We’ve survived two short but sweltering heat domes in The Beangle since arriving in New Hampshire two months ago. And, no, it doesn’t have AC. Yes, it was pretty miserable. The high humidity certainly didn’t help. It made everything feel like they had been dipped in used dishwater. We rated these six or seven days a 2 out of 10. Not recommended. But the Corps staff fussed over us and made life as bearable as possible. We cooked dinner in their kitchenette, and I even used an oven for the first time in over 10 months! We ate meals in their conference room and spent a couple of hours each day soaking up the AC to drop our internal temperatures back to normal, which made sleeping much easier. We survived it. Thankfully those days are outliers and we’re back to the region’s regularly scheduled program of highs in the upper 70s to low 80s with mostly cool if humid nights.
On our off days, we’ve been making the rounds to a few local sights and learned some unexpected things along the way. Let me tell you about a few of them.
First: Concord, New Hampshire, the state’s capital city (not to be confused with the more famous city in Massachusetts). We’d planned to follow the official city walking tour but got waylaid at the first stop, the New Hampshire State House. It’s a good one.
The entrance hall displays a large flag collection from NH troops across multiple conflicts. Some are full flags, most are partial, and a heart-wrenching few are just a pole with a small tuft of fabric still attached. Several were obviously bloodied and torn from battle. A plaque at the base of each tells about that troop’s historical dates and places of action. We took an interesting volunteer-led tour of the building but zero photographs inside.
Did you know that little NH has the most state representatives in the USA? 400 of them, in fact. I didn’t. There is a NH State Representative for approximately every 3,300 NH residents. That’s pretty amazing. In contrast, on the opposite side of the wall sits one of the smallest state senates in the nation, with only 24 Senators! Although they are called the lower house and upper house respectively, there’s no discrepancy in remuneration. Each representative and senator earns $200 a year, before taxes, and they’re only reimbursed for mileage. No meals, hotels, coffee, etc on the NH state dime. Thank you very much.
“Ricker (1840-1920) was born in New Durham, NH. She was known nationally as a suffragist, attorney, author, and humanitarian. In Dover in 1870, Ricker became the first NH woman to try to vote. She was denied a ballot, but for 50 years she kept trying to vote.
Ricker studied law to fight society’s oppression of women and the poor. She passed the bar in 1882 “with the highest grade of all who were admitted at the time”. Her law practice was mostly pro bono work on behalf of the poor and incarcerated. Returning to NH, Attorney Ricker petitioned the NH Supreme Court to practice law. When she was denied because of her gender, she sued and won, opening the NH bar to female attorneys. At age 70, Ricker tried to run as a Republican candidate for governor. Her filing was refused because, as a woman, she was not registered to vote and thus not allowed to run. Ricker’s tireless work for women’s rights paved the way for the many NH women who would later hold public office. She died on November 12, 1920, shortly after the 19th Amendment granted women the vote. Marilla was an advocate of equality and justice for all.
Artist: Kate Gridley, 2016”
It was good to see this memorial to Marilla Ricker in the NH State House, especially now when voting rights for women and brown people are under attack again (and again and again). It’s important to remember that “the good old days” that certain people and parties reminisce so heartily about, and are trying to drag the nation back into, were actually pretty shitty for a whole lot of people.
On a different week, we visited the childhood home of Franklin Pierce, the fourteenth president of the United States, New Hampshire’s only homegrown president. His family home, we’re told, was a rather raucous one, part tavern (literally) and part party central for the local gentry. His parents lived to entertain, had revolving extended family members staying with them, and his father insisted that the entire household — servants included! — sit down together for meals. Shocking!! Franklin’s wife found it all so scandalous, after being raised by a rather uptight and unfun minister with strong ideas about propriety, that she and Franklin moved out of Hillsborough and away from his uncouth family shortly after their marriage.
In response to 1816, the year without a summer, the ell became a regular addition to many New England homes, making that long and bent house shape that so confused us. An ell (called so because they are often shaped like the letter L) is an addition that connects the main house to one or more outbuildings—above, kitchen to the well and shed/root cellar, to the carriage house—reducing heat loss, keeping inhabitants warm and dry while performing daily tasks, and making life more bearable during those long and dangerously cold winters. The Pierce’s ell even included access to a privy they had built inside the carriage house! Talk about the lap of luxury for the early 1800s.
In my opinion, a public library is the best use for former mansions. Great architecture meets great stories, with lots of nooks to hold the books. Keene’s public library is also a former mansion, with a very modern addition off the back and easily the best children’s section I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
Since arriving, we’ve been hearing about several stone bridges in the Hillsborough region, so we drove around to see a few of them. And drive over them, as we came to find out, because they’re just plain ol’ bridges to the locals who live there. Safety rails? Bahahaha Hardly. More like matchsticks attached to other matchsticks with a chain of paper clips. I’ve leaned on moss that felt sturdier. But the bridges are wonderfully beautiful and made without mortar. You read that right. No mortar. Just well shaped, fitted, and placed stones. Stone masons are astounding. I can’t even get all the lettuce to stay in one place on my sandwich from plate to lips.
Another week we headed down to Historic Deerfield in Massachusetts, and found out that they’re closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, our days off. So we visited the cemetery, always a hit with me, and drove past a few of the reconstructed homes. If you’ve ever heard of the Deerfield Massacre, this is the Deerfield it refers to. You can find the book I read about it on my Reading List page. The town looks interesting, so maybe we’ll figure out a way to get down there on a day they’re open.
When Jessica came out to camp and visit with us last week, we had one day (Monday) with really nice weather, so we went hiking in Vermont. Being within easy striking distance of two other states has its advantages. Tuesday was a brutally hot day, so we introduced her to our cute little town and watched a World Cup match before making dinner in the office kitchen.
Her last day also threatened to be rainy, but we snuck in a short waterfall hike in a teeny tiny state park after breakfast, hit the gym, and found her a local running club so that she could get her miles in. Little did we know that several of the other runners were collegiate track athletes. Let’s just say that Jessica hit a speed PR and wondered if she was going to have a heart attack, all within 3 miles. What can I say, she’s a trooper. Having decidedly earned her dinner, we met her at a local speakeasy for food and cocktails/mocktails, after locking up the park gates, so that we could all relax into the evening. Sad and short of sleep, we said our goodbyes the next morning.
In her honor, this past Monday Jeff and I hiked half of the eight mile trail that she and I had hoped to do. Good view of Mount Monadnock,
great rocks and trees,
and multiple shades of green. What more could we ask for?
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