This will be the 7th edition of New Hampshire, An Explorer's Guide, a book I've co-authored off and on since 1991. This edition was originally due out this May but 2008 brought some unexpected upsets for a project that began with three authors and is suddenly down to two. I had planned to cover just the Monadnock Region and Connecticut Valley but now have to scurry around the White Mountains and Lakes as well. It's an imprecise science, catching the spark and conveying all the reasons to visit each region but nailing the details abut lodging, dining and shopping as well. Mt. Monadnock itself, said to be the third most frequently climbed mountain in the world, towers 2,000 feet above the surrounding roll southwestern N.H. It's roughly just an hour--and-a-half drive from Cambridge, Ma. but it's always a puzzle--even to people who live there--about which roads to come by.
Of course the neither the Mass. or NH maps show roads on the other sides of their borders and New England maps show few of the back roads in this region--which is all about windy, hilly, wooded back roads connecting white wooden villages and 19th century mill towns, with Mt. Monandock poppinng up out of the meadows and trees at regular intervals.
Snow was forecast for the next day but today the roads were bare and the sun bright so I made the most of it, zipping out Rt. 2 and up Rt. 140 to 202 in Rindge, stopping at Lilly's for a lunch. The woodstove was glowing and my table overlooked the pond; food was fast and friendly--when she saw the cover of my book the waitress said it was the one she hads sent to her boyfriend in the army in Fiji!
Woodbound Inn is hidden away in the woods by Contoocook Lake.
It's a landmark old inn that was bought by local restauranteurs Aylmer and Cindy Given last February and totally rehabbed--now with a sleek, inviting restaurant--Aylmer's Grille--and luxury rooms upstairs with the old-style rooms in the annex and cottages geared to children and dogs. Weddings are a big specialty and everyone is delighted that the old place has been salvaged.
It's a landmark old inn that was bought by local restauranteurs Aylmer and Cindy Given last February and totally rehabbed--now with a sleek, inviting restaurant--Aylmer's Grille--and luxury rooms upstairs with the old-style rooms in the annex and cottages geared to children and dogs. Weddings are a big specialty and everyone is delighted that the old place has been salvaged. Cross-country skiing trails here and throughout the region are still unusable, thanks to a Dec. 11 ice storm that decimated the region.
On along the lake and through the woods into Jaffrey , the crossroads town that's the main gateway to Monandock State Park.
From Becky Newton in the chamber office I learned about the on-going restoration of the old Park Theatre. New places to eat here: Grand FInale bakery & cafe looks great and The substantial Sunflower Cafe is moving in from Fitzwilliam. Lots of antiques shops.
From Becky Newton in the chamber office I learned about the on-going restoration of the old Park Theatre. New places to eat here: Grand FInale bakery & cafe looks great and The substantial Sunflower Cafe is moving in from Fitzwilliam. Lots of antiques shops.
Jaffrey Center, just west on Rt. 124 is plain beautiful, with a splendid white clapboard meetinghouse. Novelist Willa Cather is buried in the cemetery but it was too snowy to visit her and the inn was closed so I pushed on up to the state park, which is up a bumpy back road. According to park manager Patrick Hummel, some 100,000 people climb Mt. Monadnock every year. It's roughly 4 hours rountrip to the summit and beware coming weekdays in June and September when school groups invade on weekdays and scout groups on weekends.
Continuing north this becomes the "Dublin Road", emerging in the middle of that village beside Yankee Magazine.
I continued north to Harrisville, a picture perfect early 19th century mill village that has loomed large in our own family's history.
The sun was setting and so I just snapped a photo and pushed open an unpromising door in a mill and found myself in one of the most colorful stores anywhere: Harrisville Designs is filled with the bright wools and creations made from it, also the famous looms produced here. There are also weaving classes and plenty more but it's all in the book.
The sun was setting and so I just snapped a photo and pushed open an unpromising door in a mill and found myself in one of the most colorful stores anywhere: Harrisville Designs is filled with the bright wools and creations made from it, also the famous looms produced here. There are also weaving classes and plenty more but it's all in the book.
Getting lost is inevitable on these roads and by pure luck I found my way to Fitzwilliam just as the sun was setting and settled into Ashburn House, a fabulous B&B. 
