How The Sheep Boom Changed New Hampshire’s Landscape:
Steve Taylor at Gilmanton Historical Society August 25th
Steve Taylor
talks about sheep farming in 19th century New Hampshire at the Gilmanton
Historical Society on August 25th.
Former Agriculture Commissioner Steve Taylor will come to the
Gilmanton Historical Society on Tuesday, August 25th, with a talk on The
Great New Hampshire Sheep Boom. The program begins at 7:30 pm at
the Gilmanton Academy building in Gilmanton Corners.
In a brief 30-year period in the early 19th century the New Hampshire
countryside became home to large flocks of sheep. Production of wool
became a lucrative business, generating fortunes and providing the only era
of true agricultural prosperity in the State’s history. It left behind
a legacy of fine architecture and thousands of miles of rugged stone walls.
Farmers overcame enormous challenges to make sheep husbandry succeed, but
forces from beyond NH were to doom the industry, with social consequences
that would last a century.
The final program in the Gilmanton Historical Society summer series, on
September 22nd at the Old Town Hall, is Before Peyton Place: In Search of
the Real Grace Metalious. Robert Perreault introduces us to the
young Grace De Repentigny Metalious, revealing a side of the author that has
remained largely unknown to the general public.
All programs are free and open to the public; donations are gratefully
accepted. Refreshments and social hour begin at 7 p.m., with the program
beginning promptly at 7:30.