Welcome to The East Orford History Project
Photo: Upper Baker Pond From The Clough/Thorndike Farm Circa 1920
Welcome to The East Orford History Project
Photo: Upper Baker Pond From The Clough/Thorndike Farm Circa 1920
About Us
Welcome to The East Orford History Project!
I am pleased to announce the start of an East Orford history project to write and collect histories of East Orford properties and families. East Orford is a very important part of our lives. Many of us have lived much or all of our time in this special place. We have families going back several and in some cases many generations and we have deeply felt personal experiences, bonds, friendships, and cherished homesteads here. Our ancestors and forebearers worked and sacrificed to start the building of our prosperity and current families continue that devotion. Let's tell the story!
The Orford Historical Society has presented much at the Fall Walking Tour in 2000 and at the 2018 Summer Camp Program and Walking Tour. Another Orford Historical Society tour showed us some of our cellar holes. Gerald and Art Pease have provided a logging history. and Art has presented so much about residents' work for summer folk. Theda and Glenn Pease's diaries and interviews with Art add so much more. Art continues his invaluable research and reporting and is very supportive of this new effort.
This new project will draw upon the records, papers, memories, stories, and photos of those of us who can relate their own property and family history, written by a family member, it is organized family by family and will start with those I know and will add, hopefully, many others as leads develop. Reports will be in hard copy and digital. This will be informal, not an official part of the Orford Historical Society, but with the intention that all material will be given, in stages, to the Orford Historical Society for preservation and wider distribution. It's a chance for many properties and families to be more a part of the historical record.
I hope this sounds good to you. I invite your feedback and participation. Let's make this a very enjoyable project.
Buddy Durham
September 2022
Old Fashioned Gravel Roads Wind Through East Orford
Upper Baker Pond Road in autumn
This Site is Designed to be the First Step
From the onset we realized we have a treasure trove of information available! So much, in fact, that one website couldn't reasonably accommodate all the great stuff we have. Many of our webpage sections have a button to another section, or a related website to delve deeper into the subject. Please note, we have created USB thumb drives containing content that simply wouldn't fit here. The USB thumb drives are available at both Orford libraries and from developers of this website.
Thanks for your interest, and we hope you will enjoy our labor of love!
(Photo: George Trussell Saw Mill--1907)
Click On The Photos Below To Visit That Section Of Our Site
East Orford's Summer Camps
Orford Historical Society Programs
Orford Historical Society Programs
East Orford has been the home of children's summer camps since the early 20th century.
Orford Historical Society Programs
Orford Historical Society Programs
Orford Historical Society Programs
Orford had been blessed with families who treasure and preserve history.
East Orford Family Histories
Orford Historical Society Programs
East Orford Family Histories
Our Community--Our Families
The Davistown School
The Davistown School
East Orford Family Histories
East Orford's Davistown School
Diaries & Memoirs
The Davistown School
Pease Family Diaries
Diaries and Memoirs give a glimpse into the past.
Pease Family Diaries
The Davistown School
Pease Family Diaries
The Pease family has thoroughly documented life in East Orford.
Work
Historic Photographs
Summer Residents
East Orford folks have a history of working with the land.
Summer Residents
Historic Photographs
Summer Residents
Summer resident Henry Ryan MacGinnis painting in his Orford studio c.1920.
Historic Photographs
Historic Photographs
The Bischoff Properties
Mount Cube Farm barn.
The Bischoff Properties
Obituaries Over The Years
The Bischoff Properties
The stories of the people and families of the Bischoff properties, originally
the Thomas Savage Farm.
Wills, Papers, & Deeds
Obituaries Over The Years
Obituaries Over The Years
This Page is currently under construction.
Check back later!
Obituaries Over The Years
Obituaries Over The Years
Obituaries Over The Years
Obituaries from East Orford's residents and summer visitors who have shaped our community.
Atwell Hill--Orford's Neighbor to the East
Atwell Hill--Orford's Neighbor to the East
Atwell Hill--Orford's Neighbor to the East
This part of Wentworth, New Hampshire has been integral in the lives of East Orford residents.
The East Cemetery
Atwell Hill--Orford's Neighbor to the East
Atwell Hill--Orford's Neighbor to the East
Originally the Savage Cemetery, the East Cemetery in East Orford is where many of the area's forebearers are interned.
For More Information...
For More Information...
For More Information...
USB drives containing The Orford History Collection, with a 'deeper dive' into the content of the East Orford History Project are available at both Orford libraries.
Letters From Home
For More Information...
For More Information...
Our growing collection of correspondence over the years from East Orford residents.
"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Did You Know?
An East Orford resident, businessman, and civic leader who served as NH Governor?
***Governor Meldrim Thomson, Jr.***
That the "Father of the US Nuclear Navy" visited and sent his son to camp on Upper Baker Pond?
***Admiral Hyman Rickover*** (His son attended Camp Lauroweld)
That the 1976 Nobel Prize winning author/economist & his economist wife lived here summers?
***Milton & Rose Friedman***
That a future legendary football coach was a counselor at Camp Moosilauke?
***Vince Lombardi***
That a famous landscape painter who painted many scenes here, resided in East Orford many summers?
***Henry Ryan MacGinnis***
That an East Orford blacksmith and carpenter built many of the area's summer camp buildings?
***Warren Chase*** (He also surveyed the Orford area's section of the Appalachian Trail)
That it is largely East Orford residents who have watched over our summer camps?
***Warren Chase, Maurice Chase, Charles Ladd, Glenn Pease, Stanley Chase, Don Tatham, David Bischoff, Jim Hook, Richard Carter, Jim Carter, Ken Nutter, and many others***
A 1904 Camp Moosilauke stay may have inspired the Appalachian Trail?
***Benton MacKaye***
