Lake Winnipesaukee Museum to explore history of the big lake

WEIRS BEACH — The Lake Winnipesaukee Museum will host NH Humanities speaker Glenn Knoblock on Wednesday, Aug. 6, at 7 p.m. He will present The Hidden History of Lake Winnipesaukee. 

Lake Winnipesaukee's history goes well beyond the boating and other recreational-related activities we think of today. Knoblock will reveal the many facets of this history, including the real story about “America’s Oldest Summer Resort” in Wolfeboro, the religious sect on Gilford’s Governors Island who thought the world was ending, Massachusetts’ early efforts to claim New Hampshire territory as their own, the site of the country’s first college sports rivalry in Center Harbor, the African-American community that once existed in Gilmanton, and the only airport of its kind in the entire country in Alton.

Knoblock is an independent scholar and author of over 20 books. He has served as the main military contributor to Harvard and Oxford University's landmark ”African American National Biography,” and he has also written for the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. His work documents a wide variety of subjects in New Hampshire and New England history, including African American history, historic cemeteries and grave markers, as well as covered bridges, the Kancamagus Highway, and New Hampshire's loon population.

The Lake Winnipesaukee Historical Society was founded in 1985 with the mission to promote and preserve the history and heritage of the Big Lake and its vicinity. Located at 503 Endicott St. N., next to Funspot in the Weirs, the museum is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through mid-October. 

Reservations are requested, to lakewinnipesaukeemuseum@gmail.com or by phone to 603-366-5950.