1952

Just a short drive from New London is the John Hay National Wildlife Refuge in Newberry, N.H., 800 acres fronting on the east shore of Lake Sunapee. It is well worth the trip, according to Jay Anderson, one of the site's commissioners.

John Hay began a distinguished career of public service as President Lincoln's secretary during the Civil War. He concluded his work as ambassador to Great Britain and secretary of state under Presidents McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. In the late 19th century, he and his wife acquired 1,000 rural acres in Newberry on which they built a cottage as an escape from the demands of Washington. On John Hay's death, the property passed to his son Clarence, who, with his wife, spent 40 years changing the rustic and rural character of the property to a series of orderly gardens. He also redesigned the summer cottage to a handsome Colonial revival house. In 1960 Clarence sold some of the property and donated 675 acres to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, limiting the use to undeveloped conservation land. In 1972, atthe end of her husband's life, Mrs. Hay donated the remaining 163 acres and the home to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to remain perpetually a wildlife refuge and bird sanctuary. F & W did not know what to do with all of the structures on the property and proposed to tear them down and convert the property into a wildlife refuge and bird sanctuary. Enter the Lake Sunapee Protective Association, a third generation of Hays, the New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation, and the Garden Conservancy, all looking to find a way of preserving the structures and gardens while making best use of the remaining property for plantings and wildlife. To organize all into a single unit, the John Hay Commission was created and incorporated under Section 501(c)(3). All indications are that unification has bred success. The money is coming in, and a battalion of volunteers is planting hedges, giving tours, tending the gardens, and doing everything else required.

Jay has been working hard and effectively for the past several years on the commission. His training as an accountant he retired from a partnership with Price, Waterhouse in 1991 has served the refuge well. He and Edythe, with whom he just celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary, moved to their summer and winter retreat on the shore of Lake Sunapee and are now New Hampshirites. Jay is an inveterate and capable volunteer for good causes. He collected our money at the 40th and 2 sth reunions as treasurer and was our secretary, once writing this column.

The Hay Refuge served as the weddingreception site of Tracy Anderson '85, the youngest of the Andersons' three children. Fifty-two was well represented: Chuck and Allison Curtis, John and Ann McDonald, Jack and Betty Nary, Bill and Maggie Montgomery, John and Judy Grocott, and Mary Teevens.

"When you visit the refuge," Jay says, "look for road signs to the Fells. That's what Mr. Hay called the place."

"Fell" is the Scottish name for rocky hillside. Which pretty much describes most of New Hampshire.

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