Contemporary DAR Activity

Campton "Liberty" Elm

On Saturday, August 21, 2021, six members of the Pemigewasset Valley Chapter spread paper & woodchips under the Campton "Liberty Elm." Paula Woodward, Lynn Perkins, Carol Lenahan, Kathy Sobetzer, Laura Scherf, & Deborah Plimmer braved the blistering heat and humidity of the day and had a great time. In the photo L->R: Paula Woodward, Kathy Sobetzer, Laura Scherf, Lynn Perkins, Carol Lenahan, and Debbie Plimmer.

Sandwich Fair, October 9-11 2021

Many members of the chapter staffed the first-ever DAR booth to be run at the Sandwich Fair."Fun Flag Facts" was the theme of our booth and prizes were given out for correct answers to a quiz designed to accommodate young and young-at-heart. In the photoL->R: Kathy Sobetzer, Carol Lenahan, Marilyn Woodward, Paula Woodward, and Sandy Ray.

Day of Service #1, October 10 2021

In commemoration of the October 11th 1890 organization of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, this chapter completed four service projects. One of the projects was digging out the weedy landscape surrounding the Col. Samuel Holmes DAR plaque at Plymouth State University and replacing it with two weigelas that will grow to frame the boulder. In the photo L->R: Carol Lenahan, Rodney Ekstrom (Director of Alumni Relations at PSU), and Paula Woodward.

Day of Service #4, October 17 2021

For our final service project in commemoration of the October 11th 1890 organization of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, our chapter cleaned 18 historic headstones located in Sand Hill Cemetery in West Rumney. Six chapter members met and had a grand time socializing while we worked. A local neighbor walked over to see what we were doing and had many questions about DAR and what we do! In the photo L->R: Paula Woodward, Kristin Hand, Marilyn Woodward, Cathy Hargreaves, and Kathy Grabiek.

Historic DAR Activity

Pemigewasset Valley Chapter Fifth Anniversary

We made it! After struggling along for five years with little growth in our membership, our chapter reached an important milestone. On Saturday, 13 June 2020, the Pemigewasset Valley Chapter NSDAR celebrated its fifth anniversary. It was a very different type of celebration as the world was shut down due to the COVID19 coronavirus pandemic. To do our part to stem transmission of the virus, no in-person chapter meetings were being held. We began meeting "virtually" using an electronic application called Zoom. Zoom became a part of life with group meetings. Using it was fraught with problems due to many of our members having poor broadband connection but we continued trying it... and used it for an entire year. Our first in-person meeting was held in May of 2021 with attendees all having received vaccinations. This photo illustrates what our computer screens looked like using Zoom. Party attendees in this screenshot are L->R, top->bottom: Wyoming State Regent Dine Dellenback, Lynn Perkins, Regent Paula Woodward and her mother Marilyn, Carol Lenahan, Honorary State Regent Phyllis Gagnon, NSDAR Historian General Laura Kessler, Kathy Sobetzer, State Regent Trish Jackson, Heidi Pope, Judy Grimes, Cathy Kubec, and State Historian Pamela Lee.

Pemigewasset Valley Chapter Organization

On Saturday, 13 June 2015, the Pemigewasset Valley Chapter NSDAR was organized by Chapter Regent Paula Woodward after seven months of hard work.It was a beautiful, warm day with a robin egg blue sky. We held our birth-day party in the Rumney Historical Society's building and it was the perfect location for our event! New Hampshire State Regent Phyllis M. Gagnon participated in the organizational meeting by welcoming brand new DAR members and installing the chapter officers - with many DAR members from across the state, friends, and family looking on.NSDAR Organizing Secretary General Denise Doring VanBuren sent special greetings to thenew chapter and the Plymouth Select Board sent a proclamation of congratulations that was read by Selectman Bill Bolton. There could have been no greater way to celebrate the 125th anniversary of NSDAR than to begin a new DAR chapter in the state of New Hampshire!

Abenaki village site

Location: Rt 3, Plymouth, located immediately north of the National Guard Armory parking lot.
Date marked: 21 June, 1940, by Asquamchumauke Chapter, DAR.
Inscription reads: "Asquamchumaukee was the name of the Baker River in the language of the Pemigewasset Indians (meaning "crooked water from high places"). Here was the site of their Indian village. On these meadows they cultivated corn. In the sandy banks of the river they stored their furs. In March 1712, Lieutenant Thomas Baker and thirty scouts destroyed the village and killed many Indians including the chief, Watermummus."
Historical: The village of Abanaki Native Americans, of the Pemigewasset tribe, which Captain Baker destroyed in 1712, had been a site of clay beds and a pottery industry.

Holmes Plymouth Academy

Location: Main Street, Plymouth State University, Plymouth.
Date marked: 15 July, 1913, by Asquamchumauke Chapter, DAR.
Inscription reads: "This tablet marks the site of Holmes Plymouth Academy established in 1808 through the liberality and public spirit of Colonel Samuel Holmes of Campton, New Hampshire, a Revolutionary soldier. The first training for teachers in New Hampshire was given here in 1837. The academy buildings were presented to the state for a normal school in 1871."
Historical: The Plymouth Academy was established in 1808. It was the thirteenth academy incorporated in the state and the location of the first teacher's school. An academy was a private secondary school whose tuition paid for the maintenance. The principal's salary depended on how many students he could enroll. The academy was named after Samuel Holmes of Campton who had donated money towards its construction. In 1837, Samuel Hall, principal of the academy, introduced a course to train teachers for the public schools. In 1871, the buildings were given to the state and Plymouth Normal School opened, eventually becoming Plymouth State University.