The Fort at No. 4

Having taught Maryland history to 4th graders for many years and visiting the site of the first Maryland settlement founded in 1632, I've realized that New Hampshire is a much younger European settlement.

The Fort at No. 4 in Charleston, NH was established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1735 along with 3 other settlements along the east side of the Connecticut River. It wasn't until 1740 when one of the first persons to purchase shares of the town came to settle. By 1743 there were 10 families owning shares of this the most north western British settlement, thirty miles from the nearest town.

There was a lot of danger living out in this wilderness, especially with England and France not on good terms. French settlements were to the north in what is now Quebec and alliances made with native peoples brought war to these settlers. There was fighting in 1746, 1747, 1749, 1753, and 1754 when killing changed to taking captives for ransom.

The fort was actually a fortified village of 6 houses.  It was surrounded by a pike stockade with gaps between the pikes. 

So why the gaps? Apparently at Deerfield, MA the stockade had no gaps and when it snowed the snow piled up.  Enemies could climb over the stockade when the drifts were high. Gaps prevents the snow from creating drifts.

We visited a re-creation of the Fort on Sunday, September 27th when a Revolutionary War re-enactment was taking place. During that war Charlestown was an assembly point for troops and troops involved with the Battle for Bennington marched from here.

Views from the watchtower that we climbed.

The Connecticut River is just visible on the right side.  That hill is in Vermont.

I learned the difference between the musket, shown above and the flintlock rifles used in Colonial times. Flintlock was more expensive to purchase but easier to ignite the charge. In Colonial militias each man in the community had to have a rifle to help defend the settlement.  See the armor in the background?  A re-creation of the outfit a soldier in the Plymouth Colony would have had.  Those hanging cylinders contained the charges needed for one shot from your flintlock.

Below these re-enactors are holding flintlocks.

These historical markers were in town.

The original fort stood west of Main Street in present day Charleston though the exact location has been lost to history.

We enjoyed our visit on Sunday morning, arriving at the Fort as it first opened at 11.  The local fire department offered lunch items for sale so we purchased and ate at a nice picnic spot right there. Since there was still much of the day left we drove on to see President Coolidge's boyhood home in Plymouth Notch, VT.  A post on that will show up soon.

Voting!

 I signed up for the MOMS Rising Truth Squad.  I'll get emails to share about the election.

Here's the first one.

Dear Marcia,

Thank you for signing up to be part of our 2020 Election Truth Squad! Can you believe it’s already the end of September? We’re just over 30 days from Election Day and now is the time to do a check-in with your community of friends and family to see if they’re ready for the upcoming deadlines. 

Drum roll please… The below is your first list of options for sample social media content that we’d love if you considered sharing on your own social media accounts to help inspire voter participation in the election! You can share all of the items over a few days, one of the items, or none. We’ll give you a new list of options for sample content each week. 

And this week, the most important action items are to make sure your friends and family have checked their voter registration, know their voting options, and have requested a mail in ballot if they want one. 

I selected this one to share with you:

Click here or on the picture above to watch.

Need a Laugh?

 Hope this helps.

Thanks to my friend, Marilyn for sharing these with me.

Venturing to Vermont

 Last weekend we had lunch out in Vermont.  Being on the western edge of New Hampshire we are right next door to Vermont.  Recently we learned that the two states are referred to as the Twin States but as a realtor told us the feel of the states is very different.  As far as we're concerned the look of the states is very similar: rural and full of mountains and valleys and white churches.

The reason for lunch was at the suggestion of daughter Emily.  She sent us a link to her local newsletter that said a BBQ favorite of the Cornish Fair, that didn't happen this year, is parked on the Tunbridge, VT fairgrounds through the end of October.  Open weekends!  We really like BBQ so we went to investigate the English BBQ.

English because the proprietors are English.  Their BBQ is pure American.

They are the only thing happening at the fairground!

I had a BBQ sundae.  Baked beans, potatoes, BBQ pork and BBQ sauce.  It was delicious. The pink background is the picnic table.

After lunch we moseyed home stopping at some historical markers.  This first one was buried in the trees..

Across the street was the war memorial.

Here's the meadow referred to in the historical marker.

This marker was on the main road so we took a left to drive back to the birthplace.

Definitely some money was spent to mark this spot.

Tree colors are changing each day. The green of the trees above are now likely yellows, oranges and reds a week later.  Here are some trees yesterday.

I'd love to share the view from my window but photos through the screen can't capture the array of color.