What do these names have in common?  Arnold, Bailey, Bolster, Chapman, Cole, Cross, Cummings, Fisher, French, Gatz, Lund, Lustig, Noyes, Patnaude, Pierce, Rak, Wallace.  These aren’t movie stars or literary giants; they are a few of the Nashua families with a story to tell through their heirloom wedding gowns exhibited throughout the circa 1802 Abbot-Spalding House Museum (1 Abbott Street, right at the top intersection of Main Street behind the monument).  Over twenty treasured bridal dresses are featured throughout the historic home in And the Bride Wore…: A Showcase of 150 Years of Nashua Bridal Fashion. Ranging from corduroy to silk, from the 1790s to the 1990s, each wedding dress display with accessories holds fascinating clues into period social status and individual style. 

Exhibit curators and textile experts, Janice Fronko and Paula Lochhead, have recently been awarded the Historic Preservation Recognition Award by the Matthew Thornton Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  “Janice and Paula, through the careful preparation of this exhibit, were humbled by these treasured family heirlooms, gifts from Nashua citizens.  It has been the Society’s honor to showcase this exhibit since 2022.  There is one last showing on December 16, 2023, starting at noon,” said Beth McCarthy, Curator at The Nashua Historical Society.

Be sure to join us on December 16, 2023, from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. for the final showing of this special exhibit, And the Bride Wore...: A Showcase of 150 Years of Nashua Bridal Fashion.

Location: Abbot-Spalding House Museum, 1 Abbott Street, Nashua, NH 03064
Free parking behind the Speare Museum, 5 Abbott Street, Nashua, NH

Admission: $10 cash or check, $12 credit. Nashua Historical Society members: free. No reservation is required.  

Details are available on our website at: https://www.nashuahistoricalsociety.org/events