A Visit to the Londonderry Historical Society Museum Complex

The Londonderry Historical Society maintains a museum complex at 140 Pillsbury Road, near the town common and in front of Moose Hill School.  It sits on two acres of land donated by the Mack Family, surrounded by apple orchards. The complex consists of the Morrison House, the Parmenter Barn, the Clark Blacksmith Shop, and the Litchfield Carriage Shed.  The Rev. William Morrison House will be constructed behind the Morrison house.  The foundation for this house is in place, and the society is waiting for the funding to reconstruct the building, which is stored in the trailers behind the blacksmith shop.  

I visited the museum complex during the recent July 15th Open House. 

The circa 1760 Morrison house was moved from Rockingham Road to this site on Pillsbury Road in 1989.  It was restored as a farmhouse, and the collections inside contain treasures such as a snippet of the silk from Ocean Born Mary's wedding dress, kitchen implements, examples of Londonderry linen, paintings, clothing, furniture and other objects owned by Londonderry families.  

The 1859 Parmenter Barn was moved from High Range Road and reconstructed here in 1998. It contains collections of farm equipment, tools, and farm vehicles donated by local families, as well as some of the parts of the Rev. William Morrison house that is awaiting reconstruction.  The barn can be rented for functions such as parties and weddings, and is a popular spot for photographers.

The Clark Blacksmith Shop, build around 1840, originally stood on the corner of Stonehenge and Perkins Road, and was moved to the museum complex in 1998.  There is a reproduction forge, with original bellows, tools and iron implements used by farmers.  Historical Society volunteers give excellent tours of this shop, describing how the blacksmith would craft tools, hardware and horseshoes. 

You can learn more about the museum complex and it's historic buildings at the website:
http://www.londonderryhistory.org/ 

You can tour these historic sites by appointment. The next time the museum will be open to the public will be on Old Home Day, Saturday August 18th from 11am - 3pm, followed by an Open House day on September 16th from 12 - 3pm.

More blog posts about this Museum Complex:

Reverend William Morrison House, 5 December 2009
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/12/reverend-william-morrison-house.html   

A post about the Litchfield Carriage Shed, 17 December 2012:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/12/not-exactly-barn-raising-but-just-as.html 

An Update on the Rev. Morrison House,  13 May 2017:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/05/an-update-on-reverend-morrison-house-in.html 

A post about Old Home Day at the museum complex, 12 August 2013:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/08/old-home-days-londonderry-new-hampshire.html 

And of course, the weathervane at the Parmenter Barn!  14 September 2011:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/09/weathervane-wednesday-at-londonderry.html

The Londonderry Old Home Day official website:
http://oldhomedays.com/

Old Home Day Activities at the Londonderry Historical Society Museum Complex

Kids activities, including militia drills

A colonial encampment and cannons!

Fun for all ages!

Museum items for sale, raffles and other crafts

Blacksmith demonstrations

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Visit to the Londonderry Historical Society Museum Complex", Nutfield Genealogy, posted 2 August 2018, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/08/a-visit-to-londonderry-historical.html: accessed [access date]).