Fall 2024 Newsletter

Dear Subscriber First Name

Welcome!

Welcome to the first issue of the quarterly Strafford Historical Society e-newsletter!

We have successfully concluded Phase 2 of construction, announced at our 68th Annual Meeting on October 6th in the Morrill Library. We are very excited by the early success of our new round of fundraising, which will allow us to move forward incrementally with our next renovations and, ultimately, to the conversion of the 1901 Masonic Lodge into the Strafford History and Community Center.

This past year we have been able to consolidate our collection under one roof. Our basement is now insulated and dry, and we are planning to create a climate-controlled storage space in our attic for our archives. Flood-damaged photos and documents, previously stored in the Morrill Education Center, have now been restored, thanks to the technical expertise of the Dartmouth College Library and the State of Vermont’s Historic Preservation staff. Please join us and donate to the restoration of the Strafford Historical Society’s new home and community center.

As most of you know, the Masonic Lodge in South Strafford has been undergoing an extensive renovation under the careful eye of our contractor, Blake Spencer, and his crew.

The first phase of renovation, in 2022, involved the construction of a new roof. The second phase, recently completed, included:

• New basement support columns

• A vapor barrier and concrete floor

• A new drainage system

• New 1st floor ceiling rafters and beams

• A structurally sound first floor system

• New museum space layout

• Meeting room and ADA bathroom layouts

• A new ADA parking space and ramp

Window Into History

Did Samuel Pennock know his time was growing short?

This document in our archives is the deed of sale for 125 acres of land sold by Samuel Pennock to Titus Goodall of Lyme for twelve pounds, in September, 1775. By this time, Pennock was already identified on a list of suspected Tory sympathizers in what was then Gloucester County, New York. He and his brothers (and fellow Loyalists) James Jr. and Aaron would have property in Strafford confiscated in the 1780s. Selling the land was perhaps a stopgap measure on Pennock’s part to gain some sort of income on the property before it could be seized.

Simone Pyle,
SHS Curator

Read more about the Pennocks and this property.