Windham (NH) (Images of America)

The compelling photographic images presented in Windham capture the unique character of this southern New Hampshire town. In 1719, Scotch-Irish settlers founded a thriving community known for fine linens, Presbyterian orthodoxy, country fairs, and the rollicking customs that made it a merry island amid a sea of dour Puritanism. Windham became a separate town in 1742 and prospered until the 1820s, when an exodus to the vast lands of the West and nearby industrial cities began. Life then became ordered by the quiet rhythms of country life. Villages later sprang up around Windham's three railroad stations, and city folks came to summer at boardinghouses and farms. Cottages were built along the shores of Cobbett's Pond and Canobie Lake, while multimillionaire Edward Searles indulged his flights of fancy by building a medieval castle here.