Museum of the White Mountains Exhibit Examines History of Franconia Notch Region

The Museum of the White Mountains at Plymouth State University's new exhibition, The White Mountains: A Crossroads, examines the history of communities in the Franconia Notch region, and will be open to the public through Saturday, September 13. An opening reception was held Friday, May 30.

This museum exhibition dovetails with a traveling exhibition titled Crossroads: Change in Rural America, which is organized by “Museum on Main Street,” part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibition Service, and coordinated by New Hampshire Humanities and the Vermont Humanities Council. The Smithsonian exhibition addresses general issues in rural America through the five themes of land, community, identity, persistence and managing change. That exhibition, which runs through Saturday, August 9, will arrive at the museum already curated. 

Museum of the White Mountains Director Meghan Doherty said it made her want to design something similar to the Smithsonian exhibition but with a local flavor.

“I wanted to create an exhibition of our own that looks at the same themes but in the context of the White Mountains,” she said. “The two exhibitions are congruent like that.”

The White Mountains: A Crossroads looks at the past, present and future of the towns of Bethlehem, Franconia, Lincoln, Woodstock and Plymouth. The museum is partnering with historical societies in those communities to include text, oral histories, photos and artifacts.

In addition to providing information specific to each town, there will also be four thematic sections that explore the connections among them: “Structures That Bind” includes photos and narratives about how small communities in New England formally come together; “The Architecture of Community” looks at how people create community in a built environment; “Subsistence and Beyond” addresses the impact of agriculture on communities; and “Growth through Renewal,” centered on the Bethlehem Historical Society building, shows how each of the communities have reinvented themselves over the years.

Doherty said she thinks museum visitors will be drawn by both a Smithsonian-designed exhibition and the local story that the White Mountain exhibition will tell. “It will speak to locals as well as folks visiting the area,” she said, “because there are fabulous stories from these historical societies that showcase the special character of these rural towns.”

The exhibitions are free, but donations are welcome.

For more information about the Museum of the White Mountains, visit www.plymouth.edu/mwm/.