WEARE NH

WEARE NH

The Gazebo

Center Park

Built - 1989

The southern New Hampshire town of Weare boasts being one of the earliest towns in the "New World" to stage a protest against the King of England that helped to pave the way for the American Revolution a few years later with what is labeled as "The Pine Tree Riot - April, 1772."

In the early 1700s, more and more people were immigrating to the American colonies and to the New Hampshire coast which developed into trading centers for the supplies the colonists needed to buy from England and for materials these new residents were selling to the ships bound to sail back to the Motherland. One of the most abundant resources in New Hampshire were the tall pines that were in great abundance in the state and needed for the masts of the great sailing ships of England. This great need drew settlers father inland to set up the great number of sawmills to meet this great need with many dangerous challenges to be met by these brave and industrious people. Land was also cleared for farms and roads built for travel and to transport the products harvested in this untapped land. Needless to say, the work for these colonists was very hard and their daily lives were arduous.

"The Gazebo" in Weare center is located in Center Park, a 1.2 acre park adjacent to the Weare Middle School. It is the town's first permanent structure with a portable stage once used for community events that traveled around the town but mainly sat in front of the Weare Town Hall. The bandstand was financed through the Weare Historical Society and the Sawyer Trust Fund with the building of the structure overseen by the Society along with citizens and contractors who all worked together to give the town its first focal point for concerts and other community events. Also the Garden Club added many plantings to the park and around the bandstand. Previously, the Mt. William House was used as a meeting place as well as the portable stage but it burned down in the 1980s and the adjacent park closed down. The bandstand was built in 1989 and given to the town two years later by the Weare Historical Society on the town's 225th anniversary of incorporation.

The first tree lighting and caroling took place on Sunday, December 8th, 1991 and after that many other events have taken place on the bandstand including the many popular concerts, Garden Club plant sales, square dancing, etc.

INFORMATION PROVIDED BY:

Elizabeth P. Straw, President

Sylvia M. Beaupre', Secretary

Weare Historical Society