NOTE: This article appeared in April 2019 when the Carey Cottage was scheduled to be demolished by the Society for the Preservation of NH Forests.
A month or two ago I interviewed Sen. Martha Fuller Clark about the heady mid-1980s when the destruction of the 1878 Music Hall was a real possibility. “It’s not just about saving iconic architecture,” she told me. “It’s also about saving the history of all the interactions that went on in that space…So by saving the building, you also allow those memories to live on. I think that’s what drove us, despite the risks, to take on the Music Hall project.”
Perhaps the more we know about the people who inhabited a building, the harder it is to tear that building down. With that in mind, here is a September 1940 photograph of members of the Carey family who lived at Creek Farm, now in danger of being demolished by the Society for the Protection of NH Forests. Pictured (from back row left) are John, Henry, Bill, and Alida. Henry Warder Carey was the eldest son of Henry R. and Margaret B. Carey, and a graduate of Yale. Initially rejected from service due to an eye defect when he tried to enlist during World War II, Harry was later drafted and assigned to the Army ski troops. In 1943 he wrote a letter to Portsmouth Herald editor Justin Hartford. Here is that letter in full:
“Ever since the day that I left with 20 other Portsmouth boys for Fort Devens, I have wanted to thank someone for the wonderful send-off we were given. It certainly was nice of all the Red Cross people and all the others to get up so early and come down to the station to say goodbye to us. The writing paper we were given was a most thoughtful gift. It was much appreciated.”
“This past summer, Mr Hartford of the Portsmouth Herald was kind enough to allow me to read some of the newspapers of the First World War period. It was in them that I first learned of the old Portsmouth custom of having the mayor say goodbye to men inducted into the army. I am glad to see that custom has continued for it enables one to carry away with him a very tangible memory that this city is interested in what happens to him. That morning showed me that Portsmouth is a city of great community spirit and one in which I am proud to live.”
Henry was the grandson of Arthur Astor Carey who built the historic cottage on Sagamore Creek in 1887. But this Creek Farm chapter has a sad ending. Pfc. Henry Warder Carey was wounded in action in France in November 1944 and died of his wounds four years after this photo was taken. He was 22. His memory lives on within the iconic architecture of the home his family built.
Copyright J. Dennis Robinson, all rights reserved.
Martin Luther Meets Louis de Rochemont in 1953