Centennial Park Dedication

Centennial Gate at the July 2006 Dedication of Centennial Park.

Centennial Park Dedication, July 22, 2006 The VIS celebrated its 100th year with a newly-restored park, which had become overgrown long before they fund-raised and purchased it for $35,000 on July 28, 1998. It had been park-like before, with a little hill and a flagpole, and was called Freedom Haven by its former owners, Professor and Mrs. Ernest Bernbaum.

Volunteers, intent on restoring  the landscape to its approximate state in 1980, got started. Margaret Pokorny designed a landscape plan.  Robblee Tree Service cut and chipped unwanted trees and brush. “Jeff Cutter’s oxen hauled logs, Randy Miller removed stumps, and volunteers helped, too,” wrote Rob Stephenson, VIS President 1997-2001, in his 148-page book, Marshal the Willing Forces,  A Centennial History of the Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society.

“Two new gates were built by Andy Webber, and granite gateposts–salvaged from the Sage barn in Peterborough–were installed. Drop bolts for the gates were fashioned by a blacksmith in County Cavan, Ireland, where one VIS member was visiting–completely an impulse purchase. Cub scouts scraped and painted the flagpole.”

Over two years, volunteers dug the 16 holes for the granite post and rail fence. The town donated the posts, which were fitted with brackets made locally by Fred Pomponio, and volunteers painted and fitted the rails. The fence was finished in 2002, and grading and gardening work was completed in 2004.

“One setback occurred early on New Year’s morning, 2006.” Stephenson writes. An errant motorist drove through the center of the fence, destroying 11 of the 16 posts. (The car ended up in the park, continued across it and proceeded over the other wall onto Bryant Road! Apparently there were no injuries.)

With the help of Hans and John Kaufhold of Peterborough Marble and Granite, repairs were completed by the park’s dedication ceremony on July 22, 2006. In 2008, the VIS began the tradition of the summer Picnic in the Park in Centennial Park, which has been a highlight of each year.

Source: Stephenson, Robert B., , Marshal the Willing Forces, A Centennial History of the Jaffrey Center Village Improvement Society, pages 66-68.