• Blues power: Until he stumbled into a Chicago nightclub in the early 1990s, Johnny Burgin planned to be a writer. But the city’s blues scene captivated him, and before long he was playing in a band and sharing stages with legends like Sam Lay, Billy Boy Arnold and Pinetop Perkins. Thursday, May 21, 7:30 p.m., Brickhouse Restaurant & Brewery, 241 Union Square, Milford, johnnyburgin.com.
• Laugh tonight: A night of standup is headlined by Jay Chanoine, with Klia Ververidis and Rick Gauthier. Friday, May 22, 7 p.m., American Legion Post 81, 169 Bound Tree Road, Hopkinton, $20, eventbrite.com.
• Guitar hero: Early on, guitarist Quinn Sullivan knew his destiny. His parents taught him the Mt. Rushmore of rockers: Beatles, Stones, Dead, Allmans. It was a vital inculcation; Sullivan picked up a guitar at age 3, guested on Ellen at 6, was mentored by blues giant Buddy Guy when he turned 8, and as a teenager he played with rock music giants at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Festival. Friday, May 22, 8 p.m., Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry, $40 and up, tupelohall.com.
• Country man: The outdoor venue behind Town Cabin Restaurant & Deli is now open, with Willy Chase one of four weekend performers (Sunday Ave. plays Friday, Justin Federico’s on Sunday, with Taylor Hughes on Memorial Day). Chase is nearing completion of a long-awaited EP; a teaser from one of its tracks is on the socials — “Pushin’ My Luck” is a great drink and regret song. Saturday, May 23, 6 p.m., The Barnyard, 285 Old Candia Road, Candia, candiabarnyardvenue.com.
• Rock doll: With her first official live album set for release next month, Samantha Fish has a pair of upcoming shows in New Hampshire.Sunday, May 24, 7 p.m., Nasha Center for the Arts, 201 Main St., Nashua, $55 and up, etix.com.
Nashua International Sculpture Symposium offers access to artists
In front of a revitalized Civil War-era cotton mill, four sculptors are doing something unique: creating their work in full view of the public. Through early June, Pauline Berger of Germany, Margaux LaSalle of France, Anna Moultoni of Italy and Sean Williams of Barre, Vermont, are shaping stone into permanent public sculpture.
For close to two decades it’s been a rite of spring, and the longevity of the Nashua International Sculpture Symposium has changed the scope of the event’s debt to the city. This year the organization behind it has a new name: the Nashua Sculpture Project. It’s a subtle but telling shift in identity.
“We had 56 sculptures as of last year,” Executive Director Gail Moriarty said in a recent phone interview. “When I looked at them, it became pretty clear to me that we need to change our focus from just being three weeks in May to the care and preservation of our collection.”
So much outdoor sculpture, spread across Nashua’s parks and public spaces, represents an enormous civic investment and an equally large maintenance responsibility. The new organizational framework puts stewardship of its legacy alongside the annual event itself.
The Symposium remains the same, Moriarty continued, but what’s different is a focus on care and restoration for the rest of the year. It means expanded programming, including fundraising events, family classes, stone-carving workshops and the like.
“Art is everything,” she said. “The Nashua Sculpture Project is about art in every form.”
Annual sculptor selection was a peer-driven process, led by Artistic Director Jim Larson. It began with last year’s artists recommending sculptors for the current year. From a compiled list, the board considered individual portfolios, along with what Larson called “less quantifiable considerations.”
Speaking by phone recently, Larson explained what that meant. “We try to consider what Nashua needs, how these artists might enmesh into our community, and how they’ll serve Nashua. We try to create a group that will work well together … have similar perspectives in some ways, but also varying perspectives.”
This year’s guiding theme for the four sculptors is “Gathering Momentum.” It was chosen as a principle, not a prescription. Artists are free to interpret the phrase wherever their instincts lead them. For Larson, though, they are impactful words that reflect his convictions about art’s role in the present age.
“I and many other sculptors share this idea that artists today should be working at a scale that matches the level of destruction we see in the world right now,” he said. “If we are going to keep up with that, we need as much momentum and as much power and forward movement as we can muster. That’s what it’s about.”
All four sculptors this year will work in stone. It’s a deliberate choice and, for Larson, also philosophical for a symposium that requires materials built to last. A hundred-year maintenance-free lifespan is their stated goal, but the reasoning goes deeper than durability, Larson believes.
“We’re not making luxury objects for Nashua, we’re not trying to boost property values,” he said. “We are trying to make livable, meaningful artwork for people. That means we have to work with humble materials that are accessible, and stone is the most humble material we have. It’s just a piece of the ground.”
Larson encourages the curious to come out to see it happen, to experience what he considers a rare opportunity.
“It’s so hard to just have a conversation with an artist, because they’re not out in public working, and this is the chance,” he said. “If you want to go talk to an artist, just show up and they’ll talk to you. If you really want a long conversation, bring a meal and sit down and have dinner with them.”
For details on buying a meal for a sculptor, visit the Project’s website, or contact the organization for information on other ways to support the effort. Larson offered a final thought on why watching enduring art come to life is a valuable and truly enlightening experience.
“In America, manual [and] demanding labor is really rare to see. The widespread view of hard physical labor right now is that it’s an unfortunate byproduct of having to afford an expensive American life. But for these artists, this version of work is one of the most joyous things that they get to do.”
19th Nashua International Sculpture Symposium When: Mondays through Saturdays, through June 3, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Where: Picker Artists Studios, 3 Pine St., Nashua More: nashuasculpturesymposium.org Closing ceremony – Saturday, June 6, at 1 p.m.
Featured photo: Clockwise from top left Sean Williams, Pauline Berger, Margot Lasalle, Anna Multone. Courtesy photos.
Post-millennium All Your Friends party hits Nashua
While Napster and LimeWire were treating the record business like termites attacking a wooden house, some decent music came in the wake of Y2K. Late-’90s artists like Radiohead and Bjork inspired MGMT, Passion Pit, LCD Soundsystem and others to merge dance, melodic pop and rock in pursuit of a new sound.
Indietronica, as the loose subgenre came to be known, energized club New York City denizens throughout the 2000s. An upcoming event in Nashua will celebrate it with DJ music, multimedia and dancing. All Your Friends is the latest themed party to come from Brooklyn-based Burwoodland.
The company launched in 2015 with Emo Night Brooklyn and has added a half dozen more events since, including two that have recently been done in New Hampshire: Gimme Gimme Disco and a musical theater costume party, Broadway Rave. They also offer K-Pop and metal nights, along with one for ex-clubbers with kids that ends before 10 p.m.
Best friends Alex Badanes and Ethan Maccoby didn’t anticipate growing to more than 1,200 shows a year while recruiting close to 100 DJs to host events nationally. Or billionaire Mark Cuban making what Music Business Worldwide described as a “seven-figure investment” in the company in January 2026.
“Honestly, we were just looking to have a good time,” Maccoby said by phone recently. He and Badanes always enjoyed hosting parties before going to shows, but decided, “Instead of a pre-game at our apartment, we wanted to throw it at a bar, so that we didn’t have to clean up. Maybe they’d give us some free alcohol. That was really the main motivation.”
The very first Emo Night Brooklyn was held in early 2015 at the 100-capacity basement of the now-closed Cameo bar in Williamsburg. Hundreds of people showed up, and they were invited back. The next bash happened in the Cameo’s larger upstairs area. What began as a free party just kept growing.
All Your Friends, which debuted in 2025, is a fan’s effort.
“We started it because Alex and I also love this music, but we also saw that there was a big demand for it as well,” Maccoby said. “The first two events we had Passion Pit and Matt & Kim at the show with us. They put on a DJ set that was amazing; that kind of kick-started the series.”
“As millennials, we feel like we grew up with these artists,” Badanes told Paper magazine when the event launched. “I was at Berklee while Passion Pit was coming up in the early 2010s, and I still remember seeing one of their first Boston shows, how electric it felt, how new it all sounded. That era shaped so much of our musical identity.”
It became a quick success.
“We only just started like a little less than a year ago and we’ve had, I think, over a hundred or so All Your Friends events, many sold out, all around the U.S. and Canada,” he said. “It’s been really cool, and we’re now excited to come back to Nashua in May.”
The format is DJ-driven, but the production goes beyond a laptop and a speaker stack. Visuals are projected throughout the evening, synchronized to specific songs, and glow sticks find their way into the crowd. Still, they’re careful not to over-engineer the experience.
“We try to keep things raw and lightweight and just authentic,” he said. “Just come out to an affordable, awesome night, meet a bunch of other people who are into the same music.” Affordability is important; average ticket prices run between $20 and $30.
Attendees routinely rave about the events.
“People meet their best friends, their wives, their husbands,” Maccoby said. “People get engaged and we DJ their weddings. It’s really cool, the community these things create, because obviously music brings people together from all different backgrounds.”
All Your Friends When: Friday, May 15, at 8 p.m. Where: Nashua Center for the Arts, 201 Main St., Nashua Tickets: $26 and up at etix.com
• Dolly smart: Since emerging from a hiatus in 2017, indie-rock stalwarts The Mammals are still going strong. Last year’s expansive LP Touch Grass Vol. 1 & 2 was a call to community for the activism-minded group, called “a party band with a conscience” by the Boston Globe. An upcoming listening room show benefits the local chapter of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Thursday, May 14, 7 p.m., Stone Church, 5 Granite St., Newmarket, $25, stonechurchrocks.com.
• Local lights: One of the better About web pages belongs to Happy Just to See You, where the moody rockers list artists they’ve been compared to “by people of various levels of intoxicated.” It includes Counting Crows, Pixies and “this band from the 90s, I’m blanking on the name.” A release show with openers Megan From Work and Slim Volume celebrates a new album, Last Week’s Horse. Friday, May 15, 8 p.m., BAD BRGR, 1015 Elm St., Manchester, $10, evenbrite.com.
• Heavy music: Fans with VIP tickets to an upcoming show by post-metal rockers A World Worth Burning will receive a bootleg CD from their debut performance last November. The instrumental band, formed by members of Vigil, has an album due in June. A dreamy preview track, “Speak No Evil,” came out last month. Koga NH and Z/28 open the show. Saturday, May 16, 8 p.m., Terminus Underground, 134 Haines St., Nashua, $15 and up, newhampshireunderground.org.
• Old-timey: With a mix of bluegrass, old-time string band and blues music, Any Which Way is led by folk scene veteran Scott Heron with, according to Heron’s website, “a rotating lineup of stellar musicians.” A guitar, fiddle and upright bass rendition of the old standard “Walk That Lonesome Valley” is a tasty treat. They’re at a live music hub that recently rolled out a new food menu. Saturday, May 16, 7 p.m., Pembroke City Limits, 134 Main St., Pembroke, theanywhichway.com.
• Soothing duo: Musicians and friends Brad Myrick & Tom Pirozzoli share an afternoon of songs at an art gallery that’s not far from jazz guitarist Myrick’s home. It’s also where Pirozzoli, a folk singer and painter, has shown several works of art, including his still life “Kitchen Window.” Their duo show promises “spontaneous interplay, a touch of the world, and a whole lot of fun.” Sunday, May 17, 5 p.m., Two Villages Art Society, 846 Main St., Contoocook, twovillagesart.org.
Every other year the Amoskeag Quilters Guild holds a two-day event to showcase the creative skills of its 160 members. On May 16 and May 17 at Manchester’s Memorial High School, 220 quilts will be on display, ranging from heirloom-quality masterworks to the earnest first efforts of brand-new quilters.
The latter aspect is important. It’s not a juried show — every skill level is welcome, among participants and viewers. This is a celebration of a community and its shared passion, according to the event’s chairperson; a joyous occasion for an organization that formed back in 1988.
“We’ve encouraged every member to put in a quilt,” quilter Kristi Parker said by phone recently. “We’ve got some people who’ve been quilting for 40-plus years and are very skilled, and there are others who’ve only been quilting six months. We’ve welcomed all levels of ability.”
That intentional inclusivity is part of what sets a Guild show apart from prestigious competitions. “When you go to a juried show, it’s like going to a professional basketball game,” Parker said. “You appreciate the players, you love being there, but most people aren’t ever going to attain that level.”
A Guild event, she continued, is an experience grounded in the possible. “You see amazing works and think, ‘I can aspire to that,’ and you also see someone who’s only been quilting six months. They’ve put their heart and soul into something, and it’s encouraging. Because you think, ‘I can do that.’”
Parker came to quilting in a roundabout way. Growing up in a rural town, she kept busy making clothes. In her teens she decided to make a quilt with collected fabric scraps.
“I had no idea there were rules or guidelines,” she said. “Traditional quilts are made from cotton, but my first one has everything from polyester and double knit to velvet.”
The hand-stitching of her childhood has given way to high-tech equipment like a long-arm quilting machine, a computer-guided, large-format device that’s transformed quilt-making in recent years. It was used to make this year’s raffle prize, a quilt that began as paper pieced blocks that individual Guild members worked on prior to assembly.
Speaking of high-end, a big-ticket prize at this year’s show is a $1,800 Bernina 335 sewing machine from Pintuck & Purl in North Hampton, a donation that wowed Parker.
“When they offered us that machine to raffle off, my jaw dropped to the floor,” she said. “If somebody wins it … they’ve hit the jackpot.”
Proceeds from the show benefit the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Mass. However, the raffle for the “Tastefully Tula” collaborative quilt raises funds in support of Kidneys for Kindness. The nonprofit organization advocates for organ donation, supports donors and raises awareness about kidney health.
Other Guild charitable efforts include Cases of Caring, with members making and donating pillowcases to local groups to bring to children, veterans and shut-ins. Every other year, the Guild hosts a workshop to mass produce them, and kits can be picked up at monthly meetings and returned.
There’s also the Quilted Gift program. Members receive pre-batted and backed kits for quilting and bouncing, along with other completed tops and quilts that members have finished and wish to donate. The Committee then distributes them to people in need. More than 850 quilts have been donated to various programs and charities in the past five years.
This cohesiveness is a big part of what draws Parker to the organization, and it has less to do with fabric than with people.
“One of my favorite parts of quilting, besides the creativity, is the community,” she said. “Having the chance to meet people, to develop friendships — that’s really what drives me.”
Amoskeag Quilters Guild Show When: Saturday, May 16, and Sunday, May 17), 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Where: Manchester Memorial High School, 1 Crusader Way, Manchester Tickets: $10 at the door, free for ages 12 and under More: amoskeagqg.org
From semiquincentennial to superheroes, a guide to regional museums
One of the great advantages of living in New Hampshire is a sense of history. Everywhere, there are reminders of the state’s heritage, from colonial days to the first in the nation primary and beyond. Is it any wonder America’s leading documentary filmmaker hails from the Granite State?
As the Declaration of Independence’s 250th anniversary nears, it’s a great time to visit a museum. There are many choices, such as local historical societies, places dedicated to New Hampshire’s rich industrial past like the Millyard Museum and Belknap Mill, and a quirky telephone museum in Warner.
For something off history’s path, Manchester’s Currier Museum of Art’s “Summer of Photography” has works from “Danny Lyon: The Bikeriders,” shown beside a pair of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and “Together, Apart, and Away: Snapshots from the Peter J. Cohen Collection.”
Together, Currier Director of Marketing and Communications Ali Goldstein noted recently, they tell distinct stories about shared human experiences. “Sweeping and personal, nostalgic and timely,” she said, they “herald the beginning of a season of road trips, family adventures, and the making of new memories.”
With that in mind, here’s a guide to exploring regional museums, with information from the location’s websites and social media pages (call to double check times and other details before setting forth).
America’s Stonehenge
105 Haverhill Road, North Salem (893-8300, stonehengeusa.com)
Hours: Daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (last admission 4 p.m.), open year-round (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas)
Admission: $19
Description: Complex of man-made stone chambers, walls, and standing stones, it’s potentially the oldest constructed site in the United States. Like Stonehenge in England, it appears to have served as an accurate astronomical calendar.
Don’t miss: The Oracle Chamber — a subterranean stone passage with acoustic properties that are still not fully understood — and witnessing the summer solstice sunrise alignment at dawn from the main site.
Hours: Thursday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., open May-November
Admission: $8 (NH Museum Trail Member)
Description: During the American Revolution, this building served as the state treasury, where the Gilman family stored New Hampshire’s wartime finances. Today the museum’s permanent collection of founding documents includes an original Dunlap Broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence, early drafts of the U.S. Constitution with editorial annotations, and a wealth of Revolutionary-era correspondence and artifacts.
Don’t miss: A rare surviving copy of the first printed announcement of America’s independence, the Dunlap Broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence.
Description: Founded in 1996, the Institute creates a thought-provoking dialogue between art and nature in its 140-acre outdoor sculpture park, with more than 100 large-scale works on wooded trails. Allow two or three hours for exploring, and bring sturdy shoes. The Institute also hosts regular concerts.
Don’t miss: The main sculpture trail at golden hour offers a magical atmosphere, as low, warm light hits the stone and metal works, highlighting their features.
Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday 1-4 p.m., open year-round
Admission: $15 for ages 13-64, others $7.50 (NH Museum Trail member)
Description: Housed in a restored 1937 Art Deco terminal and control tower at the edge of the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, the museum preserves and celebrates New Hampshire’s rich aviation heritage, from early barnstormers to World War II aces to modern aerospace pioneers.
Don’t miss: A display honoring the first American in space, New Hampshire’s own Alan Shepard. Saturdays from 1 to 4 p.m., try the hands-on Elite Flight Simulator, a realistic, all-ages flight experience.
Belknap Mill Museum
25 Beacon St. East, Laconia (524-8813, belknapmill.org)
Hours: Thursday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., open year-round
Admission: $10 for adults (NH Museum Trail member)
Description: Built in 1823, the country’s oldest unaltered brick textile mill is a designated National Historic Landmark. Originally a weaving mill, it switched to knitting during the Civil War and operated as a hosiery mill until 1969. Along with exhibits, the Mill regularly holds outdoor concerts from early June to Labor Day.
Don’t miss: The Knitting Room, with historic hosiery knitting machines that show how the building functioned as a 19th-century textile factory, and the Powerhouse exhibit, showcasing 200 years of hydro-power history.
Hours: Daily 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (May-October); weekends only November; grounds open year-round
Admission: $25 (NH Museum Trail member)
Description: One of the finest and most intact surviving Shaker community sites in the world. At its peak around 1850, approximately 300 Shakers lived and worked here in 100 buildings. The last Canterbury sister, Ethel Hudson, died in 1992, after which the site transitioned fully into a museum.
Don’t miss: The Dwelling House displays the spare, functional beauty of Shaker furniture and architecture and how it embodies a design philosophy that was nearly 150 years ahead of its time.
Castle in the Clouds (Lucknow Estate)
586 Ossipee Park Road, Moultonborough (476-5900, castleintheclouds.org)
Hours: Entrance closes 3 p.m.; last trolley to mansion 3:45 p.m., Open late May-early October
Admission: $23 (NH Museum Trail member)
Description: The 1913-1914 Craftsman mansion sits above Lake Winnipesaukee, a National Historic Landmark with 5,500 acres of trails. Officially the Lucknow Estate, it was built by millionaire shoe manufacturer Thomas Gustave Plant and his wife Olive.
Don’t miss: The behind-the-scenes basement tour, which reveals the mansion’s innovative (for the early 20th century) mechanical systems. Same-day tour tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Children’s Museum of New Hampshire
Little Farmers exhibit at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire. Photo courtesy of the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire in February 2025.
6 Washington St., Dover (742-2002, childrens-museum.org)
Hours: Tuesday 9 a.m.-noon; Wednesday-Saturday 9 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m.-noon; closed Monday, open year-round
Admission: $14.50 ($12.50 for seniors)
Description: Two floors of joyful, interactive exhibits for children from newborn through middle school. The museum’s approach is rooted in a conviction that children learn best through play, exploration and hands-on discovery. Timed sessions keep things manageable.
Don’t miss: The STEAM Innovation Lab, where children design, build and test their own inventions. It’s a transformative experience that gives youngsters an early opportunity to think like an engineer.
Clark House Museum Complex
233 S. Main St., Wolfeboro (569-4997, wolfeborohistoricalsociety.org)
Hours: Wednesday-Friday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-2 p.m., open July 1 – Labor Day
Admission: $4
Description: Captures the layered colonial and 19th-century heritage of the town billed as America’s Oldest Summer Resort, with the 1778 Clark House, an 1805 schoolhouse, a replica firehouse and an 1820s barn. Another worthwhile attraction is the Wolfeboro Historical Society’s strong genealogy and research library.
Don’t miss: The restored 1875 Amoskeag Steam Fire Engine in the Firehouse Museum, one of the finest surviving examples of 19th-century firefighting technology.
Currier Museum of Art
150 Ash St., Manchester (669-6144, www.currier.org)
Hours: Wednesday-Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; closed Monday-Tuesday, open year-round
Admission: $15
Description: One of New England’s finest art museums and a jewel of Manchester’s cultural life, with a permanent collection of more than 11,000 objects spanning European and American art from the 12th century to the present. Beyond that, the Currier owns and maintains two Frank Lloyd Wright-designed houses.
Don’t miss: The intimate tour of Wright’s Zimmerman House and its beautifully preserved Usonian interior. Reserve well in advance, as this deeply personal encounter with the architectural genius sells out quickly.
Exeter Historical Society
47 Front St., Exeter (778-2335, exeterhistory.org)
Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 2-4:30 p.m.; Saturday 9:30 a.m.-noon, open year-round
Admission: Free (donation suggested)
Description: Founded in 1964, the Society has an impressive collection of artifacts, photographs, maps, documents and research materials spanning nearly four centuries of Exeter history, from its founding in 1638 and its pivotal role in the Revolution (it was briefly the state capital) to the growth of Phillips Exeter Academy.
Don’t miss: Check out the many Native American artifacts along with pieces from President Lincoln’s visit to the town as part of his Cooper Union speech tour in 1860.
John Hay Estate at The Fells
456 Route 103A, Newbury (763-4789, thefells.org)
Hours: Wednesdays-Sundays June 17-Sept. 12, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., opens May 23
Admission: $15 (NH Museum Trail member)
Description: The lakeside retreat of American statesman John Milton Hay and his wife Clara was built in 1891 and refined in the early 20th century under the direction of prominent New York architect and landscape designer Prentice Sanger. Docent-led guided tours are conducted at 1 p.m., when the Main House is open.
Don’t miss: “Gardening in Granite,” an exhibit that draws on the reflections of John Hay’s son Clarence Hay regarding the ingenuity and perseverance required to garden in the rocky terrain of The Fells.
Hours: Thursday-Monday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., open Memorial Day-October
Admission: $6 (NH Museum Trail member)
Description: Run by the Portsmouth Historical Society, which also runs the Discover Portsmouth Center at 10 Middle St., this is a 1758 Georgian boarding house where John Paul Jones stayed.
Don’t miss: The museum’s collection of 18th- and 19th-century Portsmouth silverware, paintings, and household objects that illuminate the refined domestic life of a prosperous colonial seaport.
L. L. Lee Scouting Museum
395 Blondin Road, Manchester (867-2501, scoutingmuseum.nhscouting.org)
Admission: Free (donation suggested) (NH Museum Trail member)
Description: Contains colorful and historic exhibits on the history of scouting, including original paintings of Boy’s Life covers, a flag taken to the moon by astronaut and Scout Alan Shepard, plus a display of sketches, letters, and Boer War memorabilia belonging to Scouting’s founder, Robert Baden-Powell.
Don’t miss: The large collection of “sealed samples” — one-of-a-kind prototypes of new uniforms, patches, awards and gear, some going back to the beginnings of Scouting In America, with items like a uniform dating back to 1920 signed by the first National Scout Executive, James E. West.
Laconia Historical & Museum Society
695 N. Main St. (Laconia Public Library), Laconia (527-1278, laconiahistory.com)
Hours: Monday-Saturday 9 a.m.-4 p.m., open year-round
Admission: Free
Description: Set inside the Laconia Public Library, it has regular programs on Lakes Region history. Exhibits highlight its heritage in boatbuilding and knitting mills, along with a focus on Scott & Williams Machinery, a company that was once the world’s leading supplier of circular knitting machinery.
Don’t miss: “Then & Now: The Weirs,” a collection of historical photographs tracing the property’s evolution from an Indigenous gathering place to a 19th-century resort and the NH Veterans Association encampment.
Lake Winnipesaukee Museum
503 Endicott St. North (Route 3), Laconia (366-5950, lwhs.us)
Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., open mid-June-Columbus Day
Admission: Free (NH Museum Trail member)
Description: The volunteer-run museum’s property is a historic landmark, purchased in 1923 by lifelong resident and long-time state legislator David O’Shan. First run as a poultry farm, it was developed by O’Shan into a cabin colony in the 1930s. The Museum building is his original residence, and the yellow cottages nearby are part of the original cabin colony.
Don’t miss: “The Steamboat Era” includes photographs and artifacts from a variety of old vessels, a working model of the old Mount, and a collection of photographs showing the launching of the new Mount in 1940.
McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center
2 Institute Dr., Concord (271-7827, starhop.com)
Hours: Wednesday-Sunday 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. (fall/winter/spring); daily summer; open all NH school vacation weeks, open year-round
Admission: $13
Description: New England’s leading air and space museum honors two New Hampshire heroes of the Space Age: Christa McAuliffe, the Concord High School social studies teacher was was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to be NASA’s first Teacher in Space and perished in the Challenger disaster of 1986; and Alan Shepard, who became the first American in space in 1961 and walked on the moon in 1971.
Don’t miss: A planetarium show in the Center’s 10K full-dome theater. It’s one of only three such systems in North America, offering an immersion in space that no home theater or cinema house can replicate.
Meredith Historical Society
45 Main St. and 61 Winona Road, Meredith (279-1190, meredithhistoricalsocietynh.org)
Hours: Main Street, Saturday 12:30-3 p.m.; Farm Museum, contact for hours, open Saturdays
Admission: Free
Description: The compact and charming Main Street Museum is open on Saturdays only and offers visitors a view into the rich history of the region, initially settled in 1748. The Farm Museum, focused on the annual life cycle of a New Hampshire farm, is only open for special events (check website for those).
Don’t miss: The Society’s Farm Museum, displaying the tools and implements used by 19th-century farmers, laid out in sections highlighting the activities during each of the four seasons.
Millyard Museum
200 Bedford St., Suite 103, Manchester (622-7531, manchesterhistoric.org)
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., open year-round
Admission: $12 (NH Museum Trail member)
Description: Operated by the Manchester Historic Association, the museum sits in a space that was once home to the world’s largest textile manufacturing complex. Its collection contains more than 600,000 documents and artifacts, from neon shoe store signs and Victorian household objects to massive textile looms.
Don’t miss: “Reflections of the Revolution: The Derryfield Perspective,” celebrating the U.S. semiquincentennial with portraits, artifacts and stories from Manchester residents involved in the fight for independence.
Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum
A beaded vest from the new “Quills & Beads: Adornment that Adapts” exhibit at the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum. Courtesy photo.
18 Highwatch Road, Warner (456-2600, indianmuseum.org)
Description: New Hampshire’s only Native American museum preserves and interprets cultures from across the North American continent, from the prehistoric past through the modern age. Its main gallery contains thousands of Native-made objects, including clothing, baskets, beadwork, ceramics, carvings and tools, all contextualized within the living traditions of the tribal nations who created them.
Don’t miss: The Medicine Woods Trail is an educational walk through plants used by Native Americans for medicine, food and shelter. It reflects a philosophy that understanding Native culture begins with recognizing its deep relationship with the land.
Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 9 a.m.-4 p.m. (office); house museum tours by appointment, open year-round
Admission: $10
Description: The museum’s galleries present both permanent and rotating exhibitions covering Nashua’s industrial history, its role in the Civil War, the immigrant communities that transformed the city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the lives of notable Nashua residents.
Don’t miss:Declaring Independence: Then & Now, a live performance happening on June 4, utilizing primary source material to reveal how local colonists engaged with the independence movement in 1776, followed by an annotated reading of the Declaration of Independence.
Hours: Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday noon-4 p.m., open seasonally
Admission: $5 (NH Museum Trail member)
Description: Founded in 1992 by boating enthusiasts, the sprawling facility has more than 2,500 objects, including vintage motorboats, canoes, race boats, engines, ephemera. The museum is now in the midst of transforming 6,500 square feet of its main floor into a hub for education, exhibits and more.
Don’t miss: A rare 1929 Chris-Craft Closed-Cabin Limousine Sedan, one of only five in existence. Designed to ferry commuters or party guests, it was last used by a doctor and his family at their Lake Sunapee retreat.
New Hampshire Historical Society
30 Park St., Concord (228-6688, nhhistory.org)
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m., open year-round
Admission: $10 (NH Museum Trail member)
Description: Founded 1823, it’s the oldest and most comprehensive repository of Granite State history, with permanent galleries including a 19th-century Concord Coach, a collection of White Mountain art by masters like Benjamin Champney and Frank Shapleigh, Abenaki artifacts, and a rich array of historical objects.
Don’t miss: The Concord Coach, one of the most famous wheeled vehicles in American history. The stagecoach, manufactured in Concord, carried mail, passengers, and gold across the American West.
New Hampshire Telephone Museum
1 Depot St., Warner (456-2234, nhtelephonemuseum.org)
Hours: Tuesday and Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (May-October); limited November-December and March-April; closed January-February
Admission: $9
Description: This wonderfully specialized museum traces the evolution of telecommunications from early telephones to the wireless devices of today, with particular attention to the unique history of telephone service in New Hampshire.
Don’t miss: A collection of hand-cranked magneto telephones and early switchboards, along with the story of how the 1938 hurricane hastened the end of the state’s era of local, independent phone companies.
Hours: Thursday-Monday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (last tour 3 p.m.); grounds dawn-dusk year-round, open May 22-Oct. 12
Admission: $5
Description: A National Historic Landmark and State Historic Site preserving the two-story white clapboard farmhouse where the poet and his family lived from 1900 to 1911. They were formative years; the majority of the poems in Frost’s first two books, as well as many poems from his third, were written during that time.
Don’t miss: The kitchen where Frost wrote his early masterpieces by lamplight, as well as the staircase that inspired one of his most wrenching dramatic poems, “Home Burial.”
Sandwich Historical Society
4 Maple St., Center Sandwich (284-6269, sandwichhistorical.org)
Hours: Most Sundays 1-4 p.m., open April-September
Admission: Free
Description: With two facilities, the circa 1850 Eliza Marston House and the Quimby Barn Transportation Museum, the Society’s mission is to “collect and preserve the material culture and historical record … in service to the public through educational experiences and outreach to the community.”
Don’t miss: From June 27 through Sept. 5, celebrate 100 years of the Sandwich Home Industries, a look at the legacy of Mary and J. Randolph Coolidge, how the support of local artisans contributed to the effort, and a display of collected artifacts from a century of retail.
Seacoast Science Center
570 Ocean Blvd. (Odiorne Point State Park), Rye (436-8043, seacoastsciencecenter.org)
Hours: April 16-Oct. 14 open Tuesday-Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Oct. 15-April 15 open Wednesday-Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Open year-round.
Admission: $10
Description: Located inside Odiorne Point State Park (separate entry fee), this is the state’s premiere marine science education institution. Its aquariums, indoor touch tanks and interactive exhibits bring the ecology of the Gulf of Maine to life for visitors of all ages.
Don’t miss: The suspended 32-foot humpback whale skeleton that hangs in the main gallery and provides an impressive reminder of the scale of marine life in the nearby waters.
SEE Science Center
200 Bedford St., Manchester (669-0400, see-sciencecenter.org)
Description: Manchester’s hands-on science discovery center is located in the same mill building as the Millyard Museum. Founded in 1986, SEE engages visitors of all ages in the joys of actively exploring science, technology, engineering, art and math, with a wealth of interactive exhibits spread across multiple floors.
Don’t miss: The Lego Millyard Project, a stunning three-million-brick model capturing Manchester’s industrial past at minifigure scale. This feat of civic artistry is the largest such installation in the world.
Description: A wonderfully inspiring outdoor museum and New Hampshire’s first Smithsonian Affiliate, with more than 30 historic buildings, it preserves more than 350 years of history in the Puddle Dock neighborhood of Portsmouth’s South End, where English settlers first established the colony in the 1630s.
Don’t miss: The new Cousins Apartment exhibit, which tells the story of a Black family living in 1930s and 1940s Portsmouth. It’s a moving addition to the museum’s interpretive program.
Hours: Daily 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m., open February-mid-December
Admission: $14 (NH Museum Trail member)
Description: Built at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and launched in 1953, the USS Albacore was a pioneering research submarine. Its revolutionary teardrop hull design became the template for future subs. The 205-foot vessel now sits in a dry basin surrounded by a memorial garden, maritime museum gallery and gift shop.
Don’t miss: The periscope walk-through in the sub’s control room, along with compelling audio narration by veterans who once served aboard the fastest submarine in the world.
Woodman Institute Museum
182 Central Ave., Dover (742-1038, woodmanmuseum.org)
Description: Called “a Victorian cabinet of curiosities” by one writer, this complex encompasses history, natural history, militaria, decorative arts — and sewer-dwelling action heroes. It includes one of the state’s oldest intact garrison houses, a Victorian funeral exhibit with a horse-drawn hearse and a medicinal garden.
Don’t miss: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Collection, added in 2024 in recognition of the made-in-Dover franchise. It includes bronze statues of the comic’s characters, donated by co-creator Kevin Eastman.
Wright Museum of World War II
77 Center St., Wolfeboro (569-1212, wrightmuseum.org)
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday noon-4 p.m., open May 1-Oct. 31
Admission: $16
Description: Founded in 1994, this 20,000-square-foot institution is dedicated to educating, entertaining and inspiring visitors with the story of WWII-era Americans. Its signature Time Tunnel strolls visitors through American home life during the war years. For America’s 250th, it’s highlighting the contributions of the nearby Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Don’t miss: The Military Vehicle Collection, particularly an operational WWII tank that looks to have blasted through an exterior wall. On special Family Day events there’s the chance to ride in one of the vehicles.
21 museums for the price of two : A look at the NH Heritage Museum Trail Passport
A vital tool for diving into the state’s heritage, the NH Heritage Museum Trail Passport provides a year’s worth of access to 21 different museums for just $30. Led by Manchester Historical Association Executive Director Jeff Barraclough, the Museum Trail was created as a collaborative marketing effort.
“It’s an incentive for people to seek out museums that they otherwise might not have visited … we’ve found it’s a great way to help promote one another,” Barraclough said by phone recently. “If someone is going to be visiting two museums in the course of a year, it’s basically worth it.”
From the Aviation Museum in Londonderry, at the fringes of Manchester’s regional airport, to the Millyard Museum (also led by Barraclough) and its rich manufacturing history, along with unique New Hampshire Boat Museum in the Lakes Region and the oddball Woodman Museum in Dover, there’s lots to explore.
“There’s a bunch of different things that folks might not immediately think of, but this is an opportunity for them to consider it,” Barraclough continued, adding that the 250th anniversary of American Independence is another driving force.
“I think there’s a heightened interest in our country’s history,” he said. “At the Millyard Museum, we opened a temporary exhibit on Manchester’s role in the Revolution, talking about John Stark and other key people … and there are watch parties throughout the state relating to Ken Burns’ American Revolution series.”
Starting with a December 2024 event to mark the 1774 raid on Fort William & Mary, NHMT member museums have participated in an ongoing initiative highlighting key people in New Hampshire history, called “25 Stories for 250 Years.” Barraclough noted that it covers a widely diverse field.
“There are stories about the USS Albacore, the fastest submarine in the world; John and Lucy Hale, with John being an important anti-slavery politician in the lead-up to the Civil War and having a really impactful role on public sentiment on slavery at the time; and the Mount Washington cruise ship on Lake Winnipesaukee.”
See the full list at nhmuseumtrail.org/25-stories-for-250-years.
