Brigham Boice wants to take you on a tour of downtown Peterborough. It’s a virtual walk around Our Town – but be prepared to see the area from a noticeably different perspective.
Boice, a senior at ConVal High School, announced this week the official launch of Newpast, a virtual historical video game experience that has recreated what Peterborough looked like in the year 1886. He had originally hoped to go far back as the 1700s, but there just wasn’t enough information to make it historically accurate. And according to Boice, there was an abundance of information, photographs and details from 1886 that made him confident that his game would not only be factual, but informative.
“So much history is lost every single day,” Boice said.
Boice embarked on the project three years ago and worked tirelessly to make it as authentic an experience as possible. He extensively researched the town as it stood 135 years ago with the help of the archives at the Monadnock Center for History & Culture, including “Peterborough in Pictures, 1876-1976,” obtained old photos of how some of the more noticeable locations in downtown appeared in the old days and learned the stories of Peterborough’s Apostolic Twelve.
“It’s kind of extraordinary what he’s done,” said Michelle Stahl, executive director of the Monadnock Center for History and Culture.
The game, which officially became available for download for free on Monday, has three ways to explore that both history buffs and novice learners will enjoy. The flyover option is a nine-minute bird’s eye view of the town including an audioscape that captures what Peterborough would have sounded like in 1886, including the bells from the United Baptist Church and the Boston & Maine Railroad train that passed right through what is now well known as Depot Square.
“It’s more seeing what the town looked like,” he said.
The free roam feature allows you to wander around the downtown area, getting up close looks at the buildings and landscape when it was considerably more residential in the town center. There’s even a feature to showcase Peterborough at night.
“I really want to help the community understand the past, because I really enjoy the town and its history,” Boice said.
But the main focus of the project was to help expand the knowledge of Peterborough’s history and the educational option in a comprehensive dive filled with historical facts that will leave you wanting to learn more every step of the way. As the experience begins, you are introduced to John Little, one of the Apostolic Twelve. The group of twelve everyday citizens of Peterborough where part of a local photographer’s project in 1876 and were not chosen for their prominence, but by random selection. Each one is stationed at a different location.
In Peterborough 1886, you can visit Tucker’s Tavern, which is now home to People’s United Bank. Depot Square was home to the town’s train station and the library was located in the bottom of the town hall. Boice included both old and newer pictures of locations to show just how much Peterborough has changed.
“I feel history is under-represented in many communities and a lost part of our society,” Boice said. “And this is a way to connect the old with the new, connect generations.”
“He is definitely a Peterborough history kid,” his mom, Ruthann said.
Stahl hopes that the release of Newpast will bring about even more people interested in learning about Peterborough’s history, especially among the younger generation who will relate to the virtual experience.
“I think it could really ignite some interest in younger people,” she said. “I think people of all ages can take something away with an experience with their community’s history. There’s a potential for this model for teaching history to kids on a bigger scale.”
She said history is typically taught in not the most exciting way and that Newpast could definitely help bridge the gap.
“When younger people do have that information presented to them in a different way, it does stick with them,” Stahl said. “It’s another way of connecting them and this is a great way to do it.”
Boice has been fascinated about Peterborough’s history since the fourth grade. It soon became somewhat of an obsession and Boice was constantly looking for more information about the town he calls home. In sixth grade, his passion for technology led him to Unity, a cross-platform game engine, and it soon became clear he could merge his love of history and the virtual world into what would become Newpast.
“His attention to the details of the buildings and the layout of the town, gives a real feel of what it would have been like to walk the town streets in 1886,” Stahl said. “He has really hit upon something with this.”
He did all the programming for the game, virtually building many of the buildings brick by brick. Boice spent countless hours matching the game’s scenes with old photos, even replicating the signs that once hung on the building’s facades and the trees and fences that appeared.
“The whole goal was to recreate the way the town looked in 1886,” Boice said. “So I tried to put in as many details as I could.”
He held a preview at the Peterborough Night Market in 2019 and for the last three months, Boice has been conducting beta testing and finally felt it was ready to release to the community.
“He had the idea, he had the vision and he saw it through,” Stahl said. Stahl has known Boice for many years, first as an enthusiastic learner and for the last six years as a volunteer, where he portrays Augustus Prescott in the center’s living history programs. “He’s really immersed himself with what we do.”
Two years ago, Boice created an LLC for Newpast in partnership with his mom, simply because he was too young at the time to be the company’s full owner
“As he begins to grow his idea, he’ll push me aside and take full ownership,” Ruthann said.
The goal is to continue to build the virtual experience with ideas to branch out to other local towns and even across the country.
“This has really been a passion project for me,” Boice said.
For more information and to download, visit https://newpastgames.com/.