Capturing – and Preserving - History

By Kathi Caldwell-Hopper

Photos courtesy Zechariah Boodey Farmstead Committee 

Many people do not know the Free Will Baptist religion began in the parlor / home of New Durham’s Zechariah Boodey. This, among other things, is the reason a group of local citizens are working very hard to preserve the Boodey Farmstead. 

If Zechariah Boodey, who was born in 1745, could see the work the present-day Zechariah Boodey Farmstead Committee is putting in to save the historical gem, “He would, I think, be very proud,” surmises committee chairperson, Cathy Orlowicz.

The project, when completed, will provide a permanent home for the farmstead. The home is a good example of a post-Revolutionary War farm and gives us an idea how people in the area lived long ago.

The idea for the project was planted when Cathy was an assistant to Eloise Bickford, New Durham’s town historian. It was Eloise’s dream to see the old Boodey farm preserved for the future, largely because of the 1780 Free Will Baptist history that took place there. 

In 2006, the home was donated to the town of New Durham by the Ferguson Family Trust. By the terms of the trust, the Boodey home would be donated but it had to be moved from the location. Rather than see the building lost, the committee and town representatives decided to dismantle the house and have the structure moved, and that is how the project began. A barn was gifted to the town in 2018, for the project. The barn was in Alton, once known as New Durham Gore. The addition of the reconstructed barn, and replacement of the log cabin and ell, with the Cape house, would restore the farmstead to its original layout.

When completed, the homestead will be reassembled on another property in New Durham where it will be used for private and community events, and for small weddings and other celebrations. 

With the approval of the New Durham selectmen, two acres of land at the corner of Berry Road and Stockbridge Corner Road have been chosen as the site. 

Dismantling the Boodey house took about a week, and it was not an easy task. The home was built in 1769 but had been unused since the 1950s. When the committee began their work, the rooms were empty, and some sections had severe rot. But it was dealt with by experts and everything from the Colonial period was saved as well, such as a lot of floor joists and timbers. The style of the house was a timber-frame Colonial Cape.

“We also dismantled the central fireplace,” explains Cathy. “The home had three working fireplaces and a beehive oven. We also found things in the basement, such as pieces of old pottery and wood molding and windows.”

All this suggested to the committee what the house had been like in its days as a working farm. In another stroke of luck, Boodey descendants found old family photographs of the homes’ interior. The gave a glimpse at what the home had once been like, with finished woodwork and wallpaper.

The dismantled homestead is now in storage trailers at a secure location, waiting to be reassembled when fundraising is completed. 

“We hope to create a museum in the house to share New Durham’s history and for educational purposes,” Cathy says. “Also, events and activities could be held for such things as weddings. The facility could address the town’s space needs for meetings and voting.”

The plan is to reassemble the rustic barn first and to put in parking, making the historic property perfect for today’s popular rustic barn type of weddings and events. 

The philosophy of the committee and others is to respect and hold onto our past. “We believe we do not need to flatten pieces of our past,” Cathy says. “Our motto is ‘Preserving the past to support future needs’ and we have pride in our community.” The homestead project is the perfect example of that belief. It is hoped the committee will have raised the funds and a groundbreaking will take place in about two years. Rental fees from the barn as an event venue will help with the money needed to complete the project. 

Once reconstructed, the building will be used as a house museum for educational purposes and a function hall for meetings and events.

“Our plan is to do it in phases, and we know it will be easier to take it in pieces versus trying to do it all at once,” Cathy explains.

The committee answers to the board of selectmen of New Durham. The farmstead is owned by the town, as is the property it will be erected upon. 

But what of the Boodey family and their history? Zechariah was born in Madbury, New Hampshire in 1745 and he relocated to New Durham. At that time, the French and Indian War had ended, and it was safer to settle in the more remote areas in New Hampshire. 

Thus, Zechariah obtained 140 acres in New Durham and built a log cabin there. It is likely other family members settled on the property or nearby as well. Zechariah’s brothers, Joseph and Robert, were friends of Elder Benjamin Randall, the man who organized and began the Free Will Baptist Church. 

Randall started the movement because he felt a person did not need to earn their way into heaven but rather that it was a choice. He broke away from the more organized Baptist religion and articles of the new church were signed in Zechariah’s New Durham house in 1780. 

One can only marvel that the Free Will Baptist religion began in the tiny local community of New Durham and grew to be worldwide. Cathy says some leaders in the religion have made the trip to the homestead to honor the original site where their church began.

As a local farmer, Zechariah and his wife, Mary, stayed on the property their entire lives. Zechariah was well known in New Durham and served for many years as a selectman. He was part of the town when it began and as an older man, he probably had many stories to share about the history he remembered. 

When Zechariah passed away in 1821, the family continued to live at the home. His son, Joseph, who was born in the log cabin on the property, was then the head of the Boodey family. Eventually the property passed to daughters who summered there and the 1950s was the last time the home was lived in on a full-time basis.

All this rich history underscores the importance of saving the homestead and reassembling it to bring the past to others. A fundraising effort that is but one of many to see the project to fruition is a cookbook. “It was an idea of a committee member who had always wanted to have a local cookbook,” says Cathy.

Last spring, the committee researched the costs for printing the book and sent out a call seeking recipes from the community. Although most of the recipes are from the current time, the cookbook’s sections are divided with local historical photographs. The cookbook is titled “Hometown Cookery” and is published by The Zechariah Boodey Farmstead Committee.

“In November, there is a craft fair in New Durham, and our goal is to have the cookbook back from the printers so we can sell copies at the fair as part of the fundraising effort,” explains Cathy. The recipes are from fine cooks all over the country, and from Boodey descendants, who are known as good cooks. 

Another event sure to please visitors and locals will be the July 16, 2022, event called the Boodey Hometown Revels. (Revels is a Colonial name for party.) There will be demonstrations of old-time skills which will give attendees first-hand exposure of how things were done in the olden days. “There will be demonstrations, entertainment, and music. We will be asking for donations for the homestead project at the Revels event,” says Cathy.

Cathy says all evidence is that Zechariah Boodey was an honest and sincere man and very hard working. He was an integral figure in starting the town and building his farmstead. His place in New Hampshire’s history is rich, and well worth saving, as is the Boodey Farmstead.

For information on the Boodey project, donations, and events, please email cathyo@tds.net.