This tour takes you to another historic cemetery where two founding fathers and other notables are buried, and on to Jackson House, the oldest surviving wood-frame house in New Hampshire, built in 1664.
I wanted to join this tour up with the USS Albacore, because it’s sooo close to Jackson House, but as they like to say in New England, you can’t get there from here. In this case, because there’s a highway in between.
That’s ok, though, because the walk from town to the two sites on this tour is not particularly interesting. So feel free to hop in your car if you want to include the USS Albacore in your outing.
You can park at the Sheraton public lot across from the cemetery, and along the side of the road for Jackson House. The USS Albacore Museum has plenty of parking.
And, to repeat my warning, please be sure to check the hours for Jackson House if you want to tour inside (you do). Hours are limited.
North Cemetery
Set against North Mill Pond and incongruously surrounded by modern bustle, North Cemetery is despite that a nice oasis and a contemplative space. It’s the burial site for two founding fathers (John Langdon and William Whipple), two notable freed slaves (Prince Whipple and Pomp Spring), veterans of the French and Indian, Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and various other notable historic personages.
Jackson House
Jackson House is the oldest surviving wood-frame house in New Hampshire. Built in 1664 it subsequently passed through seven generations of the Jackson family until it was sold in 1924 to William Sumner Appleton, a founder of Historic New England.
If the house immediately reminds you of the Sherburne House in Strawbery Banke, or the House of Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts, it would be due to the fact that these are all pre-Georgian, 17th century houses, and there are precious few of them left.
The house has very limited hours – try to plan your tour around its open hours (you can purchase tickets online on its website). If the timing doesn’t work, you can always still admire it from the outside. There is no off-street parking – the house is on the corner of Northwest and Jackson HIll Streets – park along Jackson Hill Street as that affords a little more space.
