Town: Alt. 60, pop. 1217, sett. 1635, incorp. 1732.
Railroad Station: B. & M. R.R., Main St.
Bus Stations: B. & M. Transp. Co., College Pharmacy, Main St., R.R. Station, Main St.; Interstate, College Pharmacy, Main St.
Accommodations: One hotel.
Swimming: College Pond, Main St. (open); Oyster River, Newmarket Road.
Annual College Events: Mother’s Day, third week in May; Father’s Day, November; Home-Coming Day, October; Graduation Week — second or third week in June.
DURHAM, an old town with elm-shaded streets, is the seat of the University of New Hampshire. The oldest part lies on the banks of the Oyster River, a cluster of white houses around a low dam. A short distance westward the brick buildings of the University are scattered on the wide slopes of a low hill and dominate the newer section of the village.
The town gives little evidence of the stirring events of its early years when red warriors poured in to attack it, or when Revolutionary history was made within the walls of its sturdy homes. Instead it is filled with students, and centers its activities around the University. There is no sharp division between ‘town and gown,’ since most of the residents work in the University or have business connections with it. Only on town-meeting day, when the farmers from the outlying districts meet the resident professors, is there any suggestion of the rivalry traditional in college towns.
As early as 1635, a group of settlers sailed up the Piscataqua River from Dover Point and settled at the mouth of the Oyster River in what is now Durham. The common law of Dover, of which the settlement was a part, required all persons to attend church on the Lord’s Day, but it was a long distance for the settlers on Oyster River to travel on their boats against wind and tide to Dover Neck and get there before Richard Pinkham finished beating the drum as a warning for all to attend. In 1655, the settlers at Oyster River built a meeting-house at their own expense, and from 1699 until its incorporation in 1732 this settlement was known as the parish of Oyster River. At its incorporation under the name of Durham (for Durham, England), it included Lee, which separated in 1766, a part of Madbury, cut off in 1768, and a portion of Newmarket, which was turned over to that town in 1870.
During the first years of its struggle for existence, Durham was the scene of some of the worst Indian massacres in American history. The first Indian attack in the King Philip’s War was made here in 1675, and was followed by a series of savage raids. The worst occurred in 1694, when more than one hundred people were killed or captured, and all but five garrison houses were burned. This attack had been long planned. In fact, it was publicly talked of in the streets of Quebec months before it occurred. Led by the Sieur de Villieu, who had distinguished himself in the defense of Quebec, and accompanied by a French priest, a body of two hundred and fifty Indians gathered in the forest at the appointed time, and at dawn attacked the hapless settlement. The early historian Belknap says: ‘The defenseless houses were nearly all set on fire, the inhabitants being either killed or taken in them, or else in endeavoring to fly to the garrisons. Some escaped by hiding in the bushes and other secret places.’ Another Indian war broke out in 1704 in which Oyster River suffered, more than fifty of its inhabitants being killed and many others taken prisoners.
In the second meeting-house (see below), on the site of which a monument to General Sullivan now stands, was hidden the powder seized in December, 1774, from the British at Fort William and Mary in Newcastle. Sullivan took part in this seizure and thereby became one of the first Americans in active rebellion against the British, anticipating the battles of Concord and Lexington by four months (see Tour 1A). It took the Durham men two days of freezing weather to cut the ice in the Oyster River so that they could float the powder to Durham in gundalows, short squat sailing boats designed by fishermen for navigating Great Bay. During this time they waded waist-deep in icy water, carrying more than one hundred barrels of gunpowder, cannon, and guns from the boats to the land. Two days after they had safely hidden the powder, the British frigate ‘Scarborough’ arrived at Portsmouth to take it away, but was unable to get up the shallow river to Durham.
Another citizen of Durham, Colonel Alexander Scammell, became Washington’s adjutant general and died at the age of thirty-five from wounds received at the battle of Yorktown. Years afterward, when Lafayette visited this country, he proposed a toast at a gathering of Revolutionary veterans ‘To the memory of Yorktown Scammell,’ which was enthusiastically drunk. The twin bridges across the Bellamy and Piscataqua Rivers on the route from Durham to Portsmouth are named the Colonel Alexander Scammell Memorial Bridge and the General John Sullivan Memorial Bridge respectively (see Tour 14, sec. a and Tour 2, sec. a).
After its burst of Revolutionary activity, the town lapsed into rural quiet until the closing years of the nineteenth century, when the University of New Hampshire was brought here. Founded in 1866 at Hanover, the University was associated with Dartmouth College for twenty-seven years. Following a bequest to the State of half a million dollars by Benjamin Thompson in 1892 upon condition that a college of agriculture be established upon his farm in Durham, the institution was moved in 1893 to its present situation.
E. from Mill Road on Main St.
1. Burnham House (not open) (L), a square white frame house built in 1750, is notable for its blue-domed porch and its bulging pillars.
2. Valentine Smith House (not open) (L), a solidly built two-story frame house with a fine doorway, was built about 1735. According to tradition the Rev. George Whitefield, the famous evangelist of the 18th century, dined in the east front room when he passed through Durham in 1740.
3. Smith Park (R), 0.5 m., is a stretch of forest land bordering on the river. A tiny Gothic Chapel in it was erected for the private use of the Smith-Onderdonk family. Around it, in a narrow graveyard, are the graves of Hamilton Smith and his wife. This park with its many pleasant walks and river views is a favorite trysting place of Durham students.
R. from Main St. on Newmarket Rd.
4. On the northern bank of the Oyster River (L) is the Judge Frost House (not open), built by Valentine Hill in 1649. Its broad acres stretching to the water’s edge were farmed by his ‘seven Scots,’ who worked for him until they were free men. The elaborate frame house of Colonial type bears little resemblance to the original primitive garrison house which was able to resist many Indian attacks.
5. The Home of General John Sullivan (not open) (L), on the south bank of the river on a terraced slope edging the water, is a large white, gambrel-roof house. Sullivan was distinguished as a brigadier general in the Revolutionary War and as chief executive of New Hampshire with the title of President from 1786 to 1790. Built in 1716, the house was purchased by Sullivan in 1764. Behind it is a little Cemetery where he is buried. One of the outbuildings was used by him as his Council Chamber. The road leading to the wharf ran between this house and the old meeting-house. Until a few years ago, one of the favorite Durham landmarks was the General Sullivan ‘slave house,’ a little ramshackle building that stood at the far end of the present monument site. Opinion differs as to whether this building actually was a ‘slave house,’ some maintaining that it was merely the General’s office.
Claiming descent from a line of English-hating Irish noblemen, General Sullivan showed his eagerness for independence in a letter to John Adams in 1775, urging Congress to declare independence at once: ‘Let me ask if we have anything to hope from his Majesty or his Ministers. Have we any encouragement from the people of Great Britain? Could they exert themselves more if we had shaken off the yoke and declared ourselves independent? Why, then, in God’s name is it not done? Do the members of your respectable body think that they will throw their shot and shells with more force than at present? Do they think the fate of Charlestown or Falmouth might have been worse, or the King’s Proclamation more severe, if we had openly declared War? Could they have treated our prisoners worse had we been in open and avowed rebellion than they do now?’
One of the traditions centering around this Revolutionary hero relates to his mother. When she was coming to America someone asked her what she was going to do among the people of the Colonies. ‘Raise governors for thim, to be sure,’ was the ready reply. Her prediction came true. John Sullivan’s father saw the girl as she landed, and, struck with her beauty, paid for her passage with shingles, and later married her.
6. In front of the house is the Site of the Second Meeting-House, with a Monument to General John Sullivan. It was in this meeting-house that the powder brought from Newcastle was hidden.
7. At the junction with the Durham Point Road (L) is the Town Pound, marking the first center, and illustrating the westward shift of the village since the first settlement was made.
TOUR 2 — 0.75 m.
W. from Mill Road on Main St.
The campus of the University of New Hampshire extends for more than half a mile on both sides of the street. Grouped according to their functions as dormitories, classrooms, or administrative offices, the buildings, mostly of modified Georgian design with a planned unity in each group, are on the broad slopes of a low hill where outcroppings of granite mingle with fine trees. Two sidewalks run west through the campus: (R) Prexy’s Prom, on which no freshman dares set foot during the first semester; (L) Wildcat Walk, passing through a rocky gully popularly but yet facetiously known as ‘Durham Notch.’
Shortly before the State accepted Mr. Thompson’s gift in 1892 and moved the University from Hanover to Durham, the Legislature further provided for the college by accepting the provisions of the Morrill Act which made available Federal appropriations ‘for instruction in agriculture, the mechanic arts, the English language and the various branches of mathematical, physical, natural and economic science, with special reference to the applications in the industries of life and to the facilities for such instruction.’
From the time of its removal to Durham, the school grew rapidly, and in 1923 the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, as it was earlier known, was incorporated as the University of New Hampshire, with its three colleges of Liberal Arts, Technology, and Agriculture. In 1928 a Graduate School was added.
A few years ago the State Legislature imposed a mill tax for its support, the first instance of the kind in the East, with the result that the University now possesses an income in excess of a million dollars a year. Its students come from the whole New England region, and its extension service and Summer School have had a marked influence on New England life.
8. On a high elevation (L) the Charles Harvey Hood House, Georgian Colonial in design, with low wings gracefully extending over the brow of the hill, is the University Infirmary, donated in 1932 by the late head of the Hood Dairy Company of Boston.
9. The Hamilton Smith Library (open weekdays, 8–10; 2–10 Sundays) (L), an imposing two-story building of red brick, with its doorway framed in Doric columns that rise to the pedimented second story, contains 79,000 bound volumes and a collection of New Hampshire historical material.
10. Thompson Hall (open weekdays, 8–6) (L), a much-turreted structure, with a square, pointed tower and a carriage-porch, all of red brick trimmed with granite, is the academic center of the University, and is the oldest and least handsome of the buildings.
11. James Hall (open weekdays, 8–6) (L), the chemistry building, a three-story ell-shaped brick structure set on a low terrace, was named for the late Professor Charles James, nationally known for his researches on rare earths. In this building the League of New Hampshire Arts and Crafts has a workshop. The pottery made on the premises is sold by the League in its shops throughout the State.
L. from Main St. between Morrill and Nesmith Halls.
12. Across the railroad tracks are the Lewis Fields, a new athletic plant containing a stadium seating 5000 spectators, six fields for football, soccer, and lacrosse, four baseball diamonds, a quarter-mile cinder track with a 220-yard straightway, and 20 tennis courts. This $218,000 sports area, completed in 1936 after three years of construction work by the WPA and the University Alumni Association, was dedicated to the memory of Dr. Edward Morgan Lewis, late president of the University.
L. by a path from the Lewis Fields.
13. The College Woods comprise a fine tract of pines containing many primeval trees that include ‘Paul Bunyan,’ one of the largest pine trees in the State. There are many delightful paths through the woods, and fine picnic spots along a little brook.