Tag: free program

The Colebrook Area Historical Society presents Steve Taylor, an independent scholar, farmer, journalist, and longtime public official. He’ll  speak about Poor Houses & Town Farms in early New Hampshire. The early Northeastern colonies followed the lead of England’s 1601 Poor Law, which imposed compulsory taxes for maintenance of the poor but made no distinction between the “vagrant, vicious poor” and the helpless, and honest poor. This confusion persisted for generations and led directly to establishment in most of the state’s towns of alms houses and poor farms and, later, county institutions which would collectively come to form a dark chapter in New Hampshire history.  Admission is free, donations accepted.