For 30 years, I worked in New Hampshire public education. I asked children to respect the truth, care for their communities, and protect what others had entrusted to them. Today, I wonder whether our public institutions consistently demonstrate those lessons.
Ossipee has two stories worth telling together—not because they concern the same property, but because both involve what one generation owes the next.
One is the story of our Main Street building. In 2006, voters authorized the purchase of land for a town park and parking area. The recorded deed carried obligations: public-park use and a building intended for the Main Street Program or recreation. Those were not merely sentimental hopes. They were written restrictions that deserved careful public explanation before any change.
The building became the center of a dispute over municipal decisions, nonprofit authority, and the stewardship of charitable interests. I notified the New Hampshire Department of Justice in May 2024 about the proposed demolition and related concerns. The Charitable Trusts Unit subsequently examined disputed nonprofit governance and found deficiencies dating to before my involvement; its review did not attribute improper motives to my efforts to protect the organization’s interests.
In August 2024, correspondence involving a state legislator, the Town Administrator, nonprofit participants, and the Charitable Trusts Unit raised questions about who could speak for the organization. A separate Town Administrator email anticipated using a letter challenging the nonprofit’s authority to pursue litigation. Those emails warrant scrutiny, but they do not alone establish unlawful conduct.
Ossipee voters approved demolition in June 2024. In November 2025, a probate court modified the deed’s building-use restriction, retaining the public-park restriction. The building was demolished later that month. A vote and court order must be acknowledged. So must the remaining questions: What became of the nonprofit’s charitable assets? How was authority verified? Who will safeguard the park restriction and preserve the historical record?
The second story reaches much farther back.
Edward Alexander Preble (1871–1957) spent formative summers in Ossipee and maintained a connection to its Chickville landscape. He became a distinguished American naturalist whose field investigations of birds and mammals crossed Canada, Alaska, and the American West. He served as a senior biologist with the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey and later wrote and edited for Nature Magazine. His extensive papers and field notebooks are preserved by the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1949, Preble built a fieldstone library in Chickville to house his natural-history collection. Recorded deeds later provided for a wildlife sanctuary. The Smithsonian even catalogs correspondence between Preble and the Ossipee Historical Society in 1943–1944. Where can today’s students encounter the local history of this remarkable neighbor? The sanctuary’s present-day boundaries and legal effect still require verification. His scientific and conservation legacy deserves renewed recognition in Ossipee.
Through Evolute NH, I am working to bring Preble’s name and legacy back into public view, alongside the records of the people who built and cared for our community. This is preservation as education, not nostalgia.
My son, Levi, and I shared volunteer work and days along our rivers. I know how strongly a child can connect to a place when adults share its stories and invite them to care for it.
Public trust means more than a legal restriction. It means that residents can follow decisions, see the records, ask questions without fear, and know what remains protected. Historical stewardship means that the people who came before us are not forgotten.
What we inherit is not always what we deserve. What we leave behind is our responsibility.
Further reading: Preble history and research | Evolute NH
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