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Resident starts up city history Web site

By ANDREW NELSON Telegraph Staff, nelsona@telegraph-nh.com

NASHUA - Robin Ann paces city sidewalks and drives around to catch a glimpse of what old Nashua looked like. And then she catches it on her 21st-century gadget: a digital camera.

She started a Web site that takes people on a trip through Nashua's history starting with prehistoric periods and ending with the current day.

"I want them to feel like they walked back in time," she said.

The Web site started off just for kicks although it hasn't come free. "I have many overdue fees to prove it," she said about the history books borrowed from the Nashua Public Library.

Robin Ann had grown to appreciate the history of the Gate City. And adding that to an interest in photography, organizing the Web site became a thrill.

Appropriately the Web site is linked from the city's Web pages. Nashua celebrates the 150th anniversary of its founding this year.

"She did a wonderful’ job." said Claire Rioux, a leader in the city’s sesquicentennial celebrations. "It's an informative site," she said adding it could help young people understand Nashua's story. (On the same note, the city's Web site will be getting a facelift. By Friday, a special sesquicentennial edition will be up.)

Robin Ann - who goes by that name rather than her full name, Robin Ann Peters - grew up in Hudson and attended its public schools. But living in the community across the Merrimack seems almost an error for someone as enthusiastic about Nashua. She was born at St. Joseph Hospital, and her early childhood was spent on Walnut Street where she now lives. Her first instruction in the arts was at age 5 with commercial artist Maurice Easter in Nashua.

“The whole city is my home. I love Nashua," she said about the city to which she returned four years ago after studying photography at the Hallmark Institute of Photography in Massachusetts and living in Southern New England. She is marketing at Gate City Fence, her grandparents company.

The project started last April and want online New Years Eve. But it was a slow start. Robin Ann, 33, admits to being a convert to things of history. Her lack of knowledge of the history of the community was second to none. “I would equal myself with anybody else who doesn't know anything about Nashua." she joked.Now, she gets excited talking about it.

An aspect she enjoyed was the detective work. Using historical photos, she walks across sidewalks to find the spot an early photographer might have stood. She carries with pride her Agfa E-photo digital camera, which is well worn.

“It's interesting to see how it has changed,” she said.

She got most updated pictures of the city’s landmarks, except for one. The missing photo is the old Nashua Bank and Trust clock. the home of Villa Banca restaurant. She is concerned she’d have to risk standing in the middle of Main Street to get the picture as cars and trucks wiz by.

Robin Ann intends for the web site to become living history adding to it a time and events unfold, chronicling the city's future.

"I'll always be adding to it," she says.

Andrew Nelson can be reached at 594-6415
 
 
 
 
 
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