Wetherbee telling Meredith stories

Do you know the gruesome story that led to the separation of Laconia (a.k.a. “Meredith Bridge”) from this small community? Or about the local Civil War soldier who made a fortune in diamonds? Or about the town eccentric who weighed women for a penny?

It’s sharing those kind of delicious, offbeat tidbits of history that have made Fritz Wetherbee into a New Hampshire institution. For years now — first on NH Public Television and now on Channel 9’s weeknight “New Hampshire Chronicle” program — Wetherbee has been telling stories about the state’s history that make long-gone historical characters somehow seem like your neighbors.

On Friday, Wetherbee was on Main Street with his producer Donna Smith and videographer Chris McDevitt working on five stories about Meredith’s colorful past. The segments will be shown on “Chronicle” in the next few weeks, he said.

Wetherbee was dressed (as always) nattily, in a brown suit jacket, white shirt and tie. His smooth baritone was as soothing in person as it is on television as he pointed to the Civil War monument in the Meredith Public Gardens.

“In honor of the 12th regiment NH Volunteers who fought in the war of 1861-1865 for the preservation of the union,” the inscription reads, and underneath “Erected by Major E.E. Bedee.”

Bedee was an important person of his era, Wetherbee explained. “He was a Civil War hero. He entered as a private and left as a major. And he served in the 12th NH volunteers regiment, like it says. Actually his real last name was Bedee but he changed it because he was born illegitimate and he didn’t want to be known that way. Later on he went to South Africa and invested in diamond mines, where he made millions.”

After awhile, Wetherbee and the camera turned around so the host could be seen standing before what he called the old town hall on the corner of Lake and Main streets. As he tells the story, the town hall in Meredith — which included what is now Laconia in the early 1800s — used to be in Meredith Parade, several miles outside of the village (in the area where the Petal Pusher's nursery now sits). But as commerce grew in Laconia, the residents began to complain about traveling so far to do municipal business, like attending the annual Town Meeting.

But to the further consternation of the Laconia residents, a new town hall/meeting house was built in 1852 on that corner in what is now called Meredith Village, even further away.

The building was ready for its first Town Meeting by the time 1855 rolled around, Wetherbee explained. “But on the first ballot, the floor gave way, killing eight people and injuring many others. It was a horrific accident, one of the worst of that time, and it had a giant impact on the town. There were people who were bedridden the rest of their lives from injuries they got from that situation. It was horrendous.”

Within months, the state legislature approved a measure allowing Laconia to become its own town.

Then there is the story of Joseph Plummber, who was by any measure was one of the true New Hampshire town eccentric. “He lived in a very well-built house with no windows and a tiny door that you had to stoop down to get into,” Wetherbee explained. “And he had blades set up all around his fireplace just in case somebody tried to come in through the chimney.”

But Plummber did maintain some social interaction. He invented a contraption that allowed him to weigh people, and he would weigh women for one penny. “I guess that was the way he could get close to them,” Wetherbee said with a smile.

Wetherbee's segments on New Hampshire’s colorful history can be see on “Chronicle” weeknights on Channel 9 at 7:30 p.m.