In September of 2006, our family purchased a property located on Broad Street in Hollis, New Hampshire. On the corner of our property, less than 10 feet from the roadway, stood a dilapidated farmers’ shop. Locally now recognized as the Noah Dow Cooper Shop. The roof was covered with a blue tarp, the windows were broken, and the siding was mismatched and falling off. A contractor went through the building. Upon inspection, the building’s roof was leaking and showed evidence that it had been leaking for a while. Graffiti, beer cans and bottles strung inside showed that kids and teenagers had at one time been hanging out in there. Also, the floor was rotting and falling in. Evidence of animal habitation was everywhere. We knew something had to be done. 

   The location, close to the roadway, was also a bus stop for neighboring children as well as our own, multiple times a day.  We had fears that someone would try to explore the shop and get injured or worse. All residents and title owners got together and decided what to do with the building. It was agreed that the responsible thing to do with the building was to have it removed before it deteriorated further and collapsed, possibly injuring someone. At this time our family had already been living in Hollis for 31 years. One of us is a retired Hollis preschool teacher and was very active in Hollis schools through the years, volunteering and even working at the after school program. Also active around the community and had even once stayed at this house babysitting a prior owners’ children. As owners, we all agreed that we would donate the building to the Town of Hollis through the Hollis Heritage Commission (HHC). If it was not something the Town/HHC wanted, we agreed the farmer’s shop needed to be removed for public safety reasons before the first snowfall.

   A phone call was made to the Chair of the Hollis Heritage Commission (HHC) in September of 2006, and we let them know of our wish to donate our building to the Town. This was acknowledged in the minutes from the September 2006 HHC meeting, October 2006 Select Board meeting, as well as in the Hollis Brookline Journal. But due to its condition and the liability issue, we requested that the donation be completed by December 1st. We were not comfortable with its location being a bus stop and in it being able to withstand another New England winter. At the same time, we went forward with plans for its removal on December 1st.  We went to the town office to inquire about a demolition permit and were informed that since it was not a taxable structure, none was needed. We had no replies from the HHC concerning the donation again until November.

   Around the middle of October, a “Save Me” sign was put up on our building despite a “Private Property/No Trespassing” sign being installed on the building. No notice was given, nor consent asked before someone trespassed on our property. We notified the Town, and the sign was removed. According to the HHC minutes from the time, it was their idea for the sign and one of its members volunteered to make it.

   Our next contact from the Hollis Heritage Commission was not until the beginning of November. Due to some needed renovation, we were not living in the house at the time. Two members of the committee approached us at our old Hollis address and informed us that there was going to be a Town Selectmen meeting with our donation on the agenda. This meeting was held on November 6th, 2006. One month before our deadline and two months after initially reaching out to the HHC about our wish to donate our building to the town.
  At this meeting, the town building inspector stated that the shop was in such bad shape that he felt unsafe entering the structure and that it would not be feasible to restore it at its present location. Also, during this meeting a preservationist that the HHC brought in stated that the shop was most likely used as a wheelwright or blacksmith shop, not a cooper shop as the HHC still states.

  The Selectmen discussed the donation. It was not feasible to move it as a whole unit and it would need to be dismantled. We were asked if we would extend the December 1st deadline. But after the building inspectors report, and it being a liability and bus stop for several children multiple times a day, we were not comfortable with that and stuck firm with the original date. At the end of the meeting, another citizen stepped forward to assist the HHC with our donation for the town and it would be moved to their property. 

  The Selectmen reiterated their interest in the structure and agreed to help with the liability waivers for the committees’ volunteers to tear down the building as well as provide liability coverage in case of injury during its removal. 

  Four days later, on November 10th, 2006, at an emergency Select Board meeting, that we were not invited to or informed of, the Town withdrew their liability support of the volunteers due to legal issues. This meeting, according to their minutes, was posted at the Town Hall the afternoon before, and the meeting was held early in the morning. Without that support, the citizen who had stepped forward, now chose to step away from the project. 

  After this, we were again contacted by the Heritage Commission concerning our donation of the Noah Dow Cooper Shop. Even though the Select Board removed official support the HHC, along with us, continued with the donation. At no point were we told that the HHC was not accepting our donation. They had found someone to help with the dismantling and storage of the building until a permanent place could be found for it. This person would work with the chairman of the HHC, who was spearheading the project and leading volunteers in the dismantling of the shop.

We informed them of our stipulations for the removal of our donated building:
1.    Liability paperwork would have to be drawn up to prevent us being held financially responsible if any of the volunteers were injured on our property during the removal. 
2.    No parking on the grass.
3.    Clean the site up when completed. No giant holes or debris remaining.
  These stipulations were agreed upon and liability paperwork was drawn up. The same liability paperwork that the Town would have required and that the Chair of the HHC was quoted by a newspaper as saying, “It’s the right thing to do.” Yet in the April 27,2021 minutes, the HHC called it “Acrobatics.”

  One of us met with the individual, whom we were told was representing the Heritage Commission, at the Hollis Pharmacy where Selectman Vahrij Manoukian witnessed our signatures and notarized the liability documents. We have never had any type of contact with this representative before or since. We were told that they would begin work on the removal of our donated building as soon as possible. 

   Dismantling began on November 22nd by volunteers led by the HHC and their representative. Everything was completed on the 29th. Parts of the building were stored on the representative’s property until being moved to a more permanent location on town property when their family changed addresses. The chairman of the HHC sent a “Thank you” letter for our part in donating the building. We felt that we had done a wonderful thing in donating our building to the town, who could then have it restored at a better site location for the betterment of all. We believed that would have been the end of it.

We were wrong.

  Over the years since, the occasional news bite from the HHC would come out about the possible restoration of the Noah Dow Cooper Shop. Donation requests and calendar sales for funds. With multiple locations being looked at. However, we noticed every time the story was told, it had changed from us originally donating the building to it being “Saved” from the evil landowners looking to destroy it and basically having to force us to give it to them by public outcry. This could not be further from the truth!

  We freely donated our property to the Town. We approached the Town with the offer to donate our property in lieu of just having it removed. We were not forced to donate our property. We did not need a demolition permit and could have had it removed at any time, but we generously offered our property to the town for restoration for the joy of future generations. We worked solely with the Hollis Heritage Commission every step of the way. Including working, with what we were told, was their representative leading the dismantling for them. Our donation was forgotten and instead it was said that someone else donated it to the town 7 months later at the June 2007 Select Board meeting. The same person who had worked with the volunteers as a representative of the HHC and then was listed as a member of the HHC a week following our donation and still sits on the commission today. It is absurd that the Select Board accepted a donation of a piece of the town's history which sat on our property for over 150 years from this person when just 7 months prior we stood in front of them at their November 16th, 2006 meeting freely donating our building to the town. As acknowledged in their minutes.

   In early April 2021, someone contacted us looking for support for another Town issue. One of us talked with them and stated that we had a bad experience after working with the Town in the past and were unwilling to do so again. When asked what had happened, they briefly explained what had occurred and our feelings on the subject.

  They did not know this at the time, but the person they spoke to was a former member of the HHC and was on the HHC committee and the Historical District Commission at the time of our donation in 2006. Without prompting or our knowledge, this person wrote a letter to a member of the Selectmen concerning our donation. They asked why our donation was not being recognized. Since they were there at the time of the donation, they knew that we had in fact donated the building. The Selectman was the HHC representative for the board. Without verifying with us, this Selectman took it to the HHC and was present when the committee came up with their response to the writer’s letter that completely went against the letter writer’s intent. Neither the HHC nor the Selectman contacted us about the initial letter or the outcome of their meeting.   

   We knew nothing of the letter or their response until over a year later. A family member “Googled” our name and the April 27th, 2021, minutes of an HHC meeting were the first item to come up. In these minutes, our full names were listed, and we were made to look like the vilest people in Hollis. It was stated that they did extensive “research” into the donation. They made it look like we were forced to give them the building and all we wanted was to just tear it down, and that we did not contact them about the donation. Instead, they state that they had to call us, even stating that we had sold the building, which we certainly did not. No private sale was ever discussed, or compensation received, only our wish to donate the building to the HHC/Town of Hollis. Everything we did was at the instruction of the HHC and now they state we deserved no recognition at all for our donation! They did not reach out to us in any way concerning this issue. Their “research” must not have included their own minutes from the time or the Select Board minutes, which paint an entirely different picture of the donation than the one they presented. If they had come to us first, we still have loads of documentation concerning our donation. Instead, they published their version online and never informed us of their “findings” or of the meeting in general.

  When we discovered these minutes, we promptly wrote them a letter explaining the inaccuracies of their statements, citing multiple sources to refute their statements, including Town Selectmen minutes from the time, newspaper articles, and even their own minutes from 2006. We even have a “Thank You” letter from the HHC Chair from that time, thanking us for our donation, which states in a handwritten note on HHC letterhead “Without you, none of this could have been possible. Thank you.” Also, the fact that we did not contact them or the Selectmen concerning our donation and were unaware that anyone had. Yet they publicly posted the lies and inaccuracies online attached to our names. 

   We offered to come to the next meeting to discuss this. They did not respond. We also reached out to the Selectmen, also offering to meet with them and show our evidence. Again, no response. Only after approaching the Town Administrator did we receive a reply from the HHC. The HHC mailed us a letter stating they would change the minutes. After several weeks, even this did not happen.

  It took several more letters and trips to Town Hall to get anything else done, but all they did was temporarily pull the minutes off the Hollis town page. Since the minutes had been published through some newspaper sites for over 2 ½ years, even copies of those minutes are still out there. Not one response from the HHC other than a letter stating that they would change the minutes, which took eighteen months, having to hire an attorney, and they still will not admit the truth. 

     We sat back while jabs were taken at us in the newspapers, in their minutes, and online. They accused us of not helping them physically remove it, even though one resident was taking care of 2 young children and an infant at a different location, and another was a truck driver and could not be home for those days. And since they dragged it out to the last second it was hard to plan around. Maybe they were upset that due to the huge liability we would not extend our December 1st deadline. Though it did take 14 years for them to find a spot for the shop. Were they expecting it to stay here for that long? Enough is enough.

  It appears that the Hollis Heritage Committee has changed the story of our donation to better seek monetary donations from the public. Everyone loves a good story. Heroically saving the Shop from imminent destruction, forcing it from the evil landowners. Tens of thousands of dollars have been spent on the renovation of this building. As stated in their own May 11th and 13th, 2022 minutes, some of this money even went to a member of the HHC Committee. When they went against town regulations barring paying volunteers, they paid a committee member several thousand dollars to work on the Cooper Shop. The same person was one of the members to speak out against us in the April 27,2021 HHC minutes about our donation. No competitive bids were sought. According to the agreement they signed for the Town, you cannot accept money from a volunteer organization as a member of that organization. This person resigned from the HHC Committee after this violation was noticed by the Town Administration and then continued their work as a paid contractor. 

   What started out as a small, low budget commission, has grown to the point that is doing several large-scale projects at once. These are unelected positions that have access to state and federal grants as well as large amounts of public donations with no clear public oversight. Cleverly hiding taxpayer funding behind phrases like “Funds to come from unassigned fund balance. No amount was to be raised from new taxes.” as was stated in their March of 2022 Warrant article push for the White Barn. The $50,000 did not come out of thin air. It was taxpayer monies that are set aside for unbudgeted emergencies and credit stabilization for loans. Once used they are to be replaced in the next year’s budget. Not only that, but those funds also only covered a small portion of the restoration which is essentially being used as storage. These funds as well as the grants they receive are not free money. At some point taxpayers were billed for these funds whether through local, state, or federal taxes. With property taxes already sky high, the taxpayers of this community need reductions in spending, not more projects. 

   It was our wish to approach the Town, freely offering to donate our building to them. In good faith we worked with the HHC and the Town to complete the donation. Every step of the way we worked solely with the Heritage Commission, consulting with them and believing what we were told was the proper way to donate our building to the town. Everything we were asked to do we did. From our original call to the HHC Chairperson to the “Thank You” letter from them when our donation was complete, we worked only through the Heritage Commission. Even after the Select Board pulled monetary and liability support for this donation, the Selectmen stated that they still had an interest in the building. Which was the only reason we continued to work solely with the HHC to complete our donation. The only thing we would not do was change the removal deadline due to the building’s deteriorating condition and increased liability. 

  To say that we did not donate this building is ludicrous. The Town of Hollis would not now possess the Noah Dow Cooper Shop were it not for our generosity in donating it to them in the first place. It sat on our property for over 150 years, and we approached the Town to donate it. We kindly allowed the HHC to dismantle our property to be restored at a better location for the town and this is the thanks we get. At no time did we back off from our wish for the Town to have the building and restore it for the community. It was unfeasible for it to remain in its original location as it was condemned by the building inspector, then rendered uninsurable and placed the liability on our family. It is now in a better place. The hard work and dedication that went into removing the building and then restoring the building to its new location is commendable. The petty, small-town politics that have been played since our donation is definitely not. 

  We tried to reason with the HHC. After eighteen months since originally finding the April 2021 Hollis Heritage Commission minutes, the only result was that they removed our names from the minutes yet left them in the attached addendums. Also leaving the lies and even took a couple more jabs at our family. Even stating that they saved us the demolition permit fee, which we didn’t need to begin with. They also removed the stated addendums from public viewing, which was the letter from the former Heritage Commission board member to the Select Board Representative for the HHC inquiring why our donation was not being remembered and another one stating how exactly they came up with their version of events. These are only available by request at the Town Hall. The HHC also refused to include our version of the donation process alongside theirs. 

  The Heritage Commission now states that it was a private matter between private citizens and that they were not officially involved regardless of the evidence presented. When the “private citizen” that the HHC states purchased the shop from us was contacted by our attorney, their story was that they had no proof of buying the shop and it was a “handshake deal”. The same “private citizen” who was appointed officially to the HHC a week after the removal. The only contact we ever had with this person was to sign release of liability papers that protected us in case one of the HHC volunteers were injured on our property. Any other story that has been said or written by this person since our donation is completely fabricated. No “sale” was ever discussed or proposed, only our wish to donate our property. They cited their only witness as a former Selectman who passed away in 2018. A Selectman who would not have stood by quietly while citizens who tried to do a good deed were drug through the mud. If the town was unwilling to accept our donation, we would have had it removed due to the liability issue. Our story should have ended with our donation. Instead, an entirely new story was fabricated after the fact to facilitate personal and political aspirations of parties involved.

  There was no need to publicly ridicule our family. A simple invitation to a meeting to discuss our different opinions as adults should have sufficed. The huge lack of respect and pettiness shown by the HHC in this situation is both disgusting and disgraceful. A Town Selectmen publicly thanked us for our donation in the September 12, 2022, Town Selectmen meeting. Acknowledging our donation. This was said in video, yet conveniently not typed in their public minutes. But the Heritage Commission refuses to even discuss the issue with us. The insulting and belittling of citizens of this Town that did a good deed shows the moral character of its members. It was our idea to freely donate our property to the Town of Hollis instead of just having it removed for public safety and we never expected anything like this to happen. We hope this is a lesson to other members of the community looking to do a good thing for this town in the future. 

   We do not write these words looking for anything other than getting the factual side of the story said. We were never looking for any gratitude or public acclaim for our donation, neither should we be demeaned for the good deed of our family, now or in the years to come. Hopefully this story will keep history from repeating itself.

Land/Title Owners 
Corner of Broad Street and Van Dyke Road


Links to Original Documents and Video Located Below