NUTFIELD HISTORY BLOG
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First Parish Preserves Historic East Derry Meetinghouse Steeple with Funding from LCHIP Grants
The $500K historic rehabilitation of the 1769 meetinghouse’s Tower and Steeple were recently completed by First Parish Church in East Derry, with funding help from two LCHIP grants.
East Derry, New Hampshire — The historic preservation team at First Parish Church is proud to announce the completion of a major phase in the multi-year rehabilitation of the church’s 1769 Meetinghouse: the repair and rebuilding of the Tower and Steeple.
The $500,000 project benefited from 2015 and 2017 grants by New Hampshire’s Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) totaling $155,000. The rest of the funding came from generous congregational and regional donations, which were catalyzed by the support of LCHIP and the state’s historic preservation community.
Preservation Timber Framing, Inc. of South Berwick, Maine was the primary contractor. Highlights of the large project include:
Removal of the bell and lowering of the unsafe Steeple to the ground in September 2015,
Removal of inappropriate 1990s steel beams and anchors inside the Tower,
Significant repairs to the Tower timber frame, including inserting two new 60’ tall white pine corner posts from above in November 2017,
Reconstruction of 95% of the Steeple—exactly replicating the original materials and elements while improving the internal timber frame—and lifting it back on top of the Tower in June 2019,
Application of extensive copper flashing and roofing (by The Heritage Company, E. Waterford, Maine) and refurbishing and re-gilding of the weathervane (by The Chester Gilder, Chester, New Hampshire), and
• Finishing external repairs, lead paint removal, and repainting in September 2019.
“As the continuous stewards of this community treasure since it was built in 1769 by Mathew Thornton and other early settlers, we at First Parish Church are thrilled to complete this next major step in the long effort to restore and prepare the Meetinghouse for another century of service to the church and the community,” said the Rev. Dr. Deborah Roof, senior pastor and teacher at First Parish.
“For nearly 30 years we’ve worked on historic churches, barns, community buildings, museums, homes, and more all over New England,” said Arron Sturgis, president of Preservation Timber Framing. “This Tower and Steeple project at First Parish stands out as one of the most challenging—but ultimately most satisfying—we’ve had the privilege to be part of.”
The unsafe Steeple was lowered to the ground Sept. 9, 2015.
Guiding a 60’ tall new corner post down into the Tower as a crane lowers it, Nov. 21, 2017.
Raising the restored Steeple, June 27, 2019.
About First Parish and the Meetinghouse Preservation Effort
First Parish Church was established in 1719 by Rev. James MacGregor, who led a group of Scots-Irish families from Northern Ireland to settle in the territory then known as Nutfield. The current Meetinghouse is the community’s second, and it has served both religious and civic functions continuously since its construction in 1769.
Learn more about First Parish Church at www.fpc-ucc.org.
The current historic preservation effort began with a formal study in 2012. It has seen the building raised five feet then lowered onto a new state-of-the-art foundation; the construction of an adjacent Accessibility Connector to hold an elevator serving both historic and modern buildings; numerous repairs to the timber frame, clapboards and trim; and the installation of a new, safer heating system.
Learn more about the rehab work at www.nutfieldhistory.org.
The church has invested about $1.6M so far. Initial funding came from years of donations by church members plus an internal capital campaign that raised $800,000 from the small but passionate congregation. Additional funds came from a loan with Enterprise Bank, and the successful LCHIP grants.
LCHIP grant recipients are required to at least match the grant amount dollar for dollar. Much of the matching funds for the Tower and Steeple work came from community donations through the Friends of the Meetinghouse at First Parish, a 501(c)(3) non-profit with responsibility for community fundraising.
Fundraising efforts are continuing, as the remaining work includes completion of the elevator and Connector building, rehabilitation of the upper-story Sanctuary, and the rebuilding of meeting rooms and more in the lower level.
Information on ways to donate and support this work is available at the Friends’ website, www.fotmh.org, or by emailing info@fotmh.org.
About New Hampshire’s Land and Community Heritage Investment Program
The New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program is an independent state authority created by the legislature in 2000 with a legislative mandate to ensure the perpetual contribution of natural, cultural and historic resources to the economy, environment, and quality of life in New Hampshire.
LCHIP provides matching grants to New Hampshire communities and non-profits to conserve and preserve the state’s most important natural, cultural and historic resources., The program has provided 466 grants which have helped to conserve more than 290,000 acres of land for food production, water quality, ecological values, timber management and recreation and supported 280 projects to rehabilitate historic structures and sites.
Grants have been awarded in all parts of the state and in 167 of New Hampshire’s 234 communities. Forty-six million dollars of state money has led to a total project value of more than $317 million. The money for LCHIP grants comes from fees on four documents recorded at the Registry of Deeds in every county of the state.
For more information about LCHIP, visit LCHIP.org or call (603) 224-4113
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Rehabilitated Tower an Steeple on the west end of the Meetinghouse; Accessibility Connector with elevator underway to the right, April 29, 2020.
Telling the Nutfield Story: Ulster-Scots Videos
Videos on the 1718 MIgration from Northern Ireland and the settlements of Nutfield in New Hampshire and near Portland in Maine.
The Nutfield 300th anniversary celebration isn’t just important to our towns of Londonderry, Derry, Windham and Derryfield, but also to those “back home” in Northern Ireland. Accordingly, this past August the Northern-Ireland based Ulster-Scots Agency invested considerable resources in sending a professional film crew over to capture scenes and interviews from old Nutfield and the similar early settlements in Maine (see blog post to the right).
The resulting video productions are available to watch below. These include:
an introduction to the project by Richard Hanna, Director of Education and Language for the Ulster-Scots Agency, Belfast, Northern Ireland,
a short piece focused on Rev. MacGregor’s establishment of Londonderry and Derry,
a broader look at the 1718 MIgration and journey of the Scots-Irish from Ulster to Nutfield and Maine, and
a comparison of the parallels—and differences–between Belfast Maine and Belfast Northern Ireland.
FIrst up is the brief introduction by RIchard Hanna.
This first video from the Nutfield and Northern Ireland collaboration starts with Rev. James MacGregor’s journey and ends showing the interior of a meetinghouse still very much like the original version of that at Rev. Macgregor’s First Parish in East Derry.
This next video covers the 1718 journey of Rev. MacGregor’s company from his home parish in Aghadowey Northern Ireland to New England, and their settlements in Nutfield and in Maine. It includes a sentiment expressed by our local TJ Cullinane on the challenges of the early settlers that applies well to our goals for the whole 300th celebration:
“[If} people today, so preoccupied with their own troubles, … would only look back into their own history, they’d see that what they’re contending with today pales in comparison with the trials and tribulations of the First Settlers. ”
This final video in the series focuses on Belfast Maine—founded by members of Rev. MacGregor’s contingent who journeyed north of New Hamshire and ended up staying—and its parallels with Belfast Northern Ireland.
We hope these videos have provided a bit of historical info and enthusiasm for the upcoming Nutfield 300th celebrations here in Derry, Londonderry, Windham, and the Derryfield portion of Manchester. Visit the Nutfield 300th Page to learn more, and follow the Nutfield 300th on Facebook for updates.
Film Crew Travels from Northern Ireland to Capture Nutfield Stories
A film crew from Northern Ireland visited Derry and Londonderry NH for two days of filming historic sites and interviews for the Ulster Scots Agency.
The worldwide historical significance of old Nutfield was made vivid once again by the visit of a film crew from Northern Ireland on August 9th and 10th, 2018.
May 2018 issue of The Ulster Scot publication (download PDF)
Production house Macmillan Media in Belfast, Northern Ireland, sent the crew to work on projects commissioned by the Ulster Scots Agency. That agency works to educate the world about and vigorously promote the importance of the Scots-Irish heritage worldwide. They have been instrumental in this year’s 1718 Migration activities—which mark the 300th anniversary of the departure of Rev. James MacGregor and other Scots-Irish early settlers from Northern Ireland—and will probably be helping with our own 300th anniversary celebration of the founding of Nutfield by those settlers next year.
Jane Veitch and Matt Gould, the visitng film crew for MacMIllan Media
The visiting Macmillan Media crew included producer/writer/presenter Jane Veitch, and videographer/drone pilot Matthew Gould.
Arriving at Logan Airport Wednesday afternoon, they traveled to their temporary Nutfield home in the beautiful Stillmeadow B&B before spending two very full days of local filming (described below).
On Saturday they headed up to Maine for filming of more northern Scots-Irish historic sites. They also participated in the week-long international 1718 Scots-Irish Migration and Family Reunion conference at Bowdoin College conducted by the Maine Ulster Scots Project.
Telling the Nutfield Story
Jane and Matt were focused on capturing video of historic places and artifacts as well as doing interviews with local experts and descendants.
Unlike other commercial filming outfits we’ve hosted, the videos they produce will be available to us as we work with the Ulster Scots Agency to spread the word of Nutfield and our upcoming 300th anniversary.
This mostly pictorial article gives a look at how the filming experience went, only lightly covering the actual historic subjects that got filmed. (We'll see more once Jane and the Macmillan home team finish the significant editing and production work.)
The filming site map.
Where Nutfield Began: the Meetinghouse at First Parish
We started Day 1 (Thursday) suitably enough with an introductory and planning meeting at the Meetinghouse.
SInce its construction in 1769, this historic building has been the continuous home to the church community Rev. MacGregor founded. It’s the second First Parish Meetinghouse, built to accommodate the rapidly growing community’s civic as well as religious needs, and it has undergone significant changes as that community evolved.
The Macmillan Media team got a tour and then filmed scenes throughout the building. The 1884 MacGregor family stained glass window in the Sanctuary was of particular interest. See the team in action—plus some other shots of the Sanctuary and exterior in—the photos.
Meetinghouse Preservation Project
We are halfway through a $2M project to rehabilitate the entire Meetinghouse following strict historic preservation guidelines. Learn more in this 30-minute presentation to the Derry Town Council, and help support this work by visiting the Friends of the Meetinghouse site
Downtown Derry: History Museum, Library, and an All-American Lunch
From the Meetinghouse on the hill we went down to the Derry Museum of History in the Adams Memorial Building on West Broadway.
There curator Mark Mastromarino gave a tour of the Museum’s huge collection of reference-quality artifacts and documents which cover all of the community’s three hundred year heritage. He then did a gracious and informative on-camera interview, and with this first Derry interview "in the can" the crew was visibly excited about the sort of footage they would be capturing on this trip.
Next we drove to the Derry Public LIbrary, which has been largely made possible by a gift from MacGregor descendants. In the special local history research space—the New Hampshire Room—Matt filmed the MacGregor stained glass window while Jane was interviewed by reporter Alex Guittarr for the Nutfield News.
A quick walk from the Library took us to MaryAnn’s Diner, for an all-American lunch and the first of the many over-calories treats Jane and Mary would enjoy throughout their visit. Quite taken by the town, the team later visited Derry’s Central Fire Station and the Robert Frost Farm in their “free time.”
First Parish CHurch and Forest Hill Cemetery
After lunch we returned to First Parish in East Derry to conduct an inspiring interview with the pastor there, The Reverend Doctor Deborah Roof.
Then we packed up and moved just beyond the Meetinghouse and church facility to Forest Hill Cemetery, the final resting place of most of the First Settlers and the many generations to follow.
Expert TJ Cullinane gave an excellent tour and interview segments covering several interesting topics. (See the clip for a glimpse of just how glamorous these video interviews tend to be.)
The three-hour Forest Hill session concluded with Matt capturing some fantastic aerial footage using his DJI Inspire 2 drone.
Site of Rev. MacGregor’s First Sermon
The First Sermon in Nutfield" from Willey's Book of Nutfield, p. 52.
From the cemetery we went with Pastor Deborah to the site on nearby Beaver Lake where it is said Rev. MacGregor preached the First Sermon. (That was April 12, 1719; our Nutfield Founders Weekend will take place 300 years later.)
The site is on private property today, and we appreciate the owner giving us permission to film there. There is some debate whether the sermon took place right on the shore or closer to today's road. We chose to film at the more scenic shore location.
Pastor Deborah did a very nice reading of Isaiah 32:2 KJV, the verse Rev. MacGregor featured in his sermon. Matt captured this from various angles, then got more beautiful drone footage over Beaver Lake as the sun began to set.
Friday: Londonderry Historical Society
Friday morning we visited the Londonderry Historical Society next door in the separate town of Londonderry. (Yes Northern Ireland readers, here Derry and Londonderry are two individual towns that coexist peacefully, without the debate you're accustomed to.)
Society member and Morrison House Museum curator Ann Chiampa gave a wonderful tour of the Museum's collections and displays—which Matt then expertly captured—and sat for an in-depth interview by Jane.
Lunch and Interviews at First Parish
We stayed too long at the fascinating Londonderry site and rushed to meet several people for lunch back at First Parish in East Derry. With pizza and salad from the historic East Derry General Store across the street, the crew conducted interviews with several local history volunteers (see the photos and Acknowledgements down below).
We were thrilled to also have early settler descendants join us for lunch. James Scannan and his mother Josephine Eleanor Wiggin Scamman trace their family tree back to the Cochran and Wilson families, and traveled from Stratham, New Hampshire just for our lunch.
Doorway to the Past: The Sandown Meeting House
Our last stop with the film crew was a visit to the Old Meeting House in the nearby town of Sandown, New Hampshire. There trustee Arlene Bassett let us in and showed us around. While not a direct part of the Nutfield story, this beautiful meetinghouse was built in 1774, just five years after the current First Parish building, and has remained nearly unchanged since then.
Stepping through the old door was a very inspiring experience, as the pulpit, galleries, box pews, and other interior features we've described so frequently at First Parish were still there to be seen. With the interior looking very much as first built, it was easy to imagine the people whose lives had been centered on this religious and civic structure.
We'll provide more photos and compare the Sandown and East Derry meetinghouses in a future blog post.
Conclusion, Acknowledgements, & Links
It was a pleasure working with Macmillan Media's Jane Veitch and Matt Gould, and we're honored they chose to film so much here in old Nutfield. We'll be sure to share their results locally once available. We also hope they are able to come back next year and help capture our exciting Nutfield 300th Celebration activities!
Many thanks to our local volunteers and friends who prepared material and gave interviews with very little advance notice:
Mark Mastromarino, curator of the Derry Museum of History
Pastor Deborah Roof, First Parish Church
TJ Cullinane, expert on Forest Hill Cemetery and area military history
Ann Chiampa, Londonderry Historical Society
Heather Rojo, Nutfield Genealogy
Karen Blandford-Anderson, Derry Heritage Commission
Nancy Heywood, FPC Historical Preservation Committee
James and Josephine Scamman, descendants of the Cochran and Wilson Families
Arlene Basset, Trustee of the Sandown Old Meeting House
Thanks also to our local reporters and bloggers for their support and articles:
Julie Huss, Derry News — History put down on film: Northern Ireland crew captures local history
Alex Guittarr and Chris Paul, Nutfield News — Irish Film Crew Visits Area To Film Historic Roots (PDF)
Heather Rojo, Nutfield Genealogy — Documentary Filming in Nutfield
BBC Film Team Follows Rev. James MacGregor to Old Nutfield
A film crew producing the Family Matters TV show for BBC Northern Ireland visited Derry NH with descendants of the 1719 founder of Nutfield The Rev. James MacGregor.
Leaving Dublin just before a rare snowstorm shut the city down, a team from [Waddell Media] in Belfast arrived in Boston recently for a four-day filming adventure.
Waddell Media’s MacGregor Party
Alan and Ainsley Laughlin, descendants of Rev. MacGregor’s brother Andrew.
Colin Brooks, American genealogist and contributor to the 1718 Migration Project.
For Waddell Media:
Richard Weller (director),
Gavin Andrews (presenter),
Paul Littler (camera),
Mark McMaster (sound),
Stephen Matter (camera assist),
and from home in Northern Ireland:Sharon Whittaker (production coordinator).
Their purpose was to shoot footage for a BBC Northern Ireland “discovering genealogy” type television show called Family Footsteps. They came with two descendants of The Rev. James MacGregor, who in 1719 led 16 Scots-Irish families from Ulster to eventually settle in Nutfield, today’s towns of Derry, Londonderry, Windham, and the Derryfield part of Manchester, New Hampshire.
On Friday March 2nd, 2018, the team traveled to Casco Bay in Maine for a firsthand experience of the tough winter conditions part of Rev. MacGregor’s party endured as their ship was stuck frozen in the bay for the winter of 1718–1719.
On Sunday March 4th, they traveled to The Fort at Number 4 on the Connecticut River in Charlestown, New Hampshire, to get a taste of the First Settlers’ daily life in a recreated colonial village and open-air museum.
Saturday March 3rd and Monday March 5th they spent mostly in Derry. Their visit was coordinated by folks from the Derry Heritage Commission, the First Parish Church Historic Preservation Committee and Building Advisory Committee, Nutfield Geneology, and the Friends of the Meetinghouse at First Parish. Some Derry scenes and details follow.
Saturday: a Walk Down Broadway
In addition to visiting historic and MacGregor-related sites, the producers wanted to capture a sense of MacGregor’s town as it is today.
They arrived about 11:00 am at the Derry Public Library, site of the later MacGregor reunion luncheon.
While the crew set up lighting and equipment in the lower level function room, their historian for this trip Colin Brooks talked with descendants Alan and Ainsley Laughlin upstairs in the New Hampshire Room. This special research room is filled with historic resources and features a stained glass window with the MacGregor family coat of arms.
The team then walked west on Broadway from the library to the Derry Museum of History in the Adams Memorial Building, stopping at corners and intersections to film and accompanied by reporters and photographers from local newspapers and a videographer from Derry Community Cable. After an extended discussion filmed on the lawn and a quick visit in the History Museum, everyone rushed by car back to the Library.
MacGregor Reunion at the Derry Public Library
While Alan, Ainsley, and Colin returned to the New Hampshire Room, the final preparations for the surprise reunion luncheon were made in the library’s great function room downstairs.
While the crew was filming downtown, several descendants of Rev. MacGregor and other founding families plus town dignitaries, First Parish's pastor, and others had made their way to the room. Once the lunch buffet, cake, and film crew were ready, the Laughlins were brought in to a cheery yelling of “Surprise!”
Alan and Ainsley were quite moved by the gathering, and the chance to meet relatives they had not previously known about. The festivities even included a FaceTime session back home to Northern Ireland so Ainsley’s life and children could participate.
First Settlers’ Graves in Forest Hill Cemetery
After the wonderful reunion lunch, the crew raced up to Forest Hill Cemetery in East Derry, very conscious of the cloudy conditions and risk of loosing the light for the remaining outdoor filming. They arrived about 3:30 pm.
Our local expert TJ Cullinane—head of the Friends of the Forest Hill Cemetery and a Heritage Commission associate—was waiting to host the crew’s visit to the final resting place of Rev. MacGregor and most of the founding families. (The First Settlers plot area is scheduled to get a sprucing up and be a highlight site for the 2019 Nutfield 300th Anniversary Celebrations.)
The First Sermon Site on Beaver Lake
After considerable filming in the cemetery, the crew moved on to the site of the First Sermon on the shore of Beaver Lake, getting there only a bit late at about 4:30 pm.
We are grateful to the property owner and residents for allowing access to this private location on the northeast shore of the Lake. This was the site where Rev. MacGregor first gathered the initial settlers for an encouraging sermon as their work to establish a life at Nutfield was about to begin. We consider its date, April 12, 1719, to be the founding date for Nutfield.
The film crew captured Colin talking about the settler's arrival and telling stories about Rev. MacGregor. Then Alan read from an historic bible the very passage Rev. MacGregor used in his sermon:
And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. — Isaiah 32:2
After capturing some beautiful, contemplative scenes as the sun lowered on the lake, the crew packed up and concluded a long but successful day.
Bonus Monday: Museum and the Meetinghouse
With the snow cleared in Dublin and a 6:30 pm Logan Airport flight home, the crew made time Monday morning March 5th to do more filming in Derry.
Alan and Ainsley returned to the Derry Museum of History. There Museum Curator Mark Mastromarino and retired Derry Town Historian Rick Holmes entertained them with a tour and many historic stories. (RIck had been out of town on film day Saturday.)
The film crew meanwhile visited the Meetinghouse at First Parish.
Though built in 1769—fifty years after MacGregor’s early death—the Meetinghouse was the civic and religious home to the wildly successful community he helped establish. Today it continues as it was then as the functional and symbolic heart of the village. A massive historic preservation project is currently underway to make sure the Meetinghouse continues to serve the community for at least another century or two. (Your donation or other support can help make this happen!)
Goodbyes and Plans
Our Northern Ireland visitors concluded their successful trip with some final shooting and a late lunch downtown before heading to the airport in Boston.
Everyone involved in hosting was moved by meeting the Alan and Ainsley, and the weekend was an encouraging boost to our plans for the Nutfield 300th Celebration in 2019. In fact, hearing of those summer-long plans, the Laughlins—and the Wadell Media team—will try to come back and participate in the big kick off at First Parish and downtown on April 12, 2019.
BBC Northern Ireland is likely to air the MacGregor TV show in 4–6 months. We'll let you know if it can be viewed from here, or otherwise try to get a copy to show locally. Meanwhile, Derry Community TV will use the extensive footage they shot in an upcoming show on the Nutfield 300th, and you can read local coverage of the filming weekend here:
DERRY NEWS
Family ties — Irish film crew helps father, son trace local roots
MANCHESTER UNION LEADER
Northern Ireland film crew visits Derry with MacGregor descendants
NUTFIELD NEWS
BBC Visits Derry With MacGregor Ancestors to Film Mini-Series
photo
NUTFIELD GENEALOGY BLOG
Mini MacGregor Reunion in Derry, New Hampshire filmed by the BBC
The 1719 Nutfield Story from an 1878 New Hampshire Newspaper
BBC Filming Rev. MacGregor's Story
A BBC film crew is covering a Rev. MacGregor family reunion and historic Nutfield sites on Saturday, March 3, 2018.
Rev. James MacGregor—“the Moses of the Scotch-Irish in America” —led the first of thousands of Scots who migrated from Northern Ireland to North America in the 1700s. Now some of his descendants are retracing Rev. MacGregor’s journey, in the company of a film crew making a documentary for the BBC.
This Saturday (March 3, 2018) they’ll be in Derry and East Derry, New Hampshire, the heart of the old Nutfield territory that Rev. MacGregor and the sixteen First Settler families made home.
Discovering A Famous Ancestor
Waddell Media, Ireland’s largest factual independent production company, is filming for the BBC Northern Ireland’s Family Footsteps series on living history and genealogy.
Rev. MacGregor descendent Alan Laughlin and son Ainsley with BBC presenter Gavin Andrews (center) study their long family tree.
They have already filmed retired Northern Ireland teacher Alan Laughlin taking a journey of discovery through his family tree, revealing how and where his Ulster-Scots ancestors lived during the 19th and 20th century, and ultimately revealing an ancestral link to Rev. MacGregor.
Alan’s son Ainsley is also part of the story. He, his wife Kerry, and their three daughters recently experienced the daily life of their ancestors at the Ulster Folk Park in Cultra, county Down. As described by Waddell production coordinator Sharon Whittaker, “Ainsley swapped software development for manual labour, Kerry the microwave for the open fire, and the girls got a taste of rural education in the 1800s.”
Now as this post is published, Alan and son Ainsley are traveling to New England with well-known BBC Northern Ireland presenter Gavin Andrews and a sizable film crew.
A recent depiction of Rev. MacGregor by Derry-area artist Rosalind Giuffrida Hartley.
Here the Laughlins will learn more about the legacy of of an ancestor whom prior to last week they didn’t even know they had. They will visit the port where MacGregor and his flock first landed, trace the settlers' path through New England, explore remnants of early settler life, and stop in Derry to see the legacy of the Nutfield settlement MacGregor helped establish and meet other MacGregor descendants.
Derry Locations
The filming will take place this Saturday, March 3rd, for most of the day. Area relative Colin Brooks will join Alan and Ainsley on the adventure. The film crew hopes to record key historic sites, and also to capture the look and feel of MacGregor’s town as it is today.
MacGregor family coat of arms window in the Derry Public Library (photo courtesy DPL).
The highlight is a surprise event for Alan and Ainsley: a 12:30 pm family reunion and luncheon reception for MacGregor descendants at the Derry Public Library. (Though not open to the public, the team is seeking additional MacGregor descendants to attend and meet Alan, Ainsley, and Colin. Please email if you’re interested. See also this story at Nutfield Geneology.)
The Derry Museum of History is downstairs in the Adams Memorial Building in downtown Derry, at 29 W. Broadway.
Earlier (about 11:00 am), the crew will arrive in Derry and be welcomed at the Adams Memorial Building by the Derry Heritage Commission. After a tour of the Derry Museum of History and its collection of MacGregor and Nutfield displays, the group will take a filming walk along Broadway to the Derry Public Library. They’ll shoot outside scenes of the library—which was first built thanks to the generosity of a MacGregor descendent—and the adjacent MacGregor Park, then join the reunion inside.
MacGregor memorial plaque at the Derry Public Library.
First Parish Church with its Meetinghouse anchoring the Upper Village, a National Register of Historic Sites location.
After, the crew will drive up the hill to the historic Upper Village in East Derry. About 3:00 pm the First Parish Historic Preservation Committee will give a tour of the 1769 Meetinghouse at First Parish Church, which is currently undergoing a massive historic preservation project. The Friends of the Forest Hill Cemetery will then host the crew’s visit to the First Settlers plots in the adjacent graveyard. (The public is welcome to observe at both sites.)
The First Settlers plot in Forest Hill Cemetery.
The day will then wrap with filming on Beaver Lake, near the site where MacGregor preached the First Sermon on April 12, 1719, marking the founding of Nutfield.
Depiction of the First Sermon on April 12, 1719, under an oak tree on the shore of Beaver Lake (from Willey's Book of Nutfield).
As our local preparations for the Nutfield 300th Anniversary Celebration ramp up, it’s exciting to see how important the story of Rev. MacGregor and Nutfield are to their descendants in Northern Ireland, and to participate by hosting this BBC filming. We will share news of the production and TV show as it develops.
UPDATE – FPC Tower Takedown is Wed. Sept. 9
Some details on the Sept. 9th Tower Takedown, with photos from the site on Sept. 1st and 2nd.
September 2, 2015 – East Derry, New Hampshire — The removal of the damaged top of the First Parish Church Meetinghouse tower is now scheduled for:
Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015, between 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon
The large crane will arrive Tuesday afternoon, and drive across the lawn to its position near the tower (special mats will help protect the grass). A trailer or two of counterweights will accompany the crane.
Preparations will begin early Wednesday morning with the lifting up of long bearing timbers (see photos below). These will rest on metal brackets attached to the belfry, and the Preservation Timber Framing (PTF) crew will through-bolt them to the belfry wall to support the top during the lift. The crane will be rigged to the timbers, and the top lifted off.
Because the belfry has long timber "legs" that nest down inside the tower base, the crane must actually lift it up very high. (The weathervane on top is firmly attached, and most likely will stay in place for the ride down.)
The crane will slowly lower the top down to timber cribbing waiting on the ground. The crew will attach side braces to safely hold the top in place while the crane still supports its weight. Once the top is secured to the cribbing on the ground, the crane will be released and move on to its next job.
That next job is to fly up the new roof that will seal the open top of the tower base. That roof is covered by a rubber membrane roofing material that will provide excellent weather protection for the two years it should take to return the restored top to the rehabilitated tower. (Batten strips on the roof surface, decorative gable/side panels, and other work will be done in time so that the roof looks a bit better than it does this week.)
After the new roof is flown up and secured, the crew may use the crane to remove the bell (which probably weighs about 1,200 pounds). This will depend on how much time is left in the day, and how quickly the tower top rigging can be changed for safe bell removal. If there's not enough time left, PTF will remove the bell another time (with a much smaller crane!).
