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Goody Cole Memorial
Photo courtesy of
Ralph Morang.
Back in the 1600s women could be punished publicly simply for expressing opinions aloud. Goodwife Cole’s crime was that she refused to be silent. Elderly and unpopular, Goody was jailed on suspicion of being a witch in the mid-1600s. According to a young girl, Goody had spoken to the child through a cat. She was accused of putting a spell on a neighbor’s cow that later died. Unable to pay for her prison accommodations, she was twice more returned to a Boston prison while her husband lay ill and dying. Cole was the only New Hampshire woman legally declared a witch and after her death, legend says, the superstitious citizens of Hampton drove a stake through her heart. Her burial site is unknown. In 1938 the town of Hampton recanted its conviction and erected a stone in her honor. Goody was further exploited by popular writers including John Greenleaf Whittier who wrote two poems about her in the late 1800s.
HOURS: Dawn to dusk
WEBSITE: http://seacoastnh.com/arts/please102498.html
ADMISSION: Free to see
ADDRESS: Hampton, NH 03802
DIRECTIONS: The stone is located across from the Tuck Museum at Founder's Park on Meeting House Green at 40 Park Avenue
LINKS:
MUCH more on Goody,
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