GOFFSTOWN HISTORICAL SOCIETY Goffstown, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire ------------------------------- **DESCRIPTION OF HOW GOFFSTOWN'S BICENTENNIAL QUILT WAS MADE** ------------------------------- Our first thought of making a quilt of this nature came in March of 1975, at the Heritage Meeting in the home of our chairman, Mary Shirley. The committee discussed many ideas from Goffstown's past for a logo to represent the town during the Bicentennial Year. To pick only one idea where there were so many historical sites and buildings would seem unjust. The idea of an applied appliqued quilt came to mind as a way to incorporate all of the ideas into a fun project. With the blessings of the Heritage Chairman and committee who thought our idea for a Bicentennial Quilt quite valid, we proceeded. Our first meetings were held at the Goffstown Town Hall in March of 1975. A good deal of planning, research and discussing was done at those first meetings. Each square started with a 16" piece of white cotton and polyester as a base. Sewn onto each square were various pieces of cotton to form buildings, trees, houses, grass, sky and people in the method of applied applique. All materials were washed so that in the future years the quilt could be washed if need be. The finished squares are all 12" square. The quilt it self seven squares wide by seven square in height and measures 97-1/2" square. The center mural of Goffstown's center looking down into the village from High Street up to our Uncanoonuc Mountains, an idea inspired by Professor Joseph Scannell of St. Anselm College's Art Department. We were fortunate to have as a mainstay of our committee, Barbara Barnard McCaughey, who designed our center mural and over half of the quilt squares. Barb also made the Wooden Bridge with its lovely tree, Harness Shop and assisted in finishing the Grist Mill, Blacksmith Shop and the center mural. If anyone had eavesdropped in on our conversations at our meetings without knowing our project he would have indeed walked away frustrated. As conversations ran from, "Today I'm replacing my roof", or "I must take these windows apart and do them again." "I definitely am going to replace this tree with a larger one." "I know I'm going to need new glasses." We tried to be very democratic in choosing the color for the stripping and border but when the favored colors were tried they proved to very flat. Thanks to Barbara Lally who searched into our boxes of scrap material and came up with our present color, one of our quickest decisions. Barb stitched our entire quilt, designed and stitched the Circus, Parker's Store, Congregational Church, spent many hours on our center mural plus she pricked her fingers many times in the final quilting. The women who worked on the Heritage Quilt ranged in ages from 18 year old Cheryl Warren to 87 years young Mrs. Christine Jennings. Amongst our group were 3 generations of the Barnard and Jennings families. Two generations of the Phillips, Merrill's, Harts and Vincent's families. We tried wherever possible to have persons historically connected with a particular square to take some part in it. As our committee idea was heritage we tried to include as many of the historical and interesting sites as we could. This quilt could never have been a reality without the assistance and dedication of Roberta Barnard who put in many hours searching for photographs and encouraging people in the quilt endeavor. Roberta designed and stitched the "Old Post Office" and the Friendship Tree, spent many hours on the center mural and assisted in assembling the squares and quilting. It has been a most enjoyable committee to be a part of. As I stated at one of the first meetings, "this should be fun project," and I truly feel that it has been. I cannot say enough for the cooperation of all the 50 girls who worked on the Heritage Quilt, especially the main committee. The Heritage Quilt was presented to the Goffstown Historical Society, on July 5th, 1976, where much of the final work was completed. It will be kept on display in a framed case for al present and future generations to enjoy. Heritage Quilt, Main Committee: Roberta Barnard, Sylvia Jennings, Barbara Lally, Mary Jones, and Jo Burnham. We wish to thank the staff at the Town Hall for their cooperation, Helen Lehay at the Goffstown Library, the Goffstown Historical Society for use of their building to assemble our quilt. And a real heartfelt thanks to all who encouraged us in this project, especially our husbands. (end)