8 minute read
Go For Launch
Your next venture or adventure can take off in the Monadnock Region
Southwestern New Hampshire is named for its most notable peak — Mount Monadnock — a mountain of prominence that stands apart from the surrounding plain. Some 125,000 hikers annually seek the summit, making it one of the most popular treks in the world. Visitors come in search of scenic vistas of sweeping forests, beautiful lakes and charming New England villages.
While the mountain is remarkable, what they find tucked into those towns are communities with a spirit of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. This region has quietly built a national reputation as being a launchpad where ideas take root and flourish with nourishment from career development programs, business incubators and people committed to helping everyone thrive.
The Monadnock Region is not just a great place to land — it offers a foundation for take-off.
ECONOMIC ENGINE OF A COMMUNITY
The support of locally owned businesses is not a new trend in the Monadnock Region. It’s evident in downtowns filled with rows of shops that blend modernity with quintessential New England charm. Throughout this guide, you’ll learn of dozens of locally owned or operated businesses that have found a place to thrive.
For example, the Toadstool Bookshop, with locations in Peterborough and Keene, has operated for more than 50 years, first owned by the Williams family and now by the Sistares. Harrisville Designs, founded in 1971, is still run by the Colony family and makes wool yarn in the
village, which was designated a historic landmark in 1977. And you can hardly turn your head in the area without spotting a restaurant, deli or café with a local proprietor.
Public-private partnerships and nonprofit centers in the region are nurturing ideas, guiding startups and growing companies.
At places like the MAXT Makerspace in Peterborough, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, members can learn skills, try out tools or see if their hobby has a scalable market. Its expanded focus led to the creation of a welding technology center, a gallery space for artists to show and sell their work and the Sharing Arts Ceramics Center in Dublin. Events and programs offer opportunities to learn new things and connect with mentors.
As future business leaders prepare to launch, programs like the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship can help. Through workshops, office space and mentorship, the Hannah Grimes Center has helped ideas become reality for many in the region. And today, that reach extends even farther through its national summit conference, Radically Rural, which encourages the exchange of ideas on how to amplify and revitalize rural life.
MEDC provides support to the business community through regional workforce recruitment and training initiatives, business financing programs and expansion of industrial and commercial real estate.
START HERE AND BRANCH OUT
In 1972, Tedd Benson and his brother, Stephen, founded the company that would evolve into Bensonwood, a national leader in timber frame building and sustainable construction. Today, it operates out of a 110,000-square-foot facility in Keene. The Timber Framers Guild and The Heartwood School now operate out of Benson’s original Alstead woodworking shop, offering professional development and skill-building.
About two years ago, Bensonwood launched two nationally certified registered programs in partnership with ApprenticeshipNH. These two work programs help those looking to develop skills in carpentry, a three-year program, or sustainable pre-fabricated building, a two-year program, explained Emily Benson, employee success officer at Bensonwood.
Apprentices also take courses at the River Valley Community College or elsewhere in the state’s community college or university system.
“It's always been a company where education is really important, and we have a long history of inviting apprentices or interns, from here in America and even all over the world, to work on a project with us,” Benson said. “Honestly, we partner with a lot of former associates... That's just a fact in construction that anyone who builds up a good skill set can go and start their own business and be an entrepreneur. And I support that.”
Among this year’s cohort of apprentices is Hong Duong of California, who previously had a career in teaching.
“I got to jump straight into it for the most part. The first two weeks, we talked about safety and an orientation of the company. Since then, I have worked on installing windows, I have built walls, built roofs. I'm working on a set of stairs right now,” Duong said. “It’s really cool to have that kind of experience and be able to immerse myself in one department for a month or so, get good at that, and then try something new. Everyone here has been super helpful and very much willing to share information and share knowledge, and I really appreciate that, especially being a woman in a male-dominated industry.”
Duong said Bensonwood offered training in the niche area of sustainability and affordability in construction that was rare, even looking across the entire country.
“Looking at their history, it really drew me into that curiosity of wanting to innovate, wanting to listen to their clients and build a home for them,” she said. “When I saw that they had an apprenticeship, that made me really interested, because they want candidates who will grow with them, not just a one-time deal. They're invested in us.”
Since arriving in New Hampshire with her husband, her first time on the East Coast, she’s found she enjoys the smaller community with a closer culture.
“I think the opportunity to grow in the company is really great,” Duong said. “I can see myself growing here, and that's why I had to get out of California, because I didn't see a possible plan for the future.”
Bensonwood is among the more than 60 registered ApprenticeshipNH programs in the Western NH region.
“We can't thrive as a business if the Monadnock Region isn't thriving,” Benson said. “I just think it's so important that, as
the business grows, we’re also contributing to the health of our region, so that we can attract people like Hong.”
REACHING FOR THE STARS
The success of the Monadnock region is fed by a rocket fuel of community support for businesses that put people first.
The Monadnock Food Co-op is owned by nearly 5,000 members, nearly a quarter of the city of Keene’s population, who value having a local grocery committed to local producers and sustainability measures.
The region is also home to B Corp-certified Badger in Gilsum and Frisky Cow Gelato in Keene.
Some of the region’s companies and organizations with local roots have grown to serve national and global audiences.
The Hansel family relocated their company, Filtrine, to New Hampshire in the early part of the 1900s, and has run it over five generations. N.H. Ball Bearings, a precision manufacturer founded in Peterborough in the 1940s, has grown and merged to be part of an advanced manufacturing network with aerospace applications.
Each year, more than 5,000 students attend college in the Monadnock Region at universities such as Keene State, Franklin Pierce and Antioch New England. They learn skills and build networks that will carry them through their careers.
Future teachers work with mentors in local schools to build real-world experience. Future nurses practice as LNAs at one of our two major hospitals, Cheshire Medical Center and Monadnock Regional Hospital, as well as at some of the area’s senior care facilities. Future scientists and engineers have internships with companies like Microspec and Corning.
Artistic fellows from across an array of disciplines come from around the world to the Peterborough campus of MacDowell, where they’ll work on potentially their next award-winning project. For more than a century, this artist-inresidence program has provided time and space to create.
For so many, the area is a place that fuels growth and inspiration. It’s a community that guides connection to research and resources.
Mount Monadnock’s summit of schist and quartzite isn’t just a rocky place to take in a stunning view; it’s a solid foundation from which innovators, optimists and thinkers launch their next big idea.
