Granite Resolve: New Year’s Resolutions in New Hampshire, Past and Present

Posted on 1 January, 2026 by Janice Brown

Present

New Year’s resolutions are often treated lightly—earnest on January 1, forgotten by February. Yet the act of resolving to do better has deep historical roots, and in New Hampshire, where practicality, independence, and community have always mattered, resolutions have long taken a distinctive shape.

A Brief History of Resolutions

The idea of making promises at the turn of the year is ancient. Babylonians made pledges to their gods to repay debts and return borrowed tools. Romans dedicated January to Janus, the two-faced god of endings and beginnings, resolving to act honorably in the year ahead.

Possibly the oldest surviving written New Year resolution was found in Anne Halkett’s 1671 diary. She was a Scottish writer who penned,”I will not offend any more” beneath a ‘resolutions’ heading on January 2nd. Continue reading →

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A Hearth Against the Cold: Christmas in Colonial New Hampshire

Posted on 24 December, 2025 by Janice Brown

The wind came first—rattling shutters, worrying the bare branches of the great elm by the meetinghouse, and carrying with it the sharp, iron scent of snow. In the small coastal town of Portsmouth, winter had settled deeply into the bones of the year 1704. The Piscataqua River moved slow and black, rimmed with ice, and every footstep on the hard-packed earth rang like a hammer blow.

Inside a modest timber-framed house near the harbor, warmth pooled around a stone hearth. Mehitable Uran leaned over a pot of broth, her cheeks flushed from tending the fire. Dried onions and salt pork simmered together—nothing fancy, but reliable against a cold that showed no mercy. Above her, bundles of herbs hung from rafters darkened by years of wood smoke: sage, thyme, and the last precious sprigs of dried rosemary saved for winter.

Outside, Christmas approached. Continue reading →

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Mince Pie on Granite Plates: A New Hampshire Story

Posted on 12 December, 2025 by Janice Brown

The first mince pie I ever saw  sat on a chipped blue plate at the edge of a church supper table in New Hampshire, tucked between apple crisp and plain white rolls. It was dark, almost black at the center, glossy with molasses and spice. Someone beside me whispered, “That’s the real kind,” the way people talk about antiques and rarities.

But long before mince pie became sweet and polite, it was something entirely different—bold, meaty, and tied to survival as much as celebration. The very name tells the story. Mince comes from the Old French mincier, meaning “to chop finely.” The earliest mince pies were not fruit pies at all, but meat pies—minced beef or mutton mixed with dried fruits and spices, baked with sturdy crusts meant to last through winter. Continue reading →

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The Quiet Journey That Carried Us

Posted on 5 December, 2025 by Janice Brown

It began, as so many journeys do, with a name.

*Patrick.*

Not the saint. Not a hero carved in stone. Just a name etched into a Vermont census list, beside the birthplace “Ireland” and the designation “aged 10.” No middle initial. Just a young man leaving everything he knew behind during ‘The Great Hunger’, when leaving felt like betrayal and staying felt like a death sentence.

And yet, without knowing it, he carried all of us with him. Continue reading →

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Civil War: Casualties in New Hampshire Regiments, May and June 1864

Posted on 30 July, 2024 by Janice Brown

Casualties of the American Civil War were great.  This article is compiled from a listing printed 157 years ago, found in The Independent Democrat newspaper, Concord NH, of Thursday, June 30, 1864, on page 2.

Photograph: [Unidentified young soldier in 5th New Hampshire Infantry uniform and Whipple hat with bayoneted musket]. Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/resource/ppmsca.31304/)

CASUALTIES IN NEW HAMPSHIRE REGIMENTS.
We publish a list of the casualties in the 10th N.H. Regiment since May 7th, as furnished by Lt. Col. John Coughlin to the Manchester Mirror and American. We also publish casualties in the 13th Regt., which took place near Petersburg, on the 15th, and also those in the 3d, 5th, and 7th, N.H. regiments and 1st. N.H. Cavalry. Continue reading →

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