The Old Allenstown Meeting House Committee celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Old Allenstown Meeting House (aka the OAMH). A special day-long commemoration was held at the Meeting House at 150 Deerfield Rd. on July 18, 2015 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event was free of charge.

» For highlights of the day's events, click here.

Here is what visitors enjoyed:

• 9:00 a.m. - The bicentennial celebration began with a brief non-denominational religious service.
• 10:30 a.m. - James L. Garvin, retired State Architectural Historian, presented a history of the Meeting House.
• 11:00 a.m. - Selectmen's Meeting (simulated).
• 1:30-2:30 p.m. - Bob Kilham, Jr., historical musician, provided a concert of American songs of the 1800s.
• Outdoor activities:
  • Due to the poor weather, the Abbot-Downing Historical Society was unable to exhibit a genuine Concord Coach.
  • Children participated in some traditional games of that time period.
• Food for sale was provided by the Allenstown Firefighters' Association.
• The CCC and Snowmobile Museums were open for visitors.

About the Meeting House:

Constructed in 1815 as a place for town meetings and as a house of worship, the simple but unique Old Allenstown Meeting House has narrowly escaped destruction on three occasions.

As its frame was being raised, the Great Gale of 1815, the most powerful hurricane to strike New England until the 1938 hurricane, devastated New Hampshire. Almost a hundred years later, in May 1914, a stray spark from a locomotive ignited the worst forest fire in Allenstown's history. The meeting house was saved from the flames by volunteers who frantically dug a ditch around the building as a fire stop. Then, in 1985, the building was severely damaged by fire.

Neighbors and others, beginning with the Buntin-Rumford-Webster Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution who owned the building at the time of the fire, have spent the last thirty years working to restore the damage caused by the fire of 1985.

For information about other activities of the Allenstown Historical Society, call 603-485-4437.