Tom Howe Barn and conservation area named to NH State Register of Historic Places

GILMANTON — The Gilmanton Conservation Commission reports that Tom Howe Barn & Conservation Area has been listed on the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places as of July 25.

“The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources is pleased to announce that the State Historical Resources Council has added five properties to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places, each of which reflects the state’s rural history.”

The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources states The Tom Howe Barn & Conservation Area is eligible for the NH State Register for its association with Gilmanton’s agricultural past, particularly the production of flax and linen. Its agricultural significance is reflected in the landscape, including the cleared fields, small barn, stone walls, foundations, retting pond, and other agricultural elements.

The property is a cultural landscape that features historic elements and landscape features from the property’s various time periods and uses. It includes an expansive hayfield, a retting pond, barn, foundations, and hardwood forest with trails. Along with the trails are remnants of antique farm implements and equipment. The land also has 1,000 feet of frontage on the 26-acre Meeting House Pond and includes a sugar bush orchard.

The property was recommended eligible for the New Hampshire State Register for its historical contributions to the history of Gilmanton. It is significant as a rural historic district for its vernacular architecture, layered landscape, and for its contributions to multiple contexts within New Hampshire’s broader history, including flax production, subsistence farming, and the cottage industry of shoe-making.