It is inevitable. If you are going to travel by land to Maine and you are not in Canada, you must pass through New Hampshire, the only state with which Maine shares a border. Of course Maine does border two Canadian provinces, Quebec and New Brunswick. I have crossed New Hampshire more times than I can remember, most commonly on I-95 traveling through Portsmouth. But I have taken other routes, heading north toward Concord and Manchester to reach the Connecticut River Valley and Brattleboro, Vermont. Or an alternative, scenic route is to drive U.S. Route 2 through western Maine and then head into the White Mountains. In spite of some redeeming qualities, New Hampshire has always been my least favorite New England state, a place to be driven through, not really a destination. Perhaps that best explains the paucity of pictures of New Hampshire.
In 1970 when I set out from Rhode Island for those weekends in Maine I always stopped just after the traffic circle and just before the “old” bridge in Portsmouth. Although the construction of the “new” bridge changed the character of this stretch of road, during the early years of the 70’s there was a strip of gas stations, convenience stores, and tacky tourist stops as you approached the Maine border in Kittery. Back then my friend Linda in Maine smoked and to pay for the weekend at her cabin on Sebago Lake I bought her a carton of cigarettes at the cheap New Hampshire price. I think I paid $ 2.50 for a carton of the miserable things. New Hampshire was known for its cheap liquor and cigarettes. This fact may explain in part my antipathy toward the place. However, the years have softened my outlook, I can now recommend a couple of things to do when visiting the state beside taking a scenic drive on the Kancamagus HIghway. https://kancamagushighway.com/
New Hampshire has the shortest coastline of any state, only 13 miles. However, if you bear right off I-95 toward Portsmouth and get away from the bustle of tourists heading toward Maine there are places worth visiting. I am ashamed to say that I had never been to downtown Portsmouth until the Fall of 2021. On my way south that year I met my cousin for lunch at a restaurant in Portsmouth. It is a delightful town with many outside dining places and interesting shops and restaurants. Chris and I met at Popovers on the Square for lunch, a cozy pet friendly spot. https://www.bringfido.com/restaurant/14299?fbclid=IwAR2h2sYHwSm9oHyHLL6j6tQKzPUNpHcLlujs0Pu1lPFxhfWANkJjv6TLDgU
I also have spent time at a place called Wentworth By the Sea. There is a delightful hotel there run now by Mariott but reeking of old time summer glamour. It is one of the few surviving old hotels that used to dot coast, including the old Samoset Hotel in Rockland, Maine. That hotel, like many of these old favorites, burned to the ground to be replaced by more modern developments. Take a look at this link to explore the grandeur of one of the few grand dames still thriving. https://www.historichotels.org/us/hotels-resorts/wentworth-by-the-sea/
What ultimately redeemed New Hampshire for me was when Harold and I discovered the high huts of the White Mountains. During the period between 1998-2002 when Megan was at Marlboro our trips home from parents’ weekend in September or early October included a stop for a few days in the White Mountains. We would hike up the steep mountain trails with small day packs and stay overnight at one of the huts. We stayed at Zealand Falls, Mizpah Spring, Madison Spring, and Lakes of the Clouds, a total of 4 of 8 huts that the Appalachian Mountain Club maintains in the White Mountains. You can read about the huts and havoc wrought by the COVID pandemic here. https://www.concordmonitor.com/amc-huts-appalachian-mountain-club-39777947 A more detailed explanation of the hut life in normal times is found here. https://sectionhiker.com/appalachian-mountain-club-huts/ All of the huts are located relatively close to the Appalachian Trail. Harold and I were treated to through hikers’ tales when they were invited into the huts after dinner to share in some leftover soup and bread in our “luxurious” accommodations. For hiking enthusiasts with little time and no inclination for really roughing it, the huts were a wonderful break and a chance the explore the glory of the White Mountains. Once you climb up the side of a mountain it is relatively level traveling from hut to hut, what is called a traverse. Lakes of the Clouds is probably the highest of high huts, on the summit of Mount Washington and Madison Spring was by far the most difficult hike for us, perhaps because it was the last one we did and we were 4 years older by then.
New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce was the 14th president of the United States. Even though a New Hampshire native he was an ardent anti-abolitionist and signed the Kansas Nebraska Act, repealing the Missouri Compromise and theoretically allowing for the expansion of slavery through popular sovereignty in the territorial lands of the northern plains. According to the Missouri Compromise of 1820 Maine was admitted as a free state, Missouri as a slave state and all territories north of Missouri’s southern border would be free soil. The repeal resulted in the aggression known as “Bleeding (or Bloody) Kansas” between pro and anti- slavery factions. Pierce also rigorously enforced the Fugitive Slave Act allowing the formerly enslaved who had reached freedom in the north to be returned to their owners from the south, all to allegedly preserve the union. Well, we know how that worked out for him. Pierce died in 1869. I said when writing about Ohio that Grant was one of my favorite presidents. Pierce is one of my least favorite presidents. Perhaps that has something to do with my general disdain for New Hampshire, although it is certainly a state worth visiting if for no other reason than its historically outsized role in presidential primary politics and the absolute beauty of the White Mountains, even if you venture no further than that legendary Kancamagus Highway.
Memories - A Second Chance at Happiness 