A 501(c)(3) established in 1999 to preserve historic buildings and landmarks of Effingham, NH
Entering our 24th year of preserving Effingham “one slice at a time.” Will you help us?
Home image: “The Grange” painting of the EPS building by Linda Hefner (2016)
The building served as Grange Hall No. 313 from 1913 until 1996. It was purchased from Chester and Grace Drake for $194.43. Chester had purchased the building in 1912 for $1.00 from Mrs. Belle Cate. The building sold again for $1.00, 90 years later, when the Preservation Society purchased it from the Town in 2002.
This is how we raise funds – with home-baked goodies. You can imagine that they taste like grandma made them – because a grandma did make them!
With your support of our Saturday bake sales, special events, and your donations – we are preserving our building and other historic buildings and landmarks in Effingham.
Our events are listed on our facebook event page. Not on facebook? Email us to be added to our contact list.
Thanks to a Grant from the Davis Family Foundation, we have installed historic storm windows to preserve all of the 2nd and 3rd story windows. It’ a clean look and you’ll have to look closely to notice the new storms when you are driving by. Historic storms are called just that, not because of any …
Summer 2023: Coffee’s On!! Opening Day is May 27th.
Open the 2nd and 4th Saturdays if the month 9 – 12 ~ Memorial Day Weekend through September 26th. Enjoy baked goods and conversation in the 200-year-old setting of the award-winning Weare Drake Store Building. It’s a simple, sweet way to help us make a difference by re-enlivening our historic district.
Check the Events page for additional Saturdays.
Look for other events on our facebook page. If you’re not a fan of facebook, feel free to email us and ask to be put on our email notification list.
FREE COFFEE for members. Membership $10.00
We are preserving our historic buildings because Effingham is “a lost in time kind of place.” It’s how New Hampshire used to be. We have historical resources that make the lives of our founders palpable.
The Weare Drake Store Building was built circa 1816 by town founder, Weare Drake at age 78, and his 23-year-old grandson, Thomas Parsons Drake. In 1829, Thomas Parsons Drake, as postmaster, “captured” the Effingham post office (est. 1817) and moved it from Lord’s Hill to his store at Drake’s Corner. Within a few years, the store fell into disuse and the building was fitted up as an academy known as the Carroll Literary Institute. Due to insufficient enrollment, in the 1850’s, it was again occupied as a store and changed hands several times before being purchased by Grange No. 313 in 1913. The building was given by the Grange to the Town in 1994 and purchased from the Town for $1 by the Preservation Society in 2002.
Here the building is pictured in the 1870’s, we believe. The home in the background, was also built by Thomas P. Drake and inherited by his eldest son Cyrus K. Drake.
Judge Thomas P. Drake (1793 – 1861) and Huldah (Leavitt) Drake (1793 – 1874) were married in October of 1816 and had six children whose biographies are closely tied to the history of Drake’s Corner: Cyrus King,, Josephus Leavitt, Cynthia L., Huldah, L. Exa L., and Alexander V.B.
The above photo by Josephus L. Drake (second child of Thomas Drake) is part of the Effingham Historical Society Collection.
Next Election of Officers: July 2024