The Rye Historical Society and Rye Town Museum board and staff feel it is important to recognize those Rye residents who have made a lasting impact on our community.  In our current exhibit, "Rye on the Rocks," we feature a "portrait timeline" through which we highlight dozens of past and present Rye residents for whom we are thankful.  Immediately below are just come of those residents who have made an impact on our town's history.

Jessie Haig Herlihy

May 1912-February 1989

In 2009 we would like to pay a special remembrance to Jessie Haig Herlihy.  A generous and dedicated member of the Rye community, Jessie passed away twenty years ago this past February.  Her legacy and spirit live on through the numerous organizations and projects she helped found, including the Rye Historical Society, the Parsons Park Corporation, and several other clubs and civic improvement cooperations.  In addition to being an invaluably influential civic activist, Jessie was a classically trained artist and poet who used her education and talent to preserve the history of Rye, New Hampshire.





Jessie Louise Haig was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1912.  She was the daughter of David Haig, a hard-working Scottish immigrant and Sarah Jewett, a firmly-rooted New England resident.  During her adolescent years Jessie's family moved to Belmont, Massachusetts, which was closer to her father's workplace and the culturally rich Boston/Cambridge area of New England.  Her education at Cambridge Haskell School and later Wellesley College, as well as her upbringing within the Haig household were equally liberal, instilling in Jessie a deep appreciation for history, literature, and the arts. 


After her graduation from Wellesley in 1935, Jessie married Edward Herlihy of Newton, Massachusetts and the couple soon settled on a farm in Rye, New Hampshire and had four sons.  For over fifty years Jessie would dedicate herself to the betterment of her community.  One of her first efforts was to help form a cooperative nursery school in Rye.  In the 1950s, after World War II, Jessie's dedication to preserving the humanities within Rye blossomed.  Working with the Rye Players, founding the Rye Historical District, assisting in archaeological digs, founding several clubs and participating in numerous organizations, Jessie and her tireless generosity are remembered by the greater Rye community with much appreciation and reverence. 


"Jessie Haig Herlihy gave new and wonderful meaning to the word liberal:  in her abundant generosity, her openmindedness, and her kindness of spirit.  She gave all of this freely and naturally to her community, her friends, and her family.  Her life was a constant unfolding, and she always bloomed where she was planted.  What else can one ask of a citizen, a friend, and a mother?"

                                                                                Alex Herlihy
                                                                                   October    1990


During the 1980s, Jessie wrote a collection of poems pertaining to Rye history.  Using resources housed today in the Rye Town Museum, Jessie conducted thorough research of her subjects.  A booklet containing dozens of Jessie's poems, entitled Rye and Beyond: The Poetry of Jessie Haig Herlihy, is available at the Rye Town Museum.  Also, a short film narrated by Jessie's grand-daughter, Dierdre, featuring Jessie's poetry and Rye scenery is available for viewing at the museum.



Please visit The Rye Town Museum at:
10 Olde Parish Road
Rye, NH 03870
or call at:
(603) 997-6742 or email at:
info@ryenhhistoricalsociety.org