by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, February 11, 2022.

Stargazers in Exeter were excited to greet 1910 – Halley’s Comet was due to arrive in the Spring. In her diary, 12-year-old Helen Tufts noted, “And we all saw the comet. Thea, Jim, Henry and all of us.” Her entry was for January 26th – four full months before Halley’s comet was visible in New Hampshire– leading the historical society’s transcriber to flag it for verification. Another diary in the collections, that of Marion Louise Tyler, had a similar entry for January 26th, 1910: “Saw a comet about six o’clock.” How could both girls have been so utterly wrong?

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, January 28, 2022.

When John Wheelwright arrived in Exeter in the late winter of 1638, he was most likely wearing woolen socks. Europeans used two basic fiber sources for their clothing – linen and wool. Both of these were produced in the temperate climate they came from and both could be cultivated in New England. But until the time of the American Revolution, most textiles were imported from Britain. The first Englishmen in our area put most of their effort into basic survival. Considering sheep can provide both food and clothing, it would seem like they’d be perfect. But, in fact, sheep are nothing but trouble. They prefer open cleared land, cannot defend themselves against even small predators and are hell-bent on getting lost and injured. They’re the toddlers of the livestock world. For the first hundred or so years, Exeter folks depended on imported textiles. John Giddings’ account book lists numerous types of fabric that he transported and sold in town: serge, kersey, baize, tammy, durant, osnaburg, flannels, garlix, kalt, broadcloth, shaloon and even a bit of cotton and silk. All were either produced in the British Isles or imported from Europe, India or China. There were some small-scale local producers of cloth, but no large manufacturers.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, January 14, 2022.

As the cold settles in and creeps under the floorboards, give a thought to the days Dr. William Perry described as, “a house heated only by fireplaces without furnace or stoves; bedrooms with fires only when there was sickness.” The heat he mentions, was produced with firewood. When Perry was born in Exeter in 1823, wood was the only way to keep warm. Firewood could be collected from the forest by gathering fallen limbs or cracking off the lower branches of trees, but this would not be sufficient to heat a colonial home.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, December 31, 2021.

If anything can be said of 1921 in Exeter, it is that it was a year of calm. There was no war, no pandemic, no divisive political movements. The year began with news that Robert Todd Lincoln, son of the revered former president, had gifted $10,000.00 to the Phillips Exeter Academy endowment (in 2021, that would be worth $155,300.00). It was an immense gift that reminded people of Lincoln’s affection for the school and town he’d known back in 1860 when he lived here.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, December 17, 2021.

In the spring of 2010, students from Exeter High School partnered with the Exeter Historical Society to create a presentation called, “Exeter Eats: The Intriguing History of Exeter Cuisine.” Capably guided by their teacher, Molly Stevenson, who also served on the Society’s Board of Trustees, the kids were interested in how foodways changed from the colonial period to modern times. Part of the project looked at how people ate when they were not at home – those times when taverns and restaurants had to pick up the slack for Mom’s home cooking. The students tasked with the rise of takeaway and fast food were quite surprised to find that one of their favorites – Chinese Food – was a relatively recent addition to Exeter’s restaurant scene.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, December 3, 2021.

Here’s a headline you’re not likely come across in today’s world: “Good Sport at Smoker Held by Knights of Columbus.” The article that followed, in the January 6th, 1933, edition of the Portsmouth Herald, explained, “the smoker held by Exeter Council, Knights of Columbus, on Wednesday night furnished plenty of good sport for an audience of about 220 men, which filled the K of C hall to capacity.” A ‘smoker’ was a party or event for men only, or at least considered suitable for men only. The entertainment might include a speaker, some music, a few exhibition boxing or wrestling matches and a novelty event. The humorous highlight of the evening for this smoker was a boxing match with, “three youngsters in the ring, each blindfolded and with a spoon in one hand and a boxing glove on the other hand. Each was required to tap his spoon on the floor, and each located his opponents by the sound alone, swinging for that spot where he judged him to be.”

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, November 19, 2021.

Exeter’s first commercial district was the town square on Water and Front Street. The second was on Lincoln Street. The arrival of the Boston & Maine railroad in 1841 brought both freight and visitors to town. The subsequent decades found the industrial center drifting from the river to the railroad. The population in town began to drift westward as well. New neighborhoods developed around the factories as immigrants arrived to fill the workforce.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter Friday, November 5, 2021.

“Greatly to the surprise of Army officials, Gen. Pershing arrived in Boston yesterday forenoon coming over the road by automobile from his cottage at Roslyn, L.I. where he had spent but one day,” announced the Boston Globe on Saturday, November 13, 1920. “Today Gen. Pershing will attend the Andover-Exeter game at Andover and later will go to Exeter.” If Boston was surprised by the visit, Exeter was not. News had reached the town well before the weekend and the Exeter News-Letter for once scooped the Globe.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, October 22, 2021.

Not all graves are sad. Not all deaths are tragic. Wandering through a cemetery can tell one a great deal about a community. Gravestones are mini-biographies of the people laid to rest – births, deaths, relationships, affiliations, and military service appear in inscriptions and artwork. To the modern eye, the gravestones of previous generations, particularly those in New England, can seem very harsh. It helps to have an understanding of the people and their practices.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, October 8, 2021

On a cool Tuesday October morning in 1962, many Exeter residents were surprised to hear the unfamiliar chop chop chop of a helicopter. Arriving that day, on short notice, was former president Dwight D. Eisenhower. Betty Kreger, who lived on Ash Street, decided to head over. “Finally decided to walk over to playing fields, P.E.A.” she wrote in her diary, “cars & people there. Soon saw the helicopter coming in.”

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, September 24, 2021.

“We believe that most of the schools in this town would be better managed and better taught by properly educated females than by males.” The Superintending School Committee of Exeter in 1848 had had just about enough with the poor quality of teachers when they submitted their annual report. The town was divided into six school districts by state law. Each district had its own Prudential Committee to oversee the finances and hiring of teachers. The Superintending Committee was charged with overall control and would visit individual schools several times each year. Most of the time, the visits went smoothly. District number two had suffered from teacher turnover and the man hired to finish one term turned out to be disaster. “The floor was black with mud, and the children were wading about in it in the enjoyment of the largest liberty. There was neither law nor order – authority nor obedience – study nor improvement.” In the adjoining classroom, Miss Ann Wiggin kept her classroom “neat – the scholars orderly and studious.”

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, September 10, 2021.

Exeter’s kids went back to school on September 4th, 2001, with the usual excitement that opens the school year. Older students knew the drill – find the new classrooms, reconnect with friends, check out one another’s outfits. The younger kids in elementary school had to navigate lining up for busses and recess. Most of the teachers were used to the bustle of the first day. Reporter, Karen Dandurant, was on hand at Main Street School on opening day. “’ It’s a well-oiled machine,’” she quoted long-time principal Paul Ford saying, “’Five hundred plus five, six and seven-year-olds all in class on time. We love it, and it helps that the parents here are so darned supportive.’” Ford was well known for learning the names of all the children at the school. Things went just as smoothly at the town’s other schools. Sure, there had been some staffing issues as recently as a week earlier, but the school year was, by all accounts, off to a good start. Another year with no anticipated problems. School started the Tuesday after Labor Day – the traditional opening day for school. 2001 was before the school year began creeping into August. The students, the teachers, and the world had one week to practice the uneventful routines that kept them a well-oiled machine.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, August 27, 2021.

When Exeter’s Board of Trade held its annual dinner in 1896, the bill of fare included not one, but two oyster dishes. Today, oysters are something of a luxury food that most of us eat only at fancy occasions. A century ago, however, oysters were inexpensive and relatively common – so much so, that the Board of Trade listed them as “blue points” to make them sound more elegant. Actual Blue Point oysters were harvested off the southern coast of New York’s Long Island, but the ones served at the dinner were probably the same local oysters served later in the meal as “oyster patties, a la Crème.”

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, August 13, 2021.

During the night of July 3rd and 4th, 1914, the main building of Phillips Exeter Academy burned. The school’s newly hired principal, Lewis Perry, quickly arrived to look over the rubble and oversee plans to rebuild. The trauma of the event, on what should have been a celebratory holiday weekend, combined with news of war in Europe and Exeter’s flagging population (just under 5,000 residents in the 1910 census – fewer than in 1900) diminished an already sagging economic outlook. Was there a way to pull the town out of its existential doldrums?

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, July 30, 2021.

Here’s a description of New England farmers published in the Exeter News-Letter in June of 1847:
“Many thousand farmers in New England rear large families, pay all their debts ad taxes promptly, and live independently, well clothed and comfortable housed and provided for, and lay up money, on farms of 50 acres. The idea is, that these people labor severely. This is a great mistake. They have much, because they waste no time. Their horses and cattle, tools and implements, are attended to with clock-like regularity. Nothing is put off till tomorrow which can be done today. Economy is wealth, and system affords ease. These men are seldom in a hurry, except in harvest time. And in long winter evenings, or severe weather, which forbids employment out of doors, one makes corn brooms, another shoes, a third is a carpenter, cooper, or tailor; and one woman spins, another weaves, a third plaits Leighorn Bonnets. And the families thus occupied, are among the most healthy and cheerful in the world.”

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, July 16, 2021.

In 1888, Charles Bell wrote, “the fire department of the town is highly efficient, and its members have shown their pluck and endurance on many a hard-fought field. And now that abundant hydrants have been added to all other safeguards, the risk of any wide conflagration seems reduced to a minimum.” The need for water had always seemed to be the greatest problem when fighting fires in town, but another issue had begun to be noted: the need to speed up sounding the alarm.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, July 2, 2021.

Like most of the Black Revolutionary War veterans who settled in Exeter after the fighting ended, we aren’t entirely sure about Prince Light’s origins. In “Strong and Brave Fellows,” author Glen Knoblock offers convincing evidence that Light began his days enslaved to John Light of Exeter and later to Ephraim Robinson. We’re also uncertain about exactly when he gained his freedom. He may have first enlisted in the Continental Army as Prince Robinson or he may have used Prince Light as his name. The records are sparce and not specific enough to help researchers several centuries out.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, June 18, 2021.

It isn’t named ‘Barney.’ It would be a copyright violation if the purple dinosaur in the playground on Front Street was named ‘Barney.’ When it was installed as a riding toy, in 1996, the PBS program “Barney and Friends” was wildly popular with the under-five set. Purchasing a branded version of the popular character would have sent costs soaring, so the park’s version is simply called ‘Purple Dinosaur.’

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, June 4, 2021.

Earlier this week there was a small pickup truck parked in front of the Exeter Historical Society. The rear tire was precariously balanced on top of the granite curb due to a parallel parking mishap. We’ve all been there. Yet even though the situation looked pretty dire, the truck would be able to drive home relatively unscathed thanks to the technology involved in modern tire design. Modern tires are more rugged than their ancestors.

by Barbara Rimkunas

This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, May 21, 2021.

“Our little quiet village today, is alive, there is a circus in town, and the railroad annual meeting meets here today, which brings people from all parts, some for amusement, some for Business, some to get money, and some to get rum, I have heard and saw more intoxicated today than I should want to see in a long life.” It is clear, from her diary entry on September 8th, 1852, that Hannah Brown was not a lover of frivolity. As a small shareholder of the Boston and Maine railroad, she attended the annual meeting and not the circus. What is not clear, from her diary, is whether the drunkenness she so disapproved of was the result of circus goers or rail investors.