Blog #3- WHAT ARE WE CELEBRATING?

The Town of Newmarket has designated the USA250/NEWMARKET300 Group to encourage, approve, promote and plan events from organizations and businesses in Newmarket that celebrate the 260th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, and the 300th Anniversary of Newmarket in 2027. The committee intends to honor our past, celebrate the present, and look to our future. Our theme for 2027 is “300 Years At the River’s Edge”.

Although the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, there were many events in the years prior to 1776 that lead the 2nd Continental Congress to take action. We are hosting a series of interactive events and programs that demonstrate the impact of the American revolution on the residents in Newmarket in the years 1774-1776. There are interactive programs such as The 250th Anniversary of the Powder Raids on Fort William and Mary and Revolutionary Taproom Talk in 1775, along with presentations on the 250th Anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, AEQ 75, and NH being the first colony to declare Independence from England and setting up a governing body in January of 1776. All of these will culminate in a celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Indepence on July 4th. Newmarket’ s celebratory event will occur on July 16, 2026, as that is the day that NH residents learned the news of the Declaration of Independence

On December 5 .1727, Colonial Governor John Wentworth signed an Act of Separation that was approved by the Colonial Governors Council. This Act of Separation allowed the residents of our community at that time, to separate from Exeter and to form their own parish, to be called Newmarket. In order to fulfill the agreement, it was stipulated that the residents must hire a minister, build a meetinghouse, a parish house, hire a sexton, and name three residents as the first “selectmen” who would govern the town until the following March when the annual elections were held. Our celebrations will include an opening and closing ceremony, and a gala parade over the course of a year. Other events by organizations, businesses, and institutions that are approved as official events will also take place in 2027.

Sadly, our official NH Provincial Documents were lost in a 1790's fire, but we are fortunate that a copy of that document done by Wentworth Cheswill in his own hand exists in the Milne Special Collections at the UNH Library. Local resident John Herman secured a digital copy and was able to clean up and arrange the original to be legible. A framed the Newmarket Town copy of this broadside document now hangs in the Newmarket Town Hall and is available for sale through our website. The presentation was made to the Newmarket Town Council on September 17, 2025, by several members of the Newmarket 250/300 volunteers.