From the opening shots of the American Revolution to the continued discovery of the Space Age, the tiny township of New Boston along the banks of the Piscataquog has captured a foothold on history and on the hearts and imagination of locals and visitors.
Named in 1751 for the “old” hometown of its Massachusetts settlers, New Boston won early praise for its artillery company’s bravery during the War for Independence – so much so that General John Stark graced it with perhaps the town’s most lasting artifact: the Molly Stark Cannon, captured from the British in 1777 at the Battle of Bennington (Vermont) and now on display at the New Boston Historical Society.
For more than a century, New Boston, with its abundance of timber, textile mills, and rich topsoil, enjoyed life as a prosperous agricultural and manufacturing community. That prosperity was jeopardized when a spark from a cooper’s shop ignited the Great Village Fire of 1887, destroying nearly 40 buildings in just hours. New Boston would quickly rebuild, however, becoming a train hub at the turn of the 20th century, when local farmer/businessman J.R. Whipple needed rail service to carry produce down to his three hotels in Boston.
The last train has long since left New Boston, and the mills have ground to a halt. But across town are reminders of its rich past, from original clapboard architecture and helpful neighbors to the artisan tradition carried on by local masters, from Dick Moody’s hand-tooled antique saddles to Sylvia Chancey’s kaleidoscopic quilt work. Elsewhere is one of the region’s most arresting visions of the future: the UFO-like golf ball domes of the New Boston Air Force Station.
Built in 1942 near Joe English Hill, the station first drew duty as a bombing range for aircraft using Grenier Field (now Manchester-Boston Regional Airport) as a base during WWII. In 1959, the Air Force converted it into a satellite tracking station – one of just eight in the world – providing on-orbit tracking, telemetry, commanding and mission data retrieval services to the Pentagon, NASA space shuttles and allied spacecraft.
Town Facts
by Michael DeBlasi
New Boston, NH
• Population of 5,042 (est. 2007)
• The Molly Stark Cannon was cast in Paris, France, in 1743. In her glorious history, “Old Molly”, as she has been affectionately called, served under the French flag once, the British flag twice and the American flag twice.
• New Boston was home to the Gravity Research Foundation from the late 1940’s through the mid 1960’s
• The New Boston Air Force Station occupies more than 2,800 acres in three towns (New Boston, Amherst, Mont Vernon)
• New Boston AFS consists mostly of undeveloped, forested land with extensive wetlands bordered by 14 freshwater ponds fed by springs or streams. Local, state, and federal laws governing the preservation of natural, cultural, and environmental resources play a major role in limiting development on and around the station.
• During World War II, fighters and bombers would train at the AFS and planes at one time practiced dropping depth bombs for sinking submarines. Residents of the town would then report seeing tail fins from the bombs sticking out of the pond water in the area.
• New Boston was once the home of noted playwright Horton Foote who received an Academy Award in 1962 for his screenplay adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Foote also wrote the screenplay “Tender Mercies”, earning him a second Academy Award in 1983.
