Dublin Christian Academy students who were in in Holly Christensen’s joint first- and second-grade class during the 2020-2021 school year traveled with her to Warren June 3 for the unveiling of a new historical highway marker that they took part in creating.
The marker is in honor of Sarah Whitcher, the subject of a piece of legendary Warren history. In June 1783, 4-year-old Sarah was said to have gotten lost in the woods. After a four-day search, a man came forward saying he dreamed three times that Sarah would be found under a pine bough near Berry Brook, which still exists in Warren today, and that she was being guarded by a bear. Sarah was soon found exactly as he said, and she confirmed his dream, saying that “a great black dog” had watched over her at night.
There are many children’s books based on this tale, among them “Sarah Whitcher’s Story” by Elizabeth Yates, which Christensen read to her class in January 2021.
“From the start, the children seemed to be very, very interested,” Christensen said. “When it came to the end, unlike most books, they wanted to know more about Sarah.”
According to Amy Dixon, community preservation coordinator in the New Hampshire Division of of Historical Resources, it’s no surprise that the story has such strong appeal to people.
“There’s a sense of perseverance … you can only imagine how hard life was in the early settlement,” she said. “(Sarah’s) childlike way of telling the story has a lot of wonder and whimsy.”
Christensen and her class spent the next few months researching whether or not Sarah married, if she had children and how long she lived for. Christensen says she encouraged this interest.
“Any time you have a opportunity as a teacher to make a character come to life, you want to do that,” she said.
Christensen had an opportunity in March 2021 to take photos of the area where Sarah was said to have gone missing. At the same time, she was struck with another idea.
“It was while I was there that I called my parents, who have a book of all the historic highway markers in the state, and asked (if there was one for Sarah),” Christensen said.
Upon learning that no such a marker existed, Christensen began to look into what it would take to create one. She learned that anyone could submit a request to the Department of Historical Resources for one to be built, as long as it was accompanied by a petition with at least 20 signatures of New Hampshire residents. Christensen’s students were enthusiastic about the idea, and with the help of their families, were able to obtain more than 200.
Dixon said obtaining so many signatures doesn’t often happen when petitioning for a marker.
“They went above and beyond,” she said. “I think it was a great community effort.”
Currently, there are 272 historical highway markers in New Hampshire, with more scheduled to be constructed throughout the summer and fall. Dixon feels the process of Sarah’s marker, driven by students, shows what the program is all about.
“The intent and the hope of the program is that it’s community-driven,” she said. “We want the markers to reflect local interest.”
Christensen said that although she didn’t necessarily expect something like this to come of a simple story time, she did know that her class was special.
“It wasn’t on my radar at the beginning, but the group of parents and students I had last year, I would characterize as exceptional,” she said. “I wouldn’t say (I was) surprised, but I would say excited.”
Christensen feels that her students also learned practical lessons from the process.
“The civics value was huge, as far as petitioning the government,” she said.
Over a year in the making, Christensen said that the event itself was very special for her students.
“The Town of Warren really rolled out the red carpet for the children,” she said. “They went above and beyond.”