Jeannie Eastman explores the architectural styles of Harrisville, from Georgian and Federalist to Gothic Revival and Victorian.

A few years ago, Historic Harrisville’s archives accepted an important gift of notable proportions: nearly 800 glass negatives—the entire collection—taken by Fred Milan Travis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Harrisville, New Hampshire is important because it is the only nineteenth century industrial community in New England which survives in anything like its original form. All the major components of the town are still intact and it appears today almost exactly as it did in the nineteenth century.

The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission awarded Historic Harrisville a $150,000 grant, through the Renewable Energy Fund Grant Program, in 2014. The grant was for the installation of three 350,000 BTU, wood pellet boilers in the Cheshire Mills Complex.

On June 4, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order allowing Historic Harrisville Inc. to redevelop the hydroelectric capability that powered Cheshire Mills for nearly 100 years. Winning approval was a 3-year-plus process.

In mid-December Historic Harrisville received good news on two fronts. First, it was awarded a grant by New Hampshire’s Land and Community Heritage Investment Program to rehabilitate the Trip Hammer Shop. Secondly, an application to the Public Utilities Commission renewable energy generation program won approval.

On Sunday, January 27, 2013, Rick Monahon and his wife, Duffy, were killed in a tragic automobile accident in Hillsborough, NH, as they were returning from a day of skiing at Mount Sunapee.

Repairs to the Eagle Hall Carriage House have generated a lot of interest and many questions as to why Historic Harrisville chose to undertake the extraordinary measures necessary to keep the original structure standing rather than take it down.