Poltrack Blog

January 30, 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the Tet Offensive , one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War.  New Ipswich resident and former Selectman Woody Meiszner  has been sharing his Vietnam experiences on Facebook in a series of postings.  It is my belief that these postings deserve a larger audience especially in a time when the national security advisor refers to armed conflict as giving the enemy a bloody nose . War should be the last resort after exhausting everything else. Woody Meiszner at the New Ipswich Memorial Day celebration May 17, 2015

"During the Civil War there were in the Northern States many sympathizers with the South who used all their power and influence to have the Confederacy recognized by foreign powers.   To counteract the effect of this party the Union League was organized. It included patriotic men who for age or any other reason were unable to go to the front, but who by any other means in their power bravely upheld the cause of Liberty here in the North. A branch of the league was organized in New Ipswich." "In 1878 a soldiers' monument was erected on the Village Green at the foot of the Academy campus" - Source: The  History of New Ipswich, 1735-1914 (page 113) Memorial Day Observance - May 21, 2017 Postcard NIHS catalog 92.315 Early photo of monument, note the shadow of the photographer NIHS catalog 92.315 NIHS catalog 92.303 View down Academy Road NIHS catalog 92.320 Monument photo taken in 1965 NIHS catalog 92.327

New Ipswich Winter Intersection of Turnpike & Main NIHS catalog 92.151 Photographer Leon R. Willard In the process of scanning some of these older photographs in the New Ipswich Historical Society collection I keep seeing the name Leon R. Willard, Photographer, New Ipswich, NH. I wonder what he would thought of digital cameras, smart phones and Instagram. His name was stamped on this photo of Manley house. This residence is not as elegant as the others he has photographed. What is going on with those piles of wood? Why would anyone build a house in New Ipswich with a roof that was nearly flat? I assume Leon was paid for the photograph, but maybe he just was interested in the structure because it was different. I wish I knew the answer. Manley House - NIHS catalog 92.318 Many of the photos have Leon's name stamped on the back

In the   New Ipswich Historical Society  collection of photos one can get a sense of  village life in the 1900s. These show pasture land at the farm of  S.J. Ames. Photo donated by Alice Tripp - NIHS catalog 97.227 Ames residence to the left  The view from Prospect Hill NIHS catalog 92.314 These appear to be fruit trees, note the stone walls along the road Donated by Mrs. Walter Hardy - NIHS catalog 92.308 Wind power on the Ames land NIHS catalog 92.304

In June of 2014 the Historic New England heritage organization performed much needed maintenance on the Barrett House  in New Ipswich, NH. They repaired the roof, fixed broken shutters and scraped and painted the entire building. They took great pains to ensure that the  shutters were fixed exactly as they had been. However they did not use the white lead paint that was originally used on buildings till it was fully banned in the U.S. in 1978. I was told by the workman that the original lead paint was very weather resistant and long lasting. The only issue was its toxicity. Freshly painted shutters at the Barrett House in 2014  The New Ipswich Historical Society has photos of a Paint Shop that was located on Manly Road. The photos are not dated but a note was made that it burned on October 3, 1901. It was owned by Lauriston M. P. Hardy. If they manufactured paint it was probably lead based. The National Register listing for the New Ipswich Center Village District  desc

New England is not kind to its big trees, just as they get established a ice storm comes along and knocks them down. They also fell victim to the sawmills and woodstoves when winters were a lot more severe than now. One exception was the large willow tree which was called the Veteran Willow in which 40 people could easily be seated on rustic seats, at least as advertised in this Appleton Inn card. The Willow was mentioned as a point of interest  It was featured on a postcard In this photo from 1927 the "rustic seats" are clearly visible. This photo was a gift of T.A. Easton who gave it the NIHS in 1980. It is Ref 97.192 in the NIHS collection. This photo was another gift of T.A. Easton, date unknown. In the NIHS collection it is 92.326 The tree was located on near the Barr home across the street from the present Historical Society building. Additional Information Links to New Ipswich Historical Society sites and other posts can be found  on

Recently I've been posting many photos taken in the early years of the twentieth century from the collection of the New Ipswich Historical Society . Most of the photographs were taken by professionals, since the equipment and materials were so expensive. The subjects they chose were homes, businesses and formal family portraits. I've yet to see a birthday party or a Christmas morning snapshot.  One example of what I would consider a typical professional portrait is this one taken of my family in the early 1920s. Notice that no one is holding a selfie stick. Everyone is dressed in their finery, not one Bart Simpson tee shirt in the group. Poltrack Family Portrait - Circa 1923 (L-R) Mary, Francis, Adeline, Emilia (grandmother), Edward (with horn), Henry(standing),Anthony(grandfather), Lillian, Tony (my dad), Helen I wonder what those early photographers would think if someone asked them to photograph a Reuben sandwich ? Yet this is something we all do when we go to

This is a photo of Moses M. Balch in front of his residence. There was no information about Moses in The History of New Ipswich (1735 - 1914) . Moses M. Balch NIHS Collection Ref 92.136 Moses M. Balch residence Listed in the National Registry as Hammond-Isaacs-Balch House NIHS Collection Ref 92.135

Accommodation - 75 guests. Large cool dining room. Fresh vegetables in their season, raised on the farm connected to the Inn. Open the year round. Automobile parties a specialty. Appleton Inn Informational card from the inn. Visit the Souhegan Country Club and view the Souhegan River. See our library with 6,000 volumes, a piano, seveal busts and paintings. Fish in the many trout brooks which are among the finest in New England. Worship in our churches. Take a quiet walk Visit the Veteran willow said to be the largest in New Hampshire, if not New England. 40 people can easily be seated on the rustic seats in the tree.

The New Ipswich Bicentennial Celebration occurred from August 19th to 27th in 1950. These photos were provided courtesy of Karl Toivo. The New Ipswich Historical Society produced a video tape of photos taken at the 150th and 200th celebrations, narrated by Dennis Gauvin. The tape was digitized and uploaded to YouTube.

I often wonder what life must have been like 100 years ago in New Ipswich. The photos suggest that there was a lot going on. There were inns, dance halls, parades and social events. The existence of postcards indicates that New Ipswich was a vacation destination. Some of the notes postcards give an insight about what life was like in those days. I found the one on this postcard to be of interest (Sep 23, 1908). Dear Mabel; I shall leave here tomorrow on first train for Boston and go to Springfield Friday afternoon reaching there I hope shortly after 5:00 PM via B.M. from Greenfield; going to Troy Saturday A.M. Too hot todayto travel. All well here and send love. Very dry and warm, air filled with smoke from forest fire. We'll see you Friday - Charles I assume a forest fire is quite possible in September when you have a locomotive spewing out hot cinders, especially in late August and September. Front of Postcard

Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulder in the sun; And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.  Mending Walls by Robert Frost (snippet) The New Ipswich Historical Society sponsored a presentation by master stonemason Kevin Gardner who spoke about the  history and technique of traditional New England-style dry stone walls. The Granite Kiss is an interesting title which describes having a stone crush a finger. As Kevin spoke he pulled stones from two buckets and created a stone wall New England stones are not uniform in shape, size or composition The wall takes shape In 1871 the government took a survey of fences. New England has enough to circle the earth several times. Everywhere you walk you see them. Kevin spoke of other books, this one is out of print The completed wall Questions from the crowd