"I had two separate people come up to me and mention feeling that the park was alive again with so many people," Matt Pelletier of the Friends of Benson Park told the Benson Park Advisory Committee on Sept. 17, as reported by the Hudson Times. He was describing the Centennial Celebration and Family Fun Day held five days earlier at 19 Kimball Hill Road.
The turnout was real. The event had 14 sponsors. According to the Hudson Times, Committee Chair Sue Clement said the Old Woman in the Shoe drew far more visitors than in past years: "We definitely doubled what we've had in years past."
A visitor walking the grounds that day was also looking at a park still being rebuilt one structure at a time. The Train Station was closed. The Tiger Cage had been locked since at least May. The Lion's Pride statues made their first public appearance as a restoration project, not a display. Benson Park's 100th birthday came in the same year the town finally gave itself permission to spend park money on its old buildings. That timing explains most of what you see on the trails this fall.
The Fund That Couldn't Fix a Building
Benson Park is a 166-acre passive-recreation park. The Friends describe it as maintained by the Town of Hudson with help from volunteer groups. For years, the park's dedicated savings account was a land fund. This year's Warrant Article 14, "Revise the Benson Land Capital Reserve Fund," changed that. According to the advisory committee's May minutes, the fund "can now be used for repairs and maintenance of the park and all buildings within the park." At that point the reserve held $127,803.
The change doesn't spend anything on its own. The process in the minutes goes like this: the committee picks its projects, a memo goes to Roy Sorenson, and he brings the proposal to the Board of Selectmen for approval. The first three projects the committee discussed were the Office and Kitchen, the Train Station and the bridge.
So the centennial year is also year one of a repair budget. The list below shows how far each landmark has come.
Where the Landmarks Stand This Fall
| Landmark | Most recent status | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Train Station | Closed for mold and lead contamination; committee reviewing its documents and reconnecting with the state Division of Historical Resources (DHR) on next steps | Aug. 20 meeting |
| Tiger Cage | Locked after a top bar broke; stone base corner damaged | May minutes |
| Lion's Pride statues | Washed and chemically treated, drying before repairs | Early October report |
| Office and Kitchen | Water damage flagged for a fall volunteer day | May minutes |
| Covered bridge at the waterfall | Builder expected to finish his part that day; DPW to pave and build walkways | Aug. 21 |
| Elephant Barn museum | Temporary display for Sept. 12; permanent museum still a long-term goal | Sept. 17 meeting |
The Train Station has the stickiest problem. When committee members tried to accept a vintage luggage wagon from Windham, Sue Clement measured the station door to see if the wagon would fit through. She found the door is fake. The donation went on hold over storage, and the minutes record the question "Can a real door be installed?" By the Aug. 20 meeting the station was still closed because of mold and lead. Committee member Jake Beauchemin said the group needed to review its existing documents and get back in touch with DHR to sort out next steps. The Sept. 17 agenda still carries the lead-paint and mold review as unfinished business.
Beyond the broken bar, the committee flagged damaged stone on one corner of the base, asked whether the bars should come off, and suggested Steve Chasey of Chasey Steel, who has worked on the cage before, take a look. No later update on a repair turned up in the committee's June, August or September records.
The lions are moving slowly on purpose. The Lions Club put $200 toward the effort. The volunteer doing the work is the same person who restored the Shoe, and he offered to work for the cost of materials only. By June 18 he had started cleaning the statues, and a missing tail was being rebuilt. In August the committee floated the idea of displaying the lions inside the former cage, but questions about a roof, crane capacity, cost and weather protection were left open. At the latest meeting Clement gave this update: "At this point, our volunteer has washed them, put certain chemicals on them, and now it needs to dry, to completely dry before he can go to the next step." She wants the restorations finished before anyone builds a display or spends money on one.
What Got Done, and Who Paid for It
Almost every project that did get finished this year was donated or done by volunteers. The capital reserve played little part.
The bridge is the clearest example. In June, Jan Horvath was working with Town Engineer Elvis Dhima on site design and a preliminary budget. On Aug. 21, HCTV filmed the builder on site. "We're donating our time material to the town," he said, and he expected to finish his part of the work that day. DPW was to handle paving and walkways after that. The committee's Sept. 17 agenda lists an update on the Alligator Alley bridge and approval of a donation. It doesn't name the donor or say the work is finished.
The historic markers came the same way. Roger Pellerin of Gate City Monument donated granite markers worth about $4,500. On July 25 the three permanent markers were unveiled at the Train Station, the Kitchen and Office Building, and the historic barn, followed by guided tours. DPW poured the foundations. HCTV recorded the dedication if you missed it.
The Old Woman in the Shoe, the exhibit that drew double its usual crowd in September, was itself a volunteer job. Local Cub Scouts and Ripaldi Construction restored it. At the lower lot, the Friends of Hudson Dog Park will lease and maintain the dog park, which reopened March 11. The Friends of Hudson Dog Park say it had closed in January 2026 because of a lapse in liability insurance, and community fundraising paid for new coverage. The drive down the hill past it has been a concern. An August committee agenda reports that DPW cleared trees and put up speed signs near the dog-park entrance and repaired the swale in the lower lot.
Then there's the Elephant Barn. A Discovery Center banner went up there on May 21, ahead of a planned "soft opening" for the centennial. Jim Leach of the Friends helped set up the temporary museum, which showed old photographs, props and a vintage diorama. Leach worked at the original park in the 1980s.
"I did four magic shows per day, seven days per week. I was also ringmaster at the elephant show and I worked with the chimpanzees and a few other things."
According to the Hudson Times, Leach said the long-term goal is a permanent museum and discovery center. The Friends' homepage still lists it as "Coming Soon." Their museum page mentions a $120,000 roof already on the barn and a goal of a 2026 grand opening. Nothing we found confirms a permanent opening date.
A Centennial With a Flexible Start Date
The date being celebrated is less settled than the party suggested. The committee and the Friends marked 100 years since a 1926 opening. The Friends' own history page says John T. Benson bought land in Hudson in 1922, and their homepage says he ran the animal farm from 1924 until 1943. The New Hampshire Historical Society's catalog dates the public opening to 1927. The town is celebrating a centennial that falls somewhere in a five-year window.
The more recent dates are firmer:
- The animal farm closed in 1987, and the state acquired the property in 1989.
- Hudson officially took title on Jan. 6, 2009, paying $188,000.
- The town planned to reopen it to the public as Benson Park on May 29, 2010.
More than two decades passed between the farm's closing and the park's reopening, and the buildings on today's repair list are the ones that came through that stretch.
The deed also limits what the park can turn into. Committee minutes say it allows "quiet low impact recreation," which means walking and hiking but no baseball or soccer fields. Vehicles are allowed only on approved roads, and the parking lots are the only approved roads. The deed does allow cycling, and the minutes note that under New Hampshire law the first two classes of e-bikes don't count as motorized. The committee is now reviewing how other towns handle park rules and group reservations, since reservation requests are rising.
October at Kimball Hill Road
The more than 4 miles of paved and natural loop trails are open year-round, and leashed dogs are welcome. The rest of the season's dates at the park:
- Saturday, Oct. 17, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.: The Friends' last monthly cleanup of the season, weather permitting, with free lunch. Kids are welcome. Registration is outside the brick building across from the red Elephant Barn.
- Saturday, Oct. 24, noon to 2 p.m.: The Volunteer "Thank You Lunch" for everyone who worked on the park this year.
- This fall, date to be set: Erickson Foundation Solutions plans to send employees for a volunteer day, and they'll look at the water damage in the Kitchen.
The committee's next decisions on the Train Station, the bridge donation and the lions will show up in its posted agendas on the Town of Hudson website.
At The Morgan Moves Team, we follow Hudson the same way, one committee agenda and one restored landmark at a time. If you live near Kimball Hill Road and want to know what your home is worth this fall, we'll walk you through it in plain terms. Request Your Free Home Valuation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
