Elisha Lee

As President of The Dover Historical Society it gives me great pleasure to announce the recent (2009) discovery and safe return of Dover’s Boston Post Cane, discovered in an antique shop by Dr. Stephen Kruskall, a member of our Advisory Board. The story of the Boston Post Canes began in August of 1909 when Edwin A. Grozier, publisher of the Boston Post, hired J. F. Fradley & Co. of New York to produce them for presentation to the Selectmen in 700 towns throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Rhode Island.  The canes were to be awarded by the Selectmen to

In the last edition of Tidings I remarked upon the fun that can be had in researching the more obscure items acquired by an Historical Society in the course of 120 years. There is much that can be learned from our more significant items as well. The portrait shown above is that of an early Dover resident, Ruggles Whiting. It was donated to the Society by a Mrs. Frank Willey in 1961. While unsigned, the portrait was attributed to the celebrated American portrait artist, Gilbert Stuart (1755-1827). Ruggles Whiting was born in Dover on December 29, 1779 to Aaron Whiting

The former Town Scale, measuring approximately 7.5 feet by 6.6 feet by 2.3 feet, is one of the largest items in our collection. Our scale was made by the firm of Howard and Davis of 34 Water Street, Boston as one of 330 sets ordered by the Legislature (one for each town, city, and county in existence at the time). There is some question as to the number that were actually delivered as a number of communities reportedly shared a set to minimize expense. As early as 1800 state statutes mandated “it shall be the duty of the treasurer of

The Society is excited to announce the recent acquisition of a Chippendale style wing back chair with an interesting history. The chair comes to us through the generous donation of Marcia Close of McClean, Virginia. Mrs. Close is the daughter of Willard F. Smith whose parents, Allen and Edeler (Chickering) Smith lived in the house on Centre Street that is now occupied by the Charles River School. On the evening of January 21, 1908 the Smiths and others removed this chair from the fire that was consuming the Williams Tavern which lay across the street and just east of the

Much of the fun that is to be found in local historical societies lies in the odd collection of artifacts that accumulate over the course of a century or more. The more obviously significant items tend to be well documented, but the more obscure items are a veritable treasure trove for the curious researcher. This rather large wall clock has hung on the wall in the basement of the Sawin Museum since the early 1960’s. The dial bears the name A. C. Rice and the date 1857. All that was known of its history is that it was given to