When the Ulster Scots arrived in New Hampshire in 1719, there were no
roads in Derry (then called Nutfield). Led by the Reverend James
McGregor, the Moses of the Scotch-Irish in America, the entire
congregation of Aghadowey had trekked from their home county of
Londonderry, Ireland, to start their lives anew, undeterred by British
prejudice or Anglican intolerance. These hardy men and women were great
walkers, and during the eighteenth century a warren of footpaths
crisscrossed East Derry Hill. Richard Holmes retraces their footsteps,
walking the road of Derry's history from its rough-and-tumble politics
and early educational institutions through its dramatic split from
Londonderry Parish to the sprawling shoe factories of the Industrial
Revolution. In this first history in decades, Holmes demonstrates that
the hometown of Robert Frost and astronaut Alan Shepherd is also home to
a hardworking, free-thinking, vibrant community.