Welcome to the Jaffrey History Website
Jaffrey is a town situated in Cheshire County in the southwest corner of New Hampshire about 70 miles from Boston. It was first settled in the 1750s and incorporated in 1773. Named for the Portsmouth merchant George Jaffrey—who never visited the town named for him—it is said to be the only Jaffrey in the world. A diverse community of nearly 6,000 people, Jaffrey has a rich and interesting history which is the focus of this website. Our motive in developing it is to bring together multiple historical resources pertaining to Jaffrey and by doing so make the history of our town more accessible to students, researchers, historians, geneologists, property owners, public officials, businesses and institutions—in Jaffrey and further afield. |
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The Universalist Church, Main and School Streets. The gathering in this photo is in celebration of the nation's centennnial in 1876. It was photographed from the roof of the Granite State Hotel. The church was built in 1844 and dedicated in 1845. The steeple was replaced with a more ornate version, probably at the time that the Town Clock was installed in 1884. The congregation dissolved in 1939 and today the church is the home of the Jaffrey Women's Club. The building was named for Myron L. Cutter, the church's last minister. (From Jaffrey Then and Now, p. 43)
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J. S. Horton's blacksmith shop, Main Street at Thorndike Pond Road. The blacksmith's house adjoined the smithy on the corner where a well is still visable, but nothing else survives to indicate what must have been a busy place. Hurd's map of 1892 show it as owned by J.S. Horton, but nowhere else in published sources is he mentioned. Horton may well be one of the smiths pictured. The shop closed down soon after the turn of the century and became increasingly derelict until July 1919, when it was purchased from E.C. Shattuck for $1500 by the Villiage Improvement Society and demolished. (From Jaffrey Then and Now, p. 30)
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