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The Thompson-Ames Historical Society
writes a weekly news release.


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11-27-05   Thompson-Ames Historical Society’s Annual Meeting on Mon., Dec. 5th


The Annual Meeting of Thompson-Ames Historical Society will take place at 7:00 p.m., Monday, December 5th in the Fellowship Hall of Gilford Community Church, 19 Potter Hill Road, in Gilford Village.

During the 7:00 p.m. business meeting, annual reports will be given and the election of Officers and the Board of Directors will take place.

At 7:30 attention will turn to the evening’s program, a two-part happening this year. One part will spot light vintage holiday ornaments. Society members and the public are invited to bring their favorite holiday ornaments for this “show and tell” activity.

The other part of the program will be a sing-along of seasonal songs with Austin Schinlever at the keyboard.

We reached into Thompson-Ames Historical Society’s archives and came up with a set of freebees that were handed out to the public a few decades ago by Rand’s Esso Servicenter that used to be located at 670 Union Avenue in Lakeport. You can tell these are vintage items because the telephone number listed is “Laconia 130”! The title of the pamphlet is Sing a song of Christmas – the songs we love to hear this merry season of the year! We hope that Stan Piper will be in good voice that evening to lead the parti-cipants in a good old-fashioned holiday sing-along.

Then it will be time for the annual Holiday Dessert Buffet, which will feature dessert items contributed by T-AHS members and members of the public who join us that evening.

We got to wondering what desserts might have an historic twist for Gilford, so down from the T-AHS shelves of reference books came a copy of The High Maples Farm Cookbook which was written by Edna Smith Berquist in 1971 with a dedication note “To My Family”. -- It is a book valued for not only favorite recipes of the Smith family but also for the family tales from their New England farm.

Next thing I knew I was “dialing” the telephone number of Barbara (Smith) and Allan Turner, who had moved to Oneonta, New York, late this past summer in order to be nearer to their family, including their grandchildren.

We exchanged Thanksgiving greetings and I learned that Barbara and Allan had spent the Thanksgiving weekend with son Andrew Turner and his family in the upper Hudson River Valley. And to quote Barbara, “It was truly an old-fashioned Thanksgiving, per the High Maples Cookbook which had served as a guide for Andrew’s culinary endeavors.”

With the subject of the famous cookbook having been broached, I told Barbara of plans being finalized for T-AHS’s Dec. 5th Annual Meeting and I asked if there was one particular December High Maples dessert recipe that came to mind. Without hesitation, she replied, “Auntie’s Boiled Cake which Mother [Verna Smith] made every December 22nd for the birthday celebration that Royal [Barbara’s father] and his brother Forrest (father of Nathan Smith) shared ever since they were children on the farm.” After a brief pause, during which time Barbara reached for her copy of the High Maples Cookbook, she continued, “It’s on page 318 of the cookbook, and there’s even a note telling about the pale green icing with silver trimming or the white icing and red trimming. And it even mentions how I used to help decorate these birthday or Christmas cakes with bits of candied cherries, citron, and slivered almonds.”

How fortunate that Edna Smith Berquist took time to write this cookbook that helps us remember life when Gilford was a farm-based community! -- What wonderful memories!

We hope that there will be good attendance at Thompson-Ames Historical Society’s December 5th Annual Meeting. Of course, the public is invited to attend!

For further information about Thompson-Ames Historical Society and its many activities, please view the Society’s website www.gilfordhistoricalsociety.org or call 527-9009.