An Experiential Learning Challenge for America’s
250th Anniversary and the Willey House Bicentennial
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Uncover hidden gems and unfamiliar corners of your city or beyond. Traveling or even exploring local spots can provide fresh perspectives and inspiring experiences.
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Life is made up of countless small moments that often go unnoticed. From a peaceful sunrise to a chat with a friend, each moment adds value to our lives.
Recognizing your accomplishments, no matter how small, is crucial for maintaining motivation and self-esteem. Each milestone reflects your hard work and perseverance.
In August of 1826, a devastating storm swept through Crawford Notch in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
Fearing for their safety, members of the Willey family left their home and entered the darkness.
In a tragic twist, the landslide they were fleeing split around the house and left it standing. Several members of the family perished. Three children were never found.
News of the disaster spread across the nation. Writers, artists, travelers, and historians were drawn to the story. The event helped shape the identity of the White Mountains and inspired generations of visitors.
Yet nearly two centuries later, many people have never heard of it.
The Lost Voices Challenge begins with a simple question:
How can one of New Hampshire’s most significant historical events be both nationally important and largely forgotten?
That question opens the door to many others.
✶ What happened?
✶ Why did it happen?
✶ How was the story told?
✶ How did it influence literature, art, tourism, and public memory?
✶ What can modern learners discover using tools and perspectives unavailable in 1826?
The Lost Voices Challenge invites learners, mentors, historians, communities, and partner organizations to investigate together.
✶ Not simply to learn about history.
✶ To participate in preserving, documenting, interpreting, and sharing it.
WHAT HAPPENED?
On the night of August 28, 1826, extraordinary rainfall triggered multiple landslides throughout Crawford Notch.
Among those affected was the Willey family, who lived in a small house beneath the steep mountain slopes.
As danger approached, members of the family fled into the storm.
The landslide split around the house, leaving the structure standing while carrying debris around both sides. The family members who had left the house were lost.
The tragedy quickly captured public attention.
Newspapers reported on the event throughout New England and beyond. Visitors traveled to see the site. Artists painted the landscape. Writers found inspiration in the story. What began as a local tragedy became part of the American imagination.
Today, visitors can still stand in Crawford Notch, look toward the mountains, and ask the same questions people asked nearly two hundred years ago.
✶ What happened here?
✶ And what might still be waiting to be discovered?
WHY THIS MATTERS
History is more than a collection of dates and events.
It is a collection of questions.
Some questions are answered.
Others remain open.
The Willey House story invites investigation across history, geography, literature, environmental science, tourism, communications, digital humanities, and emerging technologies.
It also raises another question:
If one of New Hampshire’s most significant historical events can gradually fade from public awareness, what other stories, voices, lessons, and opportunities for discovery may be waiting to be rediscovered?
The Lost Voices Challenge is NOT designed to provide every answer.
✶ It is designed to spark curiosity.
✶ To encourage investigation.
✶ To invite collaboration.
✶ To create opportunities for learners with different interests and strengths to contribute together.
✶ Some may be drawn to historical documents.
✶ Some may be fascinated by weather patterns and geology.
✶ Others may investigate literature, maps, photography, GIS, drones, artificial intelligence, documentary production, public history, or community storytelling.
✶ Different paths.
✶ Shared investigation.
✶ Shared contribution.
Because the most meaningful discoveries often begin with a simple question:
What if there is more to this story than we realize?
THE CHALLENGE
The Lost Voices Challenge begins with a simple idea:
What can modern learners discover about the Willey House Tragedy using tools, technologies, perspectives, and forms of collaboration that did not exist in 1826?
That question has no single answer.
✶ It opens the door to hundreds of possible investigations.
✶ Some learners may be drawn to historical documents, searching through newspapers, journals, letters, and records from the nineteenth century.
✶ Others may investigate the landscape itself, using maps, photography, GIS, drone imagery, or environmental analysis to better understand the events that unfolded in Crawford Notch.
✶ Some may explore literature and storytelling, tracing how the tragedy influenced writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and helped shape the way generations of people understood the White Mountains.
✶ Others may become interested in public memory, asking why a story that once captured national attention is no longer widely known.
✶ Each investigation creates new questions.
✶ Each discovery creates new opportunities for contribution.
✶ No single person can investigate every aspect of the story.
✶ That is why collaboration matters.
✶ Historians, storytellers, geographers, technologists, artists, environmental investigators, community members, and learners of all ages bring different perspectives to the challenge.
Together, they can discover more than any individual could alone.
The goal is not to reach a predetermined conclusion.
The goal is to investigate thoughtfully, contribute meaningfully, and leave the next generation with a deeper understanding than the one we inherited.
Every generation receives questions.
Every generation has the opportunity to add new understanding.
Follow the investigation
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