While You Were Away

A lot of work was done during our offseason. Our largest project was our update of the Foster Gallery on the first floor of the Woodman House. Out with the old wallpaper and in with a new, fresh coat of paint. We also removed the wallpaper from the second-floor Images of Dover Gallery. While doing so, we found some of the original wallpaper from the 1800s! There is now a small display of that wallpaper framed in the room.

We also began testing out new children’s/ family programming this offseason by partnering with Partners In Health to hold our first-ever Nature Journaling Day Camp! We hope to expand our family programming to offer this
class again along with many others throughout the year.

There will be a handful of new exhibits rolling out for this year as well. Over the past few months, the Woodman Museum has received a ton of donated artifacts. Some highlights are A collection from Allie’s Jewelers of Dover (including memorabilia, jewelry-making equipment, and jewelry made in-house), local Knights of Columbus and other fraternal order artifacts, new Cold War artifacts, and a uniform of a local Korean War veteran and pharmacist.
We’ve also expanded our gift shop to include a variety of local-made goods including comic books, snacks, and art/gifts as well as Woodman Museum-themed buttons. We hope our gift shop will be appealing to both local and out of town visitors!

The big year in Dover is finally upon us; It’s the Dover 400th Anniversary Celebration! With that in mind, we at the Woodman Museum are working harder than ever to bring our guests a memorable experience during their visit. New events and programs are rolling out this year that we hope guests of all ages will enjoy. We’ve outlined just a few of the events coming up for the first half of 2023. We hope to see you soon!

 

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Happy New Year from the Woodman Museum

Thank you for making our 106th season an amazing year! Now that we have wrapped up our Holiday Artisan Faire, we now look forward to 2023 and the special year it is for Dover; the 400th Anniversary. We have so much in store for the Woodman this year and hope you’ll join us when we open for tours again in April.

2022 Year in Review
It has been another great year here at the Woodman Museum. We saw over 3000 guests to the museum during our tour season including roughly 350 students from area schools!

We created new programs and joined efforts in order to give back to the community we’ve called home for more than 100 years. Such things as:

  • Instituting an EBT discount program for admission and joining Museums for All
  • Working with the First Parish Church and their Grab & Go: Food For Kids Summer Program
  • Joining Dover Rotary as an organization and being part of the Kid’s Closet Program to feed, cloth, and supply Dover students with necessary items.

We created new programs and ways for individuals to interact with the museum, both on-site and abroad. We:

  • Expanded our social media presence with a Tik Tok page and weekly Tuesday Trivia on our Instagram.
  • Unveiled a new, up-to-date, and user friendly website with an interactive event calendar and will be starting a new museum blog for 2023.
  • Updated our Veteran’s Day Celebration event to an all-day event focused on the history of our veterans.
  • Created a corporate membership program for businesses to give their employees, volunteers, and clients free admission to the museum.

What’s Happening at the Woodman Museum?

We may be closed for tours, but the work is far from over! During the offseason, we will be doing some much needed maintenance on the houses, including a refresh of the foster gallery. We are swapping out the old wallpaper currently for a fresh paint job. We hope guests will find the new look of the first gallery on their tour to be a welcomed change!

We have also already begun planning our events for the year. We’re excited to bring you our annual favorites like Voices From the Cemetery in October along with some new experiences that we hope you’ll enjoy. Keep an eye out for announcements coming soon!

“Become a Junior Curator!” Scavenger Hunt
Our younger guests (as well as those young at heart) can now experience the museum and its artifacts in a new way with a free, unique scavenger hunt! Find all of the artifacts on your tour and be awarded the title of Junior Curator of the Woodman Museum!

Join us in June for a weekend-long encampment on the grounds of the Woodman Museum featuring the 1st NH Regiment Revolutionary War Reenactors!

Meet with soldiers and hear their stories. Stop by the camp and see what food is on the fire! This should be a weekend that everyone will have a “blast” at!

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Hale House Continued...

Born in nearby Rochester NH, John Parker Hale is best known as the first avowed Abolitionist Senator in the United States. It is an odd irony that, in the two decades Hale was in the Senate, Dover profited from the manufacture of cotton products that were produced by Southern slave labor. Living in William’s own house, Hale took a solid stand against slavery - a position that earned him enmity from Southern leaders, even a death threat on the Senate floor from a colleague. It also earned Hale a statue in 1892 on the lawn of the state capitol in Concord, NH, where his figure now stands with Daniel Webster, President Franklin Pierce and John Stark.

Today, the collections throughout two of the three floors of the Hale House are arranged into galleries displaying Hale Family artifacts, local and regional history, New England period furniture, fine and decorative arts and more.

Woodman House Continued...

The younger Charles Woodman inherited the estate from his mother. A successful financier and manager of the Strafford Savings Bank, he resided here throughout his life. He married twice: his first wife, Hannah (Coffin) Woodman, died in 1854 and in 1856 he married Annie (Allen) Woodman. When she died in January 1915, Annie Woodman left the sum of $100,000 “for the establishment …of an institution for the promotion of education in science and art and the increase and dissemination of general and especially historical knowledge.” The trustees of the estate acquired the Woodman house and the adjoining Hale House, which by chance came on the market that same year. The renovation of the interior was directed by local architect J. Edward Richardson, and the Institute opened in July, 1916.

Today, the collections throughout the three floors of the Woodman House are arranged into galleries displaying natural science (mounted specimens, rocks and minerals, fossils, seashells), Native American culture, military history, “childhood” history (schools, Scouting, toys, games and dolls), seasonal themed exhibits and more.

Damm Garrison House Continued...

In 1915, Col. Daniel Hall (the founding Head Trustee of the Woodman Museum) had an interview with Mrs. Rounds and broached the matter of having the garrison and its contents removed to the grounds of the Woodman Museum. The proposition proved to be acceptable to her; in due time she made a formal gift of the Damm garrison to the Museum. Daniel Chesley was entrusted with the task of removing the house to its new home; it took him one week, using wooden rollers and a horse, to move the garrison to the grounds. Local architect J. Edward Richardson directed the construction of the protective outer “colonnade” building that surronds and protects the garrison currently.

Today, the collections throughout the two floors of the William Damm Garrison House are arranged into galleries displaying local Colonial and Early American history.

Keefe House & Carriage Barn Continued...

Today, the first floor of the Keefe House (the Thom Hindle Gallery) features rotating artist and artisan exhibitions throughout the year. The second floor of the Keefe House (the Robert Whitehouse Library) serves as administrative offices and a climate controlled archive. The attached two story Carriage Barn houses local and regional transportation, trades, farm, and household collections.

Keefe House & Carriage Barn Continued...

Today, the first floor of the Keefe House (the Thom Hindle Gallery) features rotating artist and artisan exhibitions throughout the year. The second floor of the Keefe House (the Robert Whitehouse Library) serves as administrative offices and a climate controlled archive. The attached two story Carriage Barn houses local and regional transportation, trades, farm, and household collections.