Saving the Mountains Program

The Historical Society will sponsor its third and final 2014 summer program on Tuesday, August 12 at 7:00 PM at Alumni Hall on Court Street in Haverhill. Marcia Schmidt Blaine of Plymouth State University will present "Saving the Mountains: New Hampshire and the Creation of the National Forests," which will address New Hampshire’s early role in the creation of the National Forests. Admission is free and open to the public.

New Hampshire’s White Mountains played a leading role in events leading to the Weeks Act, the law that created the eastern national forests. Focusing on Concord’s Joseph B. Walker and the Forest Society’s Philip Ayres, Blaine explores the relationship between our mountains and the economic, environmental and aesthetic questions posed by the individuals involved in the creation of the National Forest.

Marcia Schmidt Blaine is a historian of New Hampshire and New England history and Chair of the Department of History, Philosophy and Social Studies at Plymouth State University. While her academic work focuses on the development of American identity, eighteenth-century New Hampshire women, and Anglo captives of the Abenaki, Blaine also explores various aspects of White Mountains history through her work with the Museum of the White Mountains in Plymouth.