{"id":528,"date":"2014-10-05T08:38:06","date_gmt":"2014-10-05T13:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.historicbelmontbandstand.org\/?p=528"},"modified":"2015-05-31T13:37:41","modified_gmt":"2015-05-31T18:37:41","slug":"10-year-old-embarks-on-granite-state-sign-quest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/historicbelmontbandstand.org\/?p=528","title":{"rendered":"10-year-old embarks on Granite State ‘sign quest’ (NH Union Leader – 10.05.15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

BELMONT \u2014<\/span>\u00a0Emma Lacey leafs through a scrapbook, telling the stories behind the pictures on each page and describing what she calls her \u201csign quest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The photos show Emma, 10, at historic markers in the state. Sometimes she\u2019s standing with her sister, Mary. In some, she\u2019s standing with her aunt and uncle, Robin and Mike Moyer.<\/p>\n

Below each photo, she has scribbled notes about the markers and the stories behind them, \u201cNathanial Berry, Civil War governor,\u201d she says, pointing to a photo of her and Berry\u2019s marker in Hebron. \u201cIt\u2019s an interesting story.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Moyers look on with great interest. Since Emma became infatuated with historic signs last spring, the couple has been taking her on day and weekend trips to sign locations all over the state.<\/p>\n

Emma opens a second scrapbook, and reads on. \u201cThe Hannah Dustin memorial,\u201d she says, pointing at a photo of herself at the Dustin marker in Boscawen.<\/p>\n

Mike Moyer nods.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re learning, too,\u201d he said. \u201cI had no idea there were so many signs, and I didn\u2019t know all the stories, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all learning,\u201d Emma said, smiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cFranklin Pierce,\u201d she said, pointing at a photo of herself and a marker in Concord for the former president from New Hampshire.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what president was he?\u201d Robin Moyer asks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 14th,\u201d Emma said proudly.<\/p>\n

Emma began her \u201csign quest\u201d in May after she became interested in the town\u2019s Belmont Mill historic marker. She began Googling historic markers, and found that the state has a network of 268 markers, part of the New Hampshire Historical Highway Marker Program that began in 1958.<\/p>\n

She found the website for the program, which is jointly managed by the state\u2019s Division of Historical Resources and the state Department of Transportation. The site has in-depth descriptions of each marker, and a map showing their locations.<\/p>\n

The Moyers took Emma to see a few signs one weekend in June, \u201cand we had a ball,\u201d Mike Moyer said.<\/p>\n

Since then, they\u2019ve been taking trips together, and they\u2019ve now seen about 100 of the state\u2019s markers, he said. They\u2019ve been to the far north of the state, and to the far eastern areas so far.<\/p>\n

Emma\u2019s parents, Jen and Larry Lacey, have been working on weekends, but have given their blessing to the sign quest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been great. We don\u2019t have any children of our own, so we enjoy taking Emma places and learning about these markers,\u201d Moyer said.<\/p>\n

Emma has also taken on a cause for her mission. She read about John Bradley Thompson, a Gilford boy who died from a brain tumor in April, and has started an Internet fund-gathering page to help raise money for a cancer cure. Her donation page is called \u201cEmma\u2019s Quest For 268 N.H. Signs.\u201d The trio hopes to continue the sign quest. They\u2019ve got a map and plans to \u201cget more of them soon,\u201d Emma said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see them all,\u201d she said. \u201cI love going to each town, finding things I didn\u2019t know existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

By DAN SEUFERT&nbsp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BELMONT \u2014\u00a0Emma Lacey leafs through a scrapbook, telling the stories behind the pictures on each page and describing what she calls her \u201csign quest.\u201d The photos show Emma, 10, at historic markers in the state. Sometimes she\u2019s standing with her sister, Mary. In some, she\u2019s standing with her aunt and uncle, Robin and Mike Moyer. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/historicbelmontbandstand.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/historicbelmontbandstand.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/historicbelmontbandstand.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historicbelmontbandstand.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historicbelmontbandstand.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/historicbelmontbandstand.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/historicbelmontbandstand.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historicbelmontbandstand.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/historicbelmontbandstand.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}