Homes of Westmoreland

This is a story of the houses, property and people of Westmoreland, NH from settlement in 1741 as the Fort at No. 2 at the Great Meadow up to the present time. The 1858, 1877 and 1892 maps of Cheshire County show locations of dwellings in the town of Westmoreland with the owners’ names in those years, plus records from the Cheshire County Registrar of Deeds Office in Keene. Westmoreland pioneers built their first homes of logs or rough planks with bark roofs and crude stone fireplaces. One-room structures gradually were enlarged as more space was needed and as financial conditions improved. The cape style house, saltbox, Colonial, two-story, Federal, simple and more elegant Georgian and the transitional types are all represented. Many of the homes retain their original appearance or have been restored by owners sensitive to architectural history. Others have known so many alterations and “improvements” over the years that few original features are visible.

This is a great reference book about a historic town first known as the Fort at No. 2 on the frontier of European settlement in the mid-1700s. Learn about the early and rapid growth followed by a period of declining population and then rebirth.

$49.99 – 20 copies available

In the Shadow of Cedars

Late Sunday afternoon, May 19, 1776, Major Isaac Butterfield assembled 390 men under his command at the fort they had built on the north bank of the St. Lawrence River in Canada at a place called Cedars and surrendered them to British Captain George Forster…. For this, the first surrender of American patriots to the British in the American Revolution, the name of the tavern keeper from Westmoreland, New Hampshire, was known to every member of Continental Congress. He was branded a scoundrel by Thomas Jefferson, and in John Adams’ opinion the major deserved ‘an infamous death and immortal disgrace.’ Adams called the surrender ‘the first stain on American arms.’

But in the accounts of the surrender at Cedars one thing remains constant through more than a century and a half of comment and criticism-Butterfield, though central to the action there, is treated peripherally and quickly dismissed. It is curious that the man whose decision so exasperated Continental Congressmen as well as the military leadership of the Revolution never inspired serious inquiry. This is his story.”

Charles Butterfield, a retired, award-winning teacher, has lectured on New England citizen soldiers in the Revolution for the Vermont Humanities Council. Previous publications include Biology and Values and Another Light (with photographer Larry Richardson). He lives in Hinsdale, New Hampshire.

$19.99 – 15 copies available

History of Westmoreland

History of Westmoreland, published in 1976, presents our history, period maps and photographs from
the town founding in 1741 to 1970. The book includes extensive genealogy and historical and personal
notes from more than 440 families.

$35.00 – 100 copies available

Maps

Coming Soon