Pioneering female pilot subject of a NH Historical Highway Marker

The N.H. Division of Historical Resources is pleased to announce that a New Hampshire Historical Highway Marker honoring aviation pioneer Bernice Blake Perry has been installed near Milford Rotary Centennial Park on Route 101A in Milford.

The marker reads: 

“BERNICE BLAKE PERRY (1905-1996)"

“In 1929, Manchester native Bernice Blake Perry became the first woman in New Hampshire to pilot a plane and the first female commercial pilot in New England. She spent her adult life in Milford and was a charter member of the Ninety-Nines, a pioneering group of female pilots led by Amelia Earhart. Perry became known in the 1930s for her aerial photography, including site mapping to help develop airports in New Hampshire. A member of the Blake’s Restaurant family, she was also a well-known philanthropist in the region.”

This is the 268th marker in New Hampshire’s Historical Highway Marker program. 

Any municipality, agency, organization or individual wishing to propose a historical highway marker to commemorate significant New Hampshire places, persons or events must submit a petition of support signed by at least 20 New Hampshire residents. They must also draft the text of the marker and provide footnotes and copies of supporting documentation, as well as a suggested location for marker placement.

New Hampshire’s historical highway markers illustrate the depth and complexity of our history and the people who made it, from the last Revolutionary War soldier to contemporary sports figures to poets and painters who used New Hampshire for inspiration; from 18th-century meeting houses to stone arch bridges to long-lost villages; from factories and cemeteries to sites where international history was made. 

An interactive map of all of the state’s historical highway markers is available at the N.H. Division of Historical Resources’ website, nhdhr.dncr.nh.gov. 

The New Hampshire Historical Highway Marker program is jointly managed by the N.H. Division of Historical Resources and N.H. Department of Transportation.