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Old Home Day and an Older Church
Researched and Written by Janine Weins
(Posted 5/30/07)

In the 1890's, the State of New Hampshire and three-quarters of the New Hampshire towns were in debt. Many young New Hampshire men had been killed or maimed during the Civil War, and others had chosen to relocate to states where the weather was less severe and the terrain less rugged. Frank Rollins saw abandoned farms and farm lands as the source of New Hampshire's economic problems.

My brother and I pose with two friends for a photograph before marching in an Old Home Day Parade in Lyme Center in the 50s.

Rollins believed that if those who had left the state were to return they would buy some of the abandoned farms and turn New Hampshire's economy around. In 1897, he wrote, "I wish that in the ear of every son and daughter of New Hampshire, in the summer days, might be heard whispered the persuasive words: Come back, come back! Do you not hear the call? What has become of the old home where you were born? Do you not remember it—the old farm back among the hills, with its rambling buildings, its well sweep casting its long shadows, the row of stiff poplar trees, the lilacs and the willows?"

In 1898, Rollins launched a successful campaign for governor. In 1899, his first year as Governor of New Hampshire, Rollins developed Old Home Week. That year 100 towns participated and 10,000 visitors returned to the state. The event was a success. Some of those who came back for a visit stayed and bought farms, and all spent money during their visit. The success of Old Home Week gained national attention. Soon all of the New England states, as well as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and some of the Canadian Provinces were celebrating Old Home Week.

As the New Hampshire economy recovered and there were faster, more reliable means of transportation, Old Home Week became Old Home Day. As vacation schedules became increasingly tied to national holidays, many small towns dropped their Old Home Day celebrations to focus on Memorial Day Parades, Fourth of July fireworks, and Labor Day picnics.

For many years, Old Home Day was celebrated in Lyme. The last several years the town has dropped the Old Home Day celebration and focused its efforts on the Fourth of July Parade which was followed by a barbeque and fireworks at the Lyme Beach. This year Lyme will have its Fourth of July Parade—not on the 4th but at 4 PM on Saturday, July 7, when the nation celebrates the 4th. On Saturday, August 4th, Lyme will have an Old Home Day celebration.

The Old Home Day celebration will be special this year because it will mark the 200th Anniversary of the Lyme Center Baptist Church and the Academy Building. The festivities will start in the morning with a parade and end with an old-fashioned pig roast at six in the evening.