PLAINFIELD — Beverly Widger has a long history with the Plainfield Village Town Hall.
It’s where her parents met at a square dance and where Widger, 74, had her kindergarten graduation ceremony.
“I don’t think people understand what a historic, one-of-a-kind treasure they have in Plainfield,” Widger said in a Monday interview at the Town Hall, which was built in 1798 and is located at 1079 Route 12A.
Widger, along with other Plainfield residents, has spent decades trying to preserve the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Those efforts got a boost earlier this month when the Plainfield Village Town Hall Committee was awarded a $125,000 grant through New Hampshire’s Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, known as LCHIP, to put toward repairing the building’s wooden clapboards, and upgrading the electrical, heating and fire detection systems, along with other rehabilitation projects.
“It was deferred maintenance over the years,” committee member Nancy Norwalk said in an interview along with Widger.
Committee members, who manage and maintain the town-owned building, must raise $125,000 in matching funds to complete the work by the end of 2027.
Despite its namesake, the Town Hall does not house town officials, who have their offices at 110 Main St. in the village of Meriden. Instead, Plainfield Village Town Hall, which has a capacity of 175 people, is used for dances, concerts, weddings, celebrations of life, an annual book sale and other community gatherings, including the annual Fourth of July celebration.
One of its biggest appeals is its stage, which features a set including a multi-piece art installation of Mount Ascutney and the Connecticut River. It is believed to have been painted by Maxfield Parrish, the prominent painter and illustrator who was a member of the Cornish Art Colony.
“Every indication that we have is that he did,” Norwalk said, adding that there’s a chance he had assistants who helped him. The stage set does not have Parrish’s signature, however, so it is harder to prove.
The LCHIP grant will go toward humidity control in the building to help preserve the curtains, which were made with water-based paint.
Generations of Upper Valley residents have performed on the stage using the stage set. Students from Windsor High School regularly signed their names, along with the name of the production they participated in, on the back of the stage set’s pieces, dating back to the 1920s. Plainfield Elementary School regularly holds student productions there.
“These kids today are creating new memories about the set,” Norwalk said.
Claremont-based theater group Amplified Arts, has staged three productions at Plainfield Village Town Hall since 2023, including this fall’s “Pride and Prejudice.”
“The historic backdrop was a powerful tool for our storytelling, as we incorporated it into all three of our productions at the location,” Shelly Hudson, Amplified Arts’ CEO and founding producing artistic director, wrote in an email.
Hudson grew up in Plainfield and appreciates the work the committee is doing to preserve the town hall and the stage set.
“As an artist, creating in that space is inspiring, and presenting there fosters community building,” Hudson wrote. “All of which are especially important now that access to the arts in rural communities continues to be stripped away. Places like the Town Hall need to be preserved and used to support the well-being of the communities they serve.”
Separate from the LCHIP matching funds, the committee also is looking to raise $50,000 to have the stage set professionally cleaned and have mold removed from it. That work will take place after the completion of the humidity control project, which includes installing an industrial-strength humidifier, Widger said.
“The town cared enough for Parrish and the stage set to insure it’s here for the next generation,” Widger said. “We want to make sure we do the same thing.”