Old Home Week" in 1889.

Books, poems, and articles were critical in instilling a preservation ethic and bringing attention to successful preservation efforts in the region. As America's centennial approached, a number of influential books and articles appeared, including Samuel Adam Drake's Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast (1875), Robert Swain Peabody's article, "Georgian Houses in New England" (1877), and Arthur Little's Early New England Interiors (1878), all of which included examples of New Hampshire architecture.

In the 1880s and 1890s, many towns in the state founded their own historical societies, and a great number of well researched town histories were published.

The destruction of the Thomas Hancock House in Boston in 1863 provided a symbolic rallying point for later preservation efforts in New England. Architect John Hubbard Sturgis, whose family summered in Portsmouth, completed measured drawings of the structure before its destruction. Loss of this house sparked the formation of organizations like the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities in 1910.

Perhaps spurred on by the successful preservation of structures like the Massachusetts State House and Faneuil Hall, the Thomas Bailey Aldrich Memorial Association was founded in 1907 to restore the boyhood home of the author in Portsmouth. The same year, the Governor John Langdon House, also in Portsmouth, was reproduced at the Jamestown Exposition in Virginia to symbolically represent New Hampshire's role as one of the thirteen founding colonies in the country.

Between 1910 and 1920, a number of preservation initiatives had successful results in New Hampshire. The site of Daniel Webster's birth in West Franklin was purchased by a private association beginning in 1912 and given to the state as its first historic site in 1917. Other houses were saved, including the Moffatt-Ladd House in Portsmouth by the Colonial Dames of America, the Wentworth-Gardner House in Portsmouth by Wallace Nutting, the John Paul Jones House in Portsmouth by Joseph Chandler, the Franklin Pierce Homestead in Hillsborough by Franklin Pierce Carpenter and associates, and "Aspet", the house and studio of Augustus Saint-Gaudens in Cornish, by the Augustus Saint-Gaudens Memorial.

In 1924 the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York opened, showcasing a room from the Shaw House in Kensington and a room and staircase from the Lt. Governor John Wentworth House in Portsmouth. While this initiative highlighted New Hampshire's importance to American architecture and decorative arts, it also raised awareness and concern that New Hampshire structures be preserved on their original sites. During the 1920s and 1930s other houses were saved, including New Hampshire's oldest known house, the 1664 Jackson House in Portsmouth, by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities; the Governor John Wentworth farm site in Wolfeboro, given to the state by Lawrence Shaw Mayo; and the Macpheadris-Warner House, by a private association.

When Congress passed the Historic Sites Act in 1935, endangered New Hampshire historical structures in thirty-four communities were recorded by Historic American Building Survey teams. Most of the drawings and photographs were done by architectural students at the University of New Hampshire.

The League of New Hampshire Arts and Crafts, founded in 1931, and the 1940 book entitled Hands That Built New Hampshire: The Story of Granite State Craftsmen Past and Present brought attention to the state's rich craft traditions. Two very different pieces of federal legislation were passed in 1949, the first chartering the not-for-profit National Trust for Historic Preservation -- which brought national attention to endangered historic properties; and the other creating the Federal Housing Act, which provided federal grants for acquiring, clearing, and preparing land for urban renewal-- legislation which was to have largely negative impacts on historic structures in older parts of the country.

Until the late 1950s, preservation in New Hampshire had been limited to single structures recognized as homes of interesting or historically significant individuals, or notable for their architecture. In 1955 the state established its the State Historical Commission, "to take such steps and to formulate such plans as will tend to preserve the state's heritage, improve the understanding of the public of such heritage and preserve public records of historical interest, historical documents and objects of historical value." The commission was also empowered to recommend legislation to the general court for the accomplishment of these objectives. That same year the legislature also established the state historical marker program, and some markers were erected at sites of activities important in the past, such as glass-making or textile manufacturing.

In 1957, local librarian Dorothy Vaughan addressed the Portsmouth Rotary Club and challenged the members to stop the casual destruction of the city's early houses. The Club appointed a committee to develop a plan to save the neighborhood of buildings still standing in the oldest part of the city. The resulting project, to be developed as an outdoor museum and tourist attraction, was the first instance in the United States in which historic preservation was accepted as the principal development goal in an urban renewal project. Strawbery Banke, Inc. took control of ten acres of land and twenty-seven buildings in the "Puddle Dock" area. It opened its first houses to the public in 1965.

At this period, New Hampshire had only the State Historical Commission law (RSA 227-A) pertaining to historic preservation; after 1961, when the marker statute was amended, the commission's activity became focused primarily on the state historical marker program. The State Historical Commission was terminated in 1981, and in 1983 its role in the marker program was transferred to the State Historic Preservation Office, now the Division of Historical Resources.

In 1963, the state legislature passed enabling legislation permitting local governments to establish historic districts. Other than federal laws, this historic district legislation offered the only available state protection for historic properties until 1973, when a law was enacted to define conservation and preservation restrictions and make them legally enforceable, thereby validating private efforts to protect historically and environmentally valuable properties from inappropriate uses.

In the 1970s, the first preservation efforts evolved to save New Hampshire's industrial buildings. The "Save the Mills Society" in Laconia was organized in 1970 to preserve the Belknap-Sulloway (1823) and Busiel-Seeburg (1853) mills, both slated for demolition under urban renewal. The following year Historic Harrisville, Inc. was founded in reaction to the bankruptcy of the corporation owning some twenty-five buildings associated with the textile manufacturing community in the village. Rather than create an outdoor museum, the trustees sought to keep Harrisville a living, working community. With measures in place to protect the architectural qualities of the buildings, new economic uses were found for the mill buildings to keep the structures active and the town's people employed. Today Harrisville remains an important example of the value of historic preservation to economic revitalization.

New Hampshire was slow in responding to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 which, among other things, established the National Register of Historic Places, enacted a program of federal historic preservation matching grants, and authorized the creation of a State Historic Preservation Office in each state. In 1972 the NH Charitable Fund made a grant to the NH Department of Resources and Economic Development to establish a minimal state historic preservation program. Mary M. Jeglum, a historic preservation consultant, was hired to help the state meet the requirements for participating in the national historic preservation program, and qualifying for the federal matching grants. George Gilman, Commissioner of the Department of Resources and Economic Development, served as State Liaison Officer, and a New Hampshire Review Board for Historic Preservation was appointed. Legislation to formally establish the historic preservation program as an official part of state government was introduced in 1973 but was not enacted, and the program was continued by Executive Order from Governor Meldrim Thomson, Jr.

In 1974 the legislature did create a State Historic Preservation Office within the Department of Resources and Economic Development; but before the legislation could be fully implemented, Mary Jeglum was dismissed by Governor Thomson in a controversy over nomination of the Isles of Shoals to the National Register (which was seen as an impediment to a proposed oil tanker facility there), and the impact of historic preservation review on urban renewal projects in several New Hampshire cities. The state program was suspended in January 1975, until it could meet the federal standards for joining the national historic preservation program, then was reactivated in April of that year with George Gilman as State Historic Preservation Officer.

The State Historic Preservation Office remained in DRED until 1985, when, with recodification of New Hampshire's historic preservation statute (RSA 227-C), it became the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources within the newly created Department of Libraries, Arts, and Historical Resources (renamed the Department of Cultural Affairs in 1990).

Beginning in 1981, when it provided for the protection of historic and archaeological resources on state lands and under state waters, the legislature has continued to give additional responsibilities to the state historic preservation agency. A description of the DHR's current program and services is included in the Appendix.

Since its inception, the Division of Historical Resources has forwarded over 600 nominations of approximately 3,700 properties to the National Register of Historic Places in Washington for final listing. Seventy-six projects in the state have benefited from preservation tax incentives, producing over $152,000,000 of economic productivity in new jobs, materials purchased, and rehabilitated, income-producing properties back on the tax rolls. The review, by the Division of Historical Resources, of projects involving federal funds or licenses, has meant that thousands of historic properties have not been unnecessarily destroyed or altered.

Survey and Planning grants, largely given to regional planning commissions, educational institutions, non-profit preservation organizations, and, more recently, to Certified Local Governments, have funded projects providing detailed information and preservation strategies for individual properties and historic districts in towns and cities.

Legislation allowing towns to establish Historic District Commissions or Heritage Commissions has given communities useful tools to address their local preservation concerns. Sixty-five communities have done so. Ten towns and cities have become Certified Local Governments, allowing them to participate in the federal historic preservation program and to apply for federal matching federal funds.

When Acquisition & Development (construction) grants were available between 1974 and 1980, and again as part of the 1983 "Jobs Bill," the State Historic Preservation Office provided federal matching grants for exemplary preservation work at 50 New Hampshire properties. The Division of Historical Resources holds and monitors preservation covenants (easements) on each property to insure that its historical qualities will be maintained. In addition, the DHR holds perpetual easements, acquired through the state Land Conservation Investment Program, at the Canterbury and Enfield Shaker villages; and the DHR is also involved in monitoring covenants for historic properties preserved by federal and other state agencies, such as the NH Department of Transportation, as part of Review & Compliance mitigation activities.

Although most state historic sites are held and maintained by the Division of Parks and Recreation, the DHR does own three properties. Between 1988 and 1990 the surviving remnant of the 18th century Old State House from Portsmouth was carefully investigated and disassembled, and at present is in a storage trailer parked at the DHR headquarters, awaiting a decision about what to do with it, whether it should be re-erected, and if so, where, by whom, and for what purpose.

In August, 1986, a 7.5 acre parcel in Shelburne, New Hampshire, the former Gardner Wayside, was transferred from the NH Department of Transportation to the DHR to be used as a Native American Reburial Ground.

And the Contoocook Covered Railroad Bridge, at Contookcook Village in the town of Hopkinton, was transferred to the DHR by the town in 1989, under provisions of RSA 234:31, which authorizes communities to donate their unused historic covered bridges to the DHR, subject to approval by the Governor and Executive Council. Because the DHR has no funds to maintain the structure, the National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges, joined by volunteers and DHR staff, sponsors weekend workdays and solicits donations for itsupkeep.

More and more attention is being paid in New Hampshire to historic preservation in the private sector and at the local level. A state-wide, non-profit historic preservation organization called Inherit New Hampshire was established in 1985, bringing together people from all over the state to share concerns for cultural resources. The annual INH "town meeting," with its keynote speakers and instructive workshops, has helped to build a better-informed, more focused historic preservation community in New Hampshire. Several cities, including Portsmouth, Concord, and Manchester, have since formed their own historic preservation organizations. The Lakes Region Roundtable brings together representatives from the eight towns encircling Lake Winnipesaukee to mutually encourage heritage tourism and historic preservation in the region. A Community Cornerstones project, an outgrowth of the Governor's Commission on the 21st Century, promotes the identification and protection of important resources in individual communities.

The Division's SCRAP program (State Conservation and Rescue Archaeology Program) has provided archaeological training and certification to over 600 individuals.

The Division of Historical Resources has established, and continues to expand, working relationships with statewide organizations and agencies involved with history and heritage, historical and educational institutions, and professional associations in a variety of cultural and land-use disciplines; and with municipal land-use boards, historic district and heritage and conservation commissions, local historical societies, and historic preservation groups.

The DHR has also formed new connections with a growing network of state and local agencies, organizations, and individuals, and is sharing the historic preservation ethic with an expanding range of stakeholders.

This is an excerpt from New Hampshire's State Historic Preservation Plan (Concord, NH: NH Division of Historical Resources, September 1996).

For a more detailed history of New Hampshire archaeology, and summary articles on prehistoric, historical, industrial and nautical archaeology, see The New Hampshire Archeologist, Vol. 33/34, No. 1, 1994; and Historical New Hampshire, Vol. 40, No. 1&2, 1985.

Courtesty of the NH Division of Historical Resources