New Hampshire Magazine September 2019

N E W H A M P S H I R E M AG A Z I N E SEPTEMB ER 2 01 9

NIP, TUCK, FREEZE, SCULPT, RELAX Health care electives for a better, more beautiful you

EVERYONE LOVES THE PURITAN

A look inside one of the Granite State’s most iconic eateries Page 58

Page 44

How, when, where and why you should

magazine

L O C A L OY S T E R S

EAT AN OYSTER

P U R I TA N B A C K R O O M

with expert advice and a helpful guide for nervous first-timers

WELLNESS

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years of history, penny ca ndy, community, po litician drop-in s and, of course , the cheese

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NHMAGAZINE.COM President/Publisher Sharron R. McCarthy x5117 smccarthy@mcleancommunications.com Editor Rick Broussard x5119

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Contributing Editor Barbara Coles barbaracoles@comcast.net

Food Editor Susan Laughlin sllaughlin@gmail.com

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nhmagazine.com | September 2019

Contents 44 First Things 6 Editor’s Note 8 Contributors Page 10 Feedback

603 Navigator

603 Informer

603 Living

12 Calef’s Turns 150

28 “Country Music” Debuts

76 Calendar of Events

32 What Do You Know?

edited by Emily Heidt

by Barbara Coles

THE CHAPEL ON BEAR ISLAND

42 Transcript

34 Blips

by David Mendelsohn

by Casey McDermott

NH IN THE NEWS

44 The Wonders of Wellness

by Karen A. Jamrog

50 Hitting the Sweet Spot

Choosing New Hampshire oysters is about more than freshness — you’re helping keep local restaurants, farmers and even the Great Bay healthy and thriving. Here’s why (and where and how) to eat them.

by Sarah Cahalan photos by John Benford and Greta Rybus

58 The Puritan Ethic

The home of the state’s most famous chicken fingers and mudslides is 100. Celebrate a century of Manchester icon the Puritan Backroom.

by Jack Kenny photos by Kendal J. Bush

WHAT TO DO THIS MONTH

by Marshall Hudson

Meet percussive guitarist Senie Hunt.

from left: courtesy photo, photos by john benford and kendal j. bush

58

50

Features

“Wellness” is the buzziest of buzz words these days, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important. But how to achieve it? And what is “it,” exactly?

Let these experts show you the way.

September 2019

35 Artisan KING BLOSSOM GUITARS

by Susan Laughlin

36 First Person

by Alex Bostic photos by Jessica Beebe

84 Health SOCIAL ANXIETY

16 Top Events

by Karen A. Jamrog

FAIRS AND FESTIVALS

by Emily Heidt

86 Local Dish BOURBON APPLE SHORTCAKE

18 Our Town

recipe by Alison Ladman

WESTMORELAND

by Barbara Radcliffe Rogers

21 Food & Drink

88 How To WALKING WITH WILLEM

GOING PLASTIC-FREE

by Chaya Harris

by Emily Heidt

by Susan Laughlin

40 Review

90 Dine Out

26 Small Bites

ROB AZEVEDO’S MEMOIR

GOOD EATS

TOUR WITH THE MAESTRO

FOOD NEWS AND EVENTS

by Susan Laughlin

by Nathan Graziano

41 Politics CLAREMONT PRIMARY

by James Pindell

ON THE COVER Local oysters served at The Franklin in Portsmouth. Learn more in “Hitting the Sweet Spot” starting on page 50. Photo by Greta Rybus

96 Ayuh DON’T QUOTE ME

by Jack Kenny

Volume 33, Number 9 ISSN 1560-4949 nhmagazine.com | September 2019

5

EDITOR’S NOTE

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nhmagazine.com | September 2019

B

I used to like to brag that I was halfScottish. My grandfather’s name was Spurlock and it sure sounded Scottish to me. Later on, when I actually did some research, it turned out to be just a plain old vanilla English surname.

ut it was too late. I was already to those plucky immigrants in an article by emotionally bound to my Scottish the New England Historical Society winning“heritage,” which mostly took shape in ly titled “How the Londonderry Scots-Irish my desire to wear a kilt, play the pipes and go Saved New Hampshire from Massachusetts.”

I know you’re thinking, “How can we ever hunting Nessie in the lochs of the Highlands.

When I moved my young family to repay them?” You might start by just reading New Hampshire, it never occurred to me the whole wonderful article online (Google to question why there was a huge Scottish the title) but I’ll happily summarize. festival here. Seemed like something any In the 1600s and 1700s, much as now, self-respecting state would have. When Massachusetts considered New Hampshire we spent a crisp September day at the NH to be a kind of backyard, theirs to enjoy and Highland Games amidst the pageantry and exploit. One use for our abundant wilderness the wonderful music and fun, I was suitably was as a place to cast out undesirables. impressed and somehow felt more at home.

The New Hampshire portion of the The French/Acadian “Broussard” side of Massachusetts colony had only four towns my family had its own colorful elements, — Portsmouth, Dover, Exeter and Hampof course, but what kid fully appreciates ton — but lots of untamed forest along the the charms of the world they inherit? The undefined border north of Haverhill. The squawking Cajun accordion and shuffling Massachusetts Puritans, who had troubles fais dodo didn’t possess the magic of the of their own, told the Scottish Presbyterian bright Highland pipes and the elegant cèilidh. immigrants to get lost, so they moved north, Or so it seemed at the time. If we’re lucky, we established farms and got busy populateach discover the beauty of our own heritage ing their little slice of heaven. By the time somewhere along the path to adulthood.

Colonial governor Jonathan Belcher (boo, I lucked into this job (literally lucked into hiss) decided to stake his claim to the region, it — remind me to tell you sometime) shortly there were simply too many of the fertile and after moving here and quickly learned why industrious Scots-Irish to bully.

Scottish heritage was so important to our Border struggles ensued, ultimately state. The official story in a nutshell (or, in this ending with Massachusetts settling for an case, Nutfield) is that 300 years ago, this year, east-west-running border rather than the the first North American potato was planted north-south one they had in mind, which in the town of Nutfield — now Londonderry, would have deeded them waterfront properDerry and Windham — by its first Old World ty on Lake Winnipesaukee. settlers: a group of Scots and Irish led by Rev. So think about that as you drive to the James MacGregor. Friendly natives (who had NH Highland Games at Loon Mountain on actually “settled” the land centuries earlier) September 20-22 to don a kilt, toss a caber pointed MacGregor and his band to a great and wash down your haggis with a fine fishing spot at the Amoskeag Falls that later Scotch whisky. became the heart of our Queen City.

Oh, and you can toot your horn victoriSuch hardscrabble agriculture and the ously at any cars with Massachusetts plates Manchester textile mills that popped up to who pass you driving north on I-93. draw power from the Amoskeag Falls became the foundations of the New Hampshire economy for centuries.

I recently learned of another debt we owe

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Greta Rybus, who took the cover photo and photos for “Hitting the Sweet Spot,” is a full-time freelance photojournalist specializing in editorial portraiture, travel and documentary photography. Originally from Boise, Idaho, she is now based in Portland, Maine, where she lives with her sweetheart and her scruffy sidekick, a dog named Murray. Her first book, “Handcrafted Maine,” about people in Maine working with art land and sea, is now in bookstores. Learn more about her at gretarybus.com.

for September 2019

John Benford, who took photos for “Hitting the Sweet Spot,” is an architectural and editorial photographer. Learn more at johnbenfordphoto.com.

Frequent New Hampshire Magazine contributor Kendal J. Bush took the photos for “The Puritan Ethic.” Learn more at kendaljbush.com.

Longtime freelance writer and reporter Jack Kenny wrote both the feature story “The Puritan Ethic” and this month’s “Ayuh.”

Regular New Hampshire Magazine “Health” contributor Karen A. Jamrog also wrote the feature story “The Wonders of Wellness.”

Our former associate editor Sarah Cahalan wrote “Hitting the Sweet Spot.” She is currently working on a masters in journalism at Northwestern.

Queen City’s Nathan Graziano, who writes a Red Sox column for Boston’s Dirty Water Media, penned our “Review” of Rob Azevedo’s first book.

About | Behind The Scenes at New Hampshire Magazine McLean Communications digital media specialist Morgen Connor with her daughter Lilly

8

nhmagazine.com | September 2019

Village People

We hope our cover story last month on the “Elves of Summer” at Santa’s Village in Jefferson inspired a lot of people to go and see for themselves the magic that gets made at this wonderful family-run theme park. We know that at least one mom took along a copy of our August issue to help make family memories while visiting Santa’s Village because that mom, Morgen Connor, gave us this great photo of herself with daughter Lilly. Of course, it helps that Connor is also our digital media specialist and a huge fan of the state’s North Country theme parks, first as a wideeyed child on family outings and now as the parent of a couple of wide-eyed (and adorable) kiddos of her own.

Connor brought some extra copies of the issue featuring the village with her so they could have a few to pass around. She thinks that they might even ship some to the North Pole branch of Santa’s Village. That should put both her and Lilly on the “Good” list for at least this year.

greta rybus photo by rebecca stumpf

Contributors

TAKE ON ENJOYING YOUR COMMUNITY

EVEN MORE

TODAY

Today is yours for the taking. Whether you’ve got ideas to help improve your neighborhood or you’re looking to meet new people at our local events, we’re here to connect with you and give you the tools you need.

Learn more at aarp.org/manchester

So go Take on Today and every day, Manchester.

Join us!

Manchester Go Red for Women® Luncheon October 4, 2019 at the Manchester Country Club ManchesterGoRed.Heart.Org

nhmagazine.com | September 2019

9

Send letters to Editor Rick Broussard, New Hampshire Magazine, 150 Dow St. Manchester, NH 03101 or email him at editor@nhmagazine.com.

Feedback

nhmagazine.com, facebook.com/NHMagazine & @nhmagazine

Pulitzer Worthy? Aw, Shucks.

I just wanted to let you know that I thought your piece by Maggie Wallace about African refugees was very enlightening [“Growing Home,” July 2019]. Perhaps Pulitzer worthy.

Not to mention the exceptional photographs

by Yoav Horesh.

It was nice to read about how these people, from such a drastically different culture, have assimilated within the culture of New Hampshire and the United States, as well as making positive contributions to our community.

I think this story should be mandatory reading by anybody that believes immigrants and refugees should go back where they came from. What makes America so great is our diversity.

Steve Cabral Manchester

Best (Yawn) of NH I opened the July 2019 issue of New Hampshire magazine and ... yawned. I even checked the mailing label to see when my subscription ended. Really, 2020? That long. Another year?

Yet another New Hampshire Magazine issue with a little more of the “Best Of.” This time [August 2019 issue], thank you.

Short and sweet: a welcome change.

In my opinion, the “Best Of ” is not your best. I get the whole idea behind it. Really, I get it, but that’s not what I pay my subscription for. In fact, in case you haven’t noticed, other magazines are doing the same thing now.

Another version of telemarketing. I blame you.

You probably started it.

Moving on. I turn a few more pages until I get to “Time Passages,” story and photos by Ken Kartes [“First Person,” August 2019]. This is by far the most beautiful essay I’ve read since Edie Clark (Yankee magazine) retired. And that’s saying a lot. More of this, and I’ll renew in 2021.

Sandra Constantine Rochester

Ways to the Top As a longtime resident of New Hampshire and a lover of Mount Washington, I must say your June article [“One Prodigious Hilltop”] is excellent. I’ve reached the top by foot (two times), automobile (first in 1966), Cog Railway (steam and electric), motorcycle (multiple times), and 10

nhmagazine.com | September 2019

emails, snail mail, facebook, tweets

have taken photographs of her many times from multiple points on the compass.

Peter Stevenson Litchfield

The Brat’s Flower Love your magazine, and #96 of the article [“One Prodigious Hilltop”] on Mt. Washington (regarding dandelions in the June 2019 issue) makes me add another side of this flower. A weed to some and a symbol/heritage for others: The dandelion has been crowned the [Army] Brat’s Flower, because its life cycle is so symbolic of the lifestyle of childhood in every brat. Reminiscent of the child of a parent in the armed forces, the dandelion has no geographical boundaries and is found living all over the world. With a single breath, dandelion seeds are dispersed, their tiny white parachutes carrying them away freely on the wind, traveling miles from their origin. It is never quite known where they will alight; off to new adventures, with prospects for a fresh, new start, eventually making a home wherever they land.

Like the brat, this little flower can flourish almost anywhere. Known for it hardiness, the dandelion seed, on landing, will always adapt.

It overcomes trials and tribulations to thrive in climates and environments intolerable to many others. Although often considered an outsider, a common weed, the dandelion and the brat alike will always bloom, bringing brightness and diversity wherever it resides.

— Author Anonymous Sylvia Baker (a proud Army brat) Exeter Editor’s note: Thanks for sharing the reminder that Mt. Washington means so many things to so many different people.

Looking Good The photos and articles in the August issue are outstanding! Food photos in “Seacoast Shacks” (Emily Heidt, Jenn Bakos, p. 20) were mouthwatering and uncluttered. “Time Passages” (Ken Kartes, p. 38) reflect author Kartes’ diagnosed serious illness focusing on his wonderful images of family and NH scenery.

Then ... I turned to page 43 “Clay Mate.” I was blown away by the arresting photo of porcelain pot artist Stephanie Young [“In Their Own

Spot four newts like the one above (but much smaller) hidden on ads in this issue, tell us where you found them and you might win a great gift from a local artisan or company. To enter our drawing for Spot the Newt, send answers plus your name and mailing address to:

Spot the Newt c/o New Hampshire Magazine 150 Dow St., Manchester, NH 03101 Email them to newt@nhmagazine.com or fax them to (603) 624-1310.

Last month’s “Spot the Newt” winner is Ray Clark of Washington.

August issue newts were on pages 15, 29, 104 and 107.

NEED A GOOD REASON FOR SPOTTING THE NEWT?

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Real white birch is handpainted to create an 8-by-10 barnwood-framed painting and LED light candle holder. Abnormal Creations of Salem (abnormalcreations2.com) is a proud member of NH Made, the state’s official booster of locally made products. (So is New Hampshire Magazine.)

FEEDBACK

Words”]. Young looks charming, And the Good Penmanship Award goes to: impish and fearless — all in one shot worthy of a museum print! Cover story “Elves of Summer” (Lisa Rogak and Bruce Luetters, p. 53) was well-designed with compelling photos. I found myself turning back to all these images several times. Your staff and designers are to be congratulated on pairing such creative images with useful information.

Craig Lazinsky Derry

Combating Food Deserts Just letting you know that we are all very pleased with the article [“Growing Home”]. Maggie did a great job, and thanks for being accommodating with the challenges of our busy schedules.

Let me know if you ever want to do a follow-up. To combat food deserts in New Hampshire, we are launching our Mobile Market this August, and that will attract some press, so if you think there is a story there, just let me know.

Matthew Thorne Director of Programs for O.R.I.S. Concord

Relax — we have a large selection in stock!

Keene, NH • Winchendon, MA

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nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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603 Navigator “Memories, after all, are the roots of understanding. Without a yesterday, today is meaningless.”

— Hal Borland, “Countrymen: A Summary of Belief”

12

nhmagazine.com | September 2019

Photos by Jessica Beebe

Top Events 16 Our Town 18 Food & Drink 21 Small Bites 26

Piece of the Past

Celebrating 150 years of small town community

By Alex Bostic

O

n the Franklin Pierce Highway, which snakes through the town of Barrington for a few miles until it is absorbed by Route 155, sits a country store that opened in 1869, the same year that President Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire passed away.

Framed by the white wood siding above an accommodating Victorian porch stands the iconic calligraphic sign for Calef ’s Country Store. Below, 150 years’ worth of footsteps have eroded the wooden front steps leading inside, where the many shelves and tables are crowded with cranberry chutney, pickled beets, apple streusel muffin mix and Rat Trap cheddar cheese. A countertop with tiers of candy jars (some items still costing one penny!) makes a tempting display.

September 7 will officially mark 150 years of operation for Calef ’s and the nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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603 NAVIGATOR

NAVIGATOR

Joel Sherburne has worked at Calef’s for 62 years.

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nhmagazine.com | September 2019

RVRWDS-618 4.625x4.95 NHMag Kayak Ad.qxp_Layout 1 7/23/19 9:35 AM Page 1

store is celebrating its sesquicentennial event with a community festival on the same day. It will be a big event for the tiny town of Barrington, drawing businesses and spectators to its streets, with bluegrass bands, food trucks and an assortment of vendors packing the dirt parking lot surrounding the building.

Calef ’s has remained the hub of the community since it was first opened, with dances and meetings held in its upstairs rooms and the post office located right next door. Just ask Joel Sherburne, who at 78 has worked at Calef ’s for almost 62 years and is a curator of the store’s history and guardian of their famous cheddar cheese recipes.

“Every morning, the box truck would park in front of the porch and unload everything from tires and furniture to Nabisco cookies and fresh deli meat. If we didn’t have it, they didn’t need it,” says Sherburne, seated at a small round table flanked by rows of colorful jam jars. “The country store was a focal point of the whole community, if they wanted the news, yeah, they would come here for everything.”

Though there has been some decrease in community involvement over the years, Sherburne notes that the role of Calef ’s is still relatively unchanged, while most New England towns are experiencing a much different dynamic. Time is an unflinching master, and the role of small, consolidated “everything” stores in communities has diminished, replaced by an impersonal landscape of Amazon Fulfillment Centers, Uber Eats, and Hannaford To Go. Calef ’s, however, is a resilient anomaly, calling back to a simpler time marked by community interdependence and not ubiquitous Wi-Fi. New owner Greg Bolton, who purchased Calef ’s in 2012, sees the essence of the store as something that can’t be bought or sold: neighborhood connection.

“I think the faster the world goes and the more instant gratification there is, the more nostalgia resonates ... because you can slow down and see all the things from generations before you. You don’t have to be on your phone or on Amazon, you’re connected to a physical space,” says Bolton. “From that standpoint, we build a community.”

The community-centered September celebration will be a profound and even poetic moment for a country store that has been bringing people together since its inception, and the creaking front steps won’t be collecting dust anytime soon. NH

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603 NAVIGATOR

TOP EVENTS

September | Picks

photo by will rogers photography

Fairs and Festivals

Check out the Seacoast Extreme Country Fair in Epping for events that are all things country.

Celebrate the end of summer by enjoying fairs, festivals and fairy house tours. We guarantee you will have a “fair-y” good time.

Hopkinton State Fair

August 30-September 2, Contoocook New Hampshire has no shortage of storied fairs, and kicking off the season of fall agricultural fun is the 104-year-old Hopkinton State Fair. From demolition derbies and educational exhibits to livestock shows and decadent fried dough, this Labor Day weekend tradition is fun for the whole family. hsfair.org

16

nhmagazine.com | September 2019

Seacoast Extreme Country Fair

September 12-15, Epping

Debuting in 2018, this newer addition to New Hampshire’s fall fairs celebrates all things country, from music to rodeo events, including bull riding and barrel racing.

There’s also a classic midway with rides and fair foods, plus other entertainment, such as hot air balloon rides, petting zoo, crafts, monster trucks and more. seacoastextremecountryfair.com

Rochester Fair

September 12-22, Rochester (closed Monday-Wednesday)

Walk along the midway to take in the sights and sounds of the carnival rides, enjoy live music and other entertainment on the grandstand, learn about New Hampshire’s agrarian history and present with livestock shows and demonstrations, snack on all your favorite fair foods, or maybe experience some thrills with the school bus derby. rochesterfair.com

Canterbury Artisan Festival

September 14, Canterbury

This festival is a celebration of handcrafted arts that also features music, food, family craft activities, farm animals and decorations. Come admire the artisans’ work and find unique gifts or maybe even something special for yourself. shakers.org

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TOP EVENTS

Portsmouth Fairy House Tour

September 21-22, Portsmouth

The world’s largest fairy house tour is back for a weekend of magic.

Peruse the enchanted fairy and gnome homes, take a seat and watch “Fairy Houses: The Ballet,” visit Pickwick’s Fairy Bazaar, take a photo in the fairy photo booth, and meet Tracy Kane, author and illustrator of the “Fairy House” series. portsmouthfairyhousetour.com

Deerfield Fair

photo by emily heidt

September 26-29, Deerfield

At 143 years old, the season closes out with the oldest family fair in New England. Last year, the largest pumpkin recorded in the entire country was weighed in at the fair — it was a truly ginormous specimen at 2,538 pounds. Find out on opening day at 6 p.m. whether anyone can best Steve Geddes’ massive pumpkin-growing talents.

Other non-gourd entertainment includes magicians, high-flying circus acts, music, livestock demonstrations, horse shows, the pig scramble, 4-H events, square dancing and so much more. deerfieldfair.com

1. Hopkinton State Fair, Contoocook 2. Seacoast Extreme Country Fair, Epping 3. Rochester Fair, Rochester Add a bit of whimsy to your fairy costume at the Portsmouth Fairy House Tour face painting studio.

4. Canterbury Artisan Festival, Canterbury 5. Portsmouth Fairy House Tour, Portsmouth 6. Deerfield Fair, Deerfield

4 3 1 6 2,5

First at hearts.

And second chances.

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OUR TOWN

Visiting Farmland

Find fruits of the earth in Westmoreland

BY BARBARA RADCLIFFE ROGERS

F

ew places in New England offer more beautiful fall foliage viewing than the valley of the Connecticut River as it winds between Vermont and New Hampshire. We’re lucky enough to live within a few minutes of these landscapes, and we never tire of a fall excursion through the maple-lined backroads of Westmoreland, with the foliage alternately hiding and framing views of the river.

Our favorite route takes us north on River Road. It’s well-named, as in some places there’s barely room for a strip of grass between the road and the water.

Elsewhere it winds through thick riverine forest, rising and falling in and out of ravines where streams have carved their way from the hills to the river.

Or it levels onto the low, flat floodplain covered by fields of hay and corn, bordered by stonewalls built by long-ago farmers.

Westmoreland was granted as Great Mead-

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ow in 1735, the second outpost in a chain of fort towns built along the river to protect early settlers. When the border between New Hampshire and Massachusetts was established in 1752, Gov. Benning Wentworth granted it as Westmoreland, honoring the 7th Earl of Westmorland.

Ten years later, the town was prosperous enough to build a fine meeting house, which in 1846 was moved to its present site on Park Hill, above the cluster of fine homes.

The Park Hill Meeting House, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has a Paul Revere bell. The entire ensemble is quite remarkable, as homes this elegant and refined from the 1700s are rarely seen this far from the coast in northern New England.

Also in the care of the Park Hill Meeting House & Historical Society, the High Tops School, also known as Schoolhouse No. 9, is at the corner of Poocham and River roads. Built in 1789, it was moved

photo by stillman rogers

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This historic schoolhouse was built in 1789.

here from Reynolds Road in 1846 and treated to a Greek Revival update, but has not been altered since. It’s also listed on the National Register.

The name Poocham refers to a summer gathering place on the banks of the Connecticut River used by the Abenakis before the first European settlers arrived here from Massachusetts. The Leonard family, among the first to settle, built a farm overlooking the Poocham, and today their house and barn is home to Poocham Hill Winery.

About 1,200 vines cover three sloping acres behind the house, nine cold-hardy varietals — four whites and five reds — that thrive in the rough clay soil and which are hand-harvested to preserve their unique characteristics. From the start, it was owners Steve Robbins and Mame ODette’s intention to produce high-quality wines from grapes they grew right here. A tasting of the marechal foch and the Wolf Pine red convinced us of their success. The tasting room is open Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m. to 5

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photo by stillman rogers

OUR TOWN

The Park Hill Meeting House

the

p.m. through the end of November.

Although it is unlikely to threaten Burgundy’s place in oenological circles, Westmoreland has two active wineries.

Unlike Poocham Hill, the Summit Winery has taken an international approach to sourcing grapes, in addition to the acre of their own vines. It’s also on a historic farm site, this one settled in 1752 by John Chamberlain, who later fought with the Continental army at Valley Forge. While only the foundation of the original farm remains, the hilltop winery is housed in an 1856 Walpole barn that’s been reconstructed.

Owners Darren and Judy Horn produce familiar varietals — riesling, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, sangiovese and red zinfandel — and welcome visitors for tastings on Thursdays from 4:30 until 7 p.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 to 5 p.m. The two wineries join with local artists and craftspeople for the annual River Valley Artisans Wine & Art Tour, this year on September 7 and 8.

If a walk in the woods seems in order after a couple of wine tastings, stop at

the Ruth C. Warwick Preserve, the first New Hampshire property donated to The Nature Conservancy in 1964.

Three trails, none over half a mile, wind through the woodland property, reached from Route 63 south of Park Hill. The most interesting is the Cave Loop, which goes through an open overhang cave at the base of a cliff, past some boulders, then climbs to the top for nice views of the Connecticut Valley.

So much of the valley is wooded that it’s hard to remember that 150 years ago most of it was cleared farmland. A ride up Route 63 with views across open fields and pastures assures us that a lot of Westmoreland is still actively farmed.

New Dawn Farm on Spofford Road is an active CSA, with a farm stand and PYO flowers. Their sustainable farming practices enable them to grow a surplus of as much as 6,800 pounds of produce to donate to local food pantries in a season. Long Ridge Farm is home to a flock of Romeldale sheep, an endangered breed in North America. Along with selling the wool, Long Ridge hosts workshops in natural dyes and fiber

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Something for everyone The news you trust, the programs you love

arts; alas, no farm tours, so we couldn’t meet the rare sheep.

It’s a bit early to pick out a Christmas tree, but at Farmstead Acres Marshall and Pati Patmos grow fragrant balsams and Fraser firs on about five acres behind their 1787 Cape on London Road. Marshall knows a lot about trees — he was a UNH Extension forester for 38 years. Mill Brook sugar house on Route 63 has been tapping their 1,100 trees for 35 years, boiling it down the old-fashioned way instead of by reverse osmosis. Time in the evaporator, they tell us, lets the sugar caramelize slowly for a traditional deeper flavor. Along with syrup, you can buy beef from grass-fed Scottish Highland cattle.

Stuart Adams grew up at Windyhurst Farm, and when he was still in high school he and best friend John Matthews bought an oil-fired evaporator and started Stuart & John’s Sugar House, with 920 taps.

That was in 1974; today, Stuart & John’s is a local landmark and no sugaring season is complete without breakfast in the sugar house. The restaurant, now a multigenerational family business, is open for three meals daily in the summer, and on weekends through November for breakfast and lunch. Pancakes, waffles, French toast, corn and apple fritters are all served with endless maple syrup. NH

Learn more Poocham Hill Winery

(603) 399-4496 poochamwinery.com

89.1 Concord/Manchester | nhpr.org

The Summit Winery (603) 852-8025 thesummitwinery.com

New Dawn Farm CSA

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Long Ridge Farm

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Stuart & John’s Sugar House

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FOOD & DRINK

Hey, Maestro!

There is a new conductor in town story and photos by susan laughlin

A

fter an extensive 18-month search and concert auditions during the 2018-2019 season, Symphony NH selected Roger Kalia, an engaging talent ready to bring live symphonic music to New Hampshire. At the age of 34, Kalia already has international experience conducting and working with world-class orchestras and soloists. We are lucky to have him here.

As a member of Symphony NH (and food editor of this magazine), it only seemed natural for me to give him an introduction to a few of my favorite restaurants and shops on Main Street in Nashua. This town is my home base, and after bingeing four seasons of Amazon Prime’s “Mozart in the Jungle” in two weeks, I was more than eager to meet our new “Rodrigo.” (For those who skipped

the series, Rodrigo was a young and very enthusiastic conductor with a passion to bring live music to the people where they were, and not just to symphony halls.)

I dressed my best in symphony black and headed to meet the new Maestro at Surf Seafood, our first stop. Kalia, handsome and trim, wore a black jacket, black shirt and pants. Seems a tux and tails are old school.

The day was gorgeous and a bit warm, so we filed inside to beat the Surf crowds for buck-a-shuck Wednesday, the fourth Wednesday of the month. Surprisingly (or maybe not, since I had sent out an email itinerary for the evening), we ran into Bob Oot and his wife Carol Robey, eager to join us. This power couple truly knows how to retire. As former physicians, they are now

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Roger Kalia at CodeX speakeasy in Nashua

able to enjoy the arts, Robey as a full-time student of classical painting and Oot in a role as chairman of the board of the symphony and full-time music appreciator.

Oot, also a fine wine aficionado, ordered a sauvignon blanc and platter of fresh oysters from Maine. Kalia got a taste of Blue Point oysters, with a briny taste he hadn’t experienced. “Much like music, trying something new can be adventurous, and a welcome experience to be repeated often,” he mused. I pointed out a few of my favorite items on the menu, including the fried tomato salad with Parmesan pepper dressing, lobster and brie nachos, the raw bar tower, and the surf and turf.

Knowing there was more food ahead, we enjoyed just a few oysters and encouraged Oot and Robey to join us across the street at MT’s Local Kitchen & Wine Bar. Kalia had to try MT’s grilled pizza, my favorite pie of all time. I explained that the dough and ingredients were cooked on top of the grill, and then just heated in the oven to melt the cheeses. The crust is always thin and nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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FOOD & DRINK

“I am a firm believer that classical music is for everybody, and I am going to go out of my way to make Symphony NH the most inviting, welcoming place for artistic entertainment in the state.”

— Roger Kalia

crisp, while the ingredients always run right up to the edge. Kalia enjoyed a slice and remarked upon MT’s “fresh and local” food motto, which he hopes to apply to the symphony in a musical sense. The symphony’s “SNH Presents” series is freshening up their offerings with a variety of musical genres and an eclectic array of guest artists.

The idea, Kalia told me, is to keep this as local as possible. For instance, Symphony NH will soon premiere a work by Kalia’s good friend, composer Chris Rogerson, titled “Luminosity.”

Roger Kalia enjoying oysters at Surf Seafood

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Heading out to dinner at CodeX B.A.R., I pointed out a few other favorite shops on Main Street, including jajaBelle’s (great Greek pastries, brownies and “pop tarts”), and Scontsas Fine Jewelry & Home Décor, where we met Philip and Amalia Scontsas.

It’s a place he should know, since Kalia is recently married, and he might be looking for an anniversary gift.

At the mysteriously named CodeX, I showed Kalia the secret book that must be pulled to ring a bell that is answered by a server who welcomes visitors into the past.

Sure, it would be easier to just walk in, but what fun would that be? Inside, after our eyes acclimated to the dark, we discovered some of the Friends of Symphony NH had already settled into an old period sofa. The lounge area, with brass floor lamps, mahogany coffee tables and random overstuffed seating, looks a bit like your grandmother’s parlor if you, yourself, are 80. Music of the 1920s fills the air while the Prohibition theme continues with classic cocktails of the era. A player piano sits idle, but on Thursdays someone might be playing ragtime. Drinking in this atmosphere makes one appreciate the past. Kalia says he has been looking through the files of Symphony NH and is enthusiastic about the fact that the organization will be 100 years old in 2023. Plans for a special season are underway, and Kalia says he would “love to commission a New Hampshire composer to write a work for the orchestra in celebration of our 100th anniversary.”

There was much more to explore on Main Street, including two brewpubs, one the old standby, Martha’s Exchange with its Al Capone bar, and the other, Odd Fellows Brewery, which just added their own beers this year. Kalia says he is always on the hunt for venues that are conducive to a small performance group of musicians or a pre-concert talk with beer in hand. We admired how nicely Fratello’s Italian Grille has fit into an old bank building and noticed that the newest restaurant on Main Street, Tostao’s Tapas-Bar, had brought a fresh new Spanish menu.

We wound down the evening at Riverwalk Café and Music Bar in Railroad Square for a fair-trade, freshly roasted coffee and delicious housemade desserts. Kalia choose the New York cheesecake in honor of his birthplace and childhood home of Long Island. He took note of the stage area and loved the bohemian ambiance. The symphony has already used this venue for a string quartet performance, but he was picturing new collaborations. “I am a firm believer that classical music is for everybody, and I am going to go out of my way to make Symphony NH the most inviting, welcoming place for artistic entertainment in the state,” says the Maestro. NH The season starts with Kalia conducting Brahms and Tchaikovsky on October 5 in Nashua and October 6 in Concord.

Learn more or purchase tickets at symphonynh.com.

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FOOD & DRINK

Q&A

The Maestro Speaks!

Roger Kalia is currently entering his fifth season as the associate conductor of Pacific Symphony in California, and just wrapped up his first season as music director of Orchestra Santa Monica, so he will be bi-coastal this upcoming season, but spending as much time as he can in New Hampshire. He and his wife, Christine, hope to move to the Greater Nashua or Manchester area next summer.

Is this your first time in New Hampshire?

No! Surprisingly enough, I took part in a conducting masterclass during my early years as a conductor at Waterville Valley in 2006. I still remember how inspiring it was to make music in such a beautiful and serene place.

How did you decide on a career path in music? Fortunately, our public school system had a strong music program, and I decided to choose the trumpet, thanks to my grandfather, who always had Louie Armstrong records playing in his home. During freshman

year, our high school band attended an open rehearsal of Zubin Mehta conducting the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center. I had never heard an orchestra, and did not know what to expect. While listening to the intense sounds and tribal-sounding rhythms of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” I noticed the conductor. The energy and the way he used his body to influence the sound of the orchestra was truly special. It was one of those major turning points in my early musical development.

What about today’s youth? Symphony NH already has a wonderful variety of music education programs with our musicians going into schools. I look forward to being part of these programs, and inspiring the next generation here in New Hampshire — get them excited about music.

Why conducting? It’s a tough field with conducting positions growing rarer. By nature, I am a very social person who truly enjoys meeting and interacting with as many people as I possibly can. As a trumpet player, you often sit in the back of the orchestra, which can be somewhat of an isolating experience.

Furthermore, I would often get nervous during solos, and my lip would quiver slightly.

Conducting came quite naturally to me, and the direct connection and interaction with the musicians was appealing.

What is the conductor’s role, I mean, couldn’t the musicians just watch a metronome? I think of conducting as using gesture to turn ideas into music. Without a conductor, the musicians may be able to play together, but each musician would have a different interpretive idea of how the piece should go.

It’s the conductor’s responsibility to bring everyone together to one sound and one idea.

What do you do when it’s not “The Season”? My wife Christine and I also love to travel, and last summer we had the opportunity to visit Spain, Poland and Italy. We are dog lovers, and we have a wonderful little dog, Burney (named after music historian Charles Burney). When we get the chance, we love hiking and exploring new places together, and this past summer we hiked a few of the Adirondack peaks in Lake George.

I am also an avid college basketball fan, and I adore the Indiana University Hoosiers.

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A glimpse into the culinary journey

The Main Street Nashua walk started at Surf, happily on a buck-a-shuck night. Kalia got a taste of Blue Point oysters, which have a different flavor than he experienced in New Orleans.

FINE CRAFT • DEMOS • LIVE MUSIC • DELICIOUS FOOD • CRAFT BEER

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Chef/owner Michael Buckley (right) stopped by to say hello. Buckley is a big supporter of Symphony NH. They are both maestros in their respective fields.

Kalia with Food Editor Susan Laughlin

Located in front of League headquarters on Main Street in Concord, NH. Free admission to this event.

Kalia needed to try the grilled pizzas at MT’s Local Kitchen & Wine Bar. In my opinion, they are the best around — fresh and local, much like the live musical experience the maestro will soon be bringing to town.

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nhmagazine.com | September 2019

While dining at the outdoor tables, we caught Mayor Jim Donchess going in for dinner. Donchess reported that the new performance center will go through, but it will just take more time. The new venue will be too small to replace the Keefe Center for Performing Arts, but the symphony could use it for chamber events.

FOOD & DRINK

Kallia had one of his favorite drinks, an old fashioned at the 1920s speakeasy-style lounge CodeX B.A.R. Similar to classical music, the old can be given a fresh twist.

I introduced Kalia to the B Team: Stella Bloom. Ginny Nedved Cook, Rosemary Johnson and Sia Juris, members of the Friends of Symphony NH who produce the anticipated Holiday House Tour every December. It takes a village to support the symphony, but we are all richer for it. Don’t miss the tour. It’s always filled with holiday spirit and live music of the season.

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The beauty of this city is that you’ll walk down Main Street and meet someone you know. Only moments later, someone shouted “Hey, Maestro” from their car. Turns out it was a friend of Kalia’s, also a young conductor, who was in the area since his wife was originally from Nashua. They hadn’t seen each other in six years.

I introduced Kalia to Amelia and Philip Scontsas of Scontsas Fine Jewelry & Home Décor (above). Their shop has been on Main Street for years and is now in the third generation. I consider Philip the unofficial Mayor of Nashua and he is strong proponent of the new performing arts center planned for the former Alec’s Shoes store.

We ended the evening at Riverwalk Café and Music Bar in Railroad Square. It’s a coffee house with craft cocktails and performance venue offering a stage to traveling jazz, blues and folk musicians. Kalia would like to see more Symphony NH presence here too. He ordered a New York cheesecake as an ode to his birthplace.

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SMALL BITES

Small Bites Food and drink news by Susan Laughlin

While mushroom hunting can be fun, it’s best left to the knowledgeable. William Dunkerly of Danville has spent his life outdoors and knows the good, the bad and the ugly members of the mushroom family that can be foraged safely. He also cultivates beautiful lion’s mane, chestnut and oyster mushrooms. He recently expanded and moved his basement grow space to a larger facility in Brentwood, which allows him to provide product to his expanding list of restaurants, including The William Dunkerly at the Nashua Foundry in Manchester, Blue Moon Evolution in farmers market Exeter and Greenleaf in Milford. He doesn’t sell retail to the public, except for stints at the Nashua farmers market on Sundays through October. Dunks Mushrooms, 313 NH-125, (617) 240-9605

September 14 National Cream-filled Donut Day It may be hard to beat the beauties at the Yum Yum Shop in Wolfeboro. The Kelly family sold the much-beloved shop in 2018, but new owners Spencer and Ashley Samuelian hired third generation Peter Kelly to help run the shop, so the march of gingerbread men and parade of cream-filled donuts hasn’t stopped. Who knew they had their own day? yumyumshop.com 26

nhmagazine.com | September 2019

Summer Blues with lemongrass and butterfly pea flower from Thailand, which gives it a distinctive blue color

courtesy photo

A love of tea brought Margaret Gay of Candia into the fragrant world of teas and tisanes with her business 27Teas.

There are fancy coffees available, so why not high-end tea? She also discovered many tea bags contain polypropylene or an epoxy resin. Her loose-leaf teas are blends of green, black or white tea, and the latter is one of the most healthy teas. She also offers tisanes, herbal blends that are caffeine-free, many with health benefits. Milk ’N More is designed for lactating mothers.

Gentle Ginger and Lemon Drop have CBD added. Each package includes the proper water temperature and steeping time, key for making a proper beverage.

27Teas gives back to the world by sending 10% of their profits to global clean water initiatives. Available online and at the Hopkinton State Fair and several farmers markets through September (Bedford, Merrimack, Nashua and Lee).

Find more info at 27teas.com.

inset and other photos by susan laughlin

Mushroom Man

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603 Informer

“i’d rather sing a sad song than eat.” – George Jones

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Photos courtesy of Jared Ames (Dwight Yoakam) and Katy Haas (Dolly Parton)

What Do You Know? 32 Blips 34 Artisan 35 First Person 36 Politics 40 Review 41

Uniquely American

Ken Burns’ “Country Music”

BY BARBARA COLES

N

o one has told the story this way before.

That’s what PBS is saying about the soon-to-air documentary series “Country Music.” And no doubt it’s true, because the story is being told by the talented, nay legendary, team of Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan, whose work, lucky us, is based in the southwestern New Hampshire town of Walpole.

Their quest, says Duncan, is to trace the history of a “uniquely American art form and the remarkable people who created it.”

And, in doing that, he adds, they hope to get past “the narrow stereotypes” of country music. “For a lot of reasons — some driven by commerce, some simply by a human need to categorize the world — narrow stereotypes have grown up over the years about country music,” Duncan says.

Their telling of the country music

Dwight Yoakam

Country music legend Dolly Parton with Dayton Duncan (middle) and Ken Burns nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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From left: Dayton Duncan, Julie Dunfey and Ken Burns

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Bill Monroe and his band at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry c. 1958

sound of Patsy Cline and the harder-edged “Bakersfield” sound of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard in the 1950s. Also, in Memphis, rockabilly, a precursor of rock and roll, led by Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash.

And, in the late 1960s in Nashville, always the epicenter of country music, there’s the country-folk of Bob Dylan and the country-rock of the Byrds, and later Willie Nelson becoming a country music “outlaw” in the distant city of Austin.

The music that has been described as “three chords and the truth” deals with, as Duncan puts it, “the most basic, universal experiences and emotions — falling in love,

courtesy of les leverett collection

story begins on PBS September 15, in an eight-part, 16-hour, eight-years-in-themaking series, directed and produced by Burns; written and produced by Duncan; and produced by Julie Dunfey. There will be never-before-seen footage and photographs (more than 3,200 of them), plus interviews with more than 80 country music artists.

Even before the new series airs, it’s having an impact. Duncan says people who have attended screenings have “arrived thinking they couldn’t stand country music, but after watching an episode or two, they realized that they hadn’t understood that a certain song they always liked was country, or they’ve discovered a country artist whose songs and story they find utterly compelling.

It opened them up to a lot more.”

The series traces the origins of country music, which Duncan says “isn’t — and never was — just one style of music. It’s always been a mixture of styles — from Appalachian ballads brought over from the British Isles to work songs and the blues sung by black slaves, from church music to drinking songs and minstrel songs and much more.

During the course of the 20th century, as it spread across the nation, thanks to the first commercial recordings and the brand-new technology of radio, the music kept evolving, sprouting new branches.”

The branches explored in the series include the cowboy songs of Gene Autry in the 1930s, the bluegrass of Earl Scruggs and others in the 1940s, the smooth “Nashville”

INFORMER

falling out of love; struggle and hardship; the sorrow of death, the hope of redemption; the raucous joy of Saturday night or seeking forgiveness on Sunday morning.”

What country music teaches us, Duncan says, is that we’re all in this together: “As Garth Brooks says in the film’s introduction, ‘we’re all human.’ And as Dolly Parton told us, ‘You can dance to it, you can cry to it, you can make love to it, you can play it at a funeral; it just really has something in it for everybody.’”

Read Duncan’s full, well-worth-yourtime description of how country music evolved on page 31. NH

courtesy of evan barlow

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INFORMER

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courtesy of grand ole opry archives, photo by bill thorup

How Country Music Evolved

Travis Tritt and Marty Stuart on the Grand Ole Opry, 1991

There were the cowboy songs Gene Autry made popular in the 1930s, and the Western swing that Bob Wills created by applying fiddles and steel guitars to the big band sound.

Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs and others created a syncopated string band sound called bluegrass in the 1940s.

Hank Williams didn’t invent honky-tonk music (it grew out of the beer halls in the Southwest) in the late ’40s and early ’50s, but he was its biggest star. In Memphis, in the 1950s, “hillbilly” music (the name for country at the time) reconnected with gospel and rhythm and blues and the result was rockabilly, a precursor of rock and roll (with Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash out front). There was the smooth “Nashville Sound” (think Patsy Cline) and out in California the harder-edged “Bakersfield Sound” (Buck Owens and Merle Haggard). In the late 1960s, Bob Dylan came to Nashville to record albums with a country-folk sound; the Byrds went there and created country-rock. In Austin in the 1970s, Willie Nelson and his friends became known as “outlaws,” because they wanted to make their country music different from Nashville’s. And so on. At the same time, periodically, other artists have tugged country music back to its original roots. It’s a dynamic thing, because it’s art. ­— Dayton Duncan

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603 INFORMER

WHAT DO YOU KNOW?

Labor of Love

It may be hard to get to, but the chapel on Bear Island welcomes all who seek it

St. John’s on-the-Lake Chapel

or sunlight streaming through the windows provide the only illumination. There’s room for about 70 congregants, who sit on folding wooden chairs, as there are no pews.

BY MARSHALL HUDSON, PHOTOS BY SHANNON DOYLE

B

ear Island is the second-biggest island in New Hampshire’s largest lake. The name comes from the reminiscences of James Hersey, who surveyed the island in 1772. Following the orders of provincial governor John Wentworth, Hersey was leading a party of eight men charged with mapping and naming the islands in Lake Winnipesaukee. The surveyors had the misfortune to disturb some hungry bears just awakening from their winter hibernations. There were more surveyors than bears, but more bears than rifles. The rifles were single-shot muzzleloaders, which were almost useless in close quarters after the lone shot was fired. The men had hunting knives, but the bears had teeth and claws

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and were in a bad mood after being disturbed. When the melee, ended, there were four dead bears, some injured surveyors, and Bear Island earned its name.

There’s a unique chapel on Bear Island, which isn’t exactly easy to visit. You’ll need to boat across the lake, tie up onshore, and then hike up to highest point of the island. The picturesque stone chapel is in a small clearing surrounded by forest on all sides. There are no roads, only hiking trails that radiate out in several directions, meaning worshipers are likely to be sporting casual shorts and sneakers rather than their Sunday finest.

The chapel does not have bathrooms, indoor plumbing or electricity — candles

No electricity here, just candles and sunshine

WHAT DO YOU KNOW?

The organ was carried from the dock all the way up the steep trail.

Worshipers of all faiths (and their furry companions) are welcome here.

Musical accompaniment is sometimes provided by an old foot pump organ that was carried by hardy volunteers all the way up the steep trail from the boat dock. In 1962 a 200-pound bell was donated to replace the original steeple bell, which had been stolen by vandals. The new bell came from a steam locomotive on the New Jersey General Railroad, and it remains a mystery to me how it got up into the tower. Another unique feature of this church is that well-behaved dogs are welcome to attend Sunday services.

St. John’s on-the-Lake Chapel provides interfaith services for the summer island community of Lake Winnipesaukee and for

boating visitors from the mainland. It is the only island chapel on the lake, and it’s truly a unique place for seasonal guests to worship. Each week a new minister of a different denomination leads the services, making it a church where everyone is welcome, regardless of religious affiliation.

The idea of building a chapel on Bear Island was conceived by Bishop Edward Parker of the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire in 1915. In 1922, the Reverend Kenneth Ripley Forbes, an Episcopal minister, purchased a summer home on nearby Birch Island, and the two men joined forces to pursue the dream of building an island chapel on Lake Winnipesaukee.

An existing observation tower located on the island’s highest point caught the clergymen’s attention. Built by Ellery Channing Mansfield in 1898, the tower site struck them as the perfect location for their chapel. Mansfield’s tower stood 60 feet tall and commanded a 360-degree view of the lake. In 1925, Parker obtained an option from Mansfield to buy the tower along with three acres of land for $1,400. Parker died before the transaction was completed, but his successor, Bishop John Dallas, made the purchase the following year.

Forbes was given responsibility for the design, funding and oversight of the construction of the new chapel. He developed a design for the proposed chapel that envisioned a fieldstone sanctuary embracing the existing observation tower, which would be converted into a steeple. Forbes began fundraising to build the chapel, and by the end of 1927 had raised the estimated construction amount.

With donations in hand, ground was broken and construction was completed in just three months. James Leighton, who built the original tower in 1898, was employed to construct the sanctuary and enclose the tower. Leighton used fieldstones gathered nearby for the walls of the sanctuary, and he hauled sand up from the shoreline for the mortar. When the project ran short of money, Leighton placed screens in the windows and later stained glass windows were donated one by one.

The total cost of construction, including tower repairs, was approximately $6,000.

Forbes, St. John’s “priest-in-charge,” wrote a letter for the dedication of the chapel that outlined the mission of St. John’s on-theLake: “This church has been placed where it is in order to minister to every sort of

603 INFORMER person who makes this beautiful region a vacation spot, either for long or short periods. Regardless of what your religious affiliation at home may be, we hope that you will join each Sunday with us at this community center of worship.”

In 1954, the St. John’s on-the-Lake Association was formed to provide funds to keep the chapel in operation. The association, working with the Diocese, took over the chapel’s financing and maintenance needs, as well as the responsibility of scheduling the various ministers. In 1976, the deed for the chapel was conveyed to the St. John’s on-theLake Association for $1, with the stipulation that it would revert back to the Diocese if it ever ceased to be used for religious purposes. The association solicited one cent from 100 different people, many of whom were children, to create a sense of community ownership of the chapel.

The Bear Island chapel has endured for over 90 years and is a living memorial to those who envisioned and built it.

Though founded by Episcopalians, the chapel was envisioned from the beginning to be a place of worship for all, regardless of denomination. That tradition continues today as visiting pastors and guests arrive by boat and walk the footpaths to the chapel for Sunday service. St. John’s will regularly welcome around 50 people at a service, and will reach capacity a few times each summer.

The Bear Island chapel has endured for over 90 years and is a living memorial to those who envisioned and built it. It is also a special place for congregants and visitors willing to venture across the lake and through the woods to experience it. If you do decide to visit, try not to disturb any hibernating bears — they’re likely to be hungry and in a bad mood.

Thanks to all the members of the St. John’s on-the Lake Association who assisted with research for this article. NH nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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603 INFORMER

POLITICS

Blips Monitoring appearances of the 603 on the media radar since 2006

Counting Downton

Local expert can’t wait for the movie version of the PBS show

By Casey McDErmott

I

t’s a good time to be a scholar of the Edwardian era. Just ask Nicoletta Gullace.

An associate professor at the University of New Hampshire, Gullace is one of a class of sought-after academics who specialize in the very period depicted in the hit TV series “Downton Abbey” — making its feature film debut this month.

In recent years, Gullace’s expertise in early 20th-century England has landed her in the likes of Better Homes & Gardens (researching “4 ‘Downton Abbey’ Historical Inaccuracies You Probably Missed”) and USA TODAY (suggesting modern-day audiences are drawn to “Downton”’s elite precisely because they stand in such sharp contrast to the Kardashians, Real Housewives and other “vulgar reality stars banking on their celebrity”).

The era at the heart of “Downton” has long fascinated Gullace, in large part because it’s situated “on the cusp of recognizable modernity,” she says.

“There are trains. There are telegraphs. We see in ‘Downton Abbey,’ for instance, the introduction of a refrigerator causing a great stir,” Gullace says. “Yet we also see values, attitudes, and a class system that hearkens back to a much older time.”

Even so, Gullace says the show — while a fantastic work of historical fiction — veers more toward the fictional end of that genre. “Downton”’s portrayal of relatively harmonious relations between the masters and their servants was

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rose-colored, to say the least, she says, and its depiction of social attitudes around sexuality, “were kind of airbrushed with a more progressive veneer than would have been possible at the time.” And while we’re on the subject, Gullace says one storyline regarding birth control — wherein one of the aristocratic main characters enlists the help of a servant to fetch her contraception from a local pharmacy — was also “a little bit overoptimistic.”

In the show, Gullace says, “everything is clean, everything is beautiful,” but the time period was in fact filled with “grinding poverty, inequality and very little social safety net to help people in trouble.

“From a historical perspective, it’s important not to over-romanticize the past. This is the past as we would like to imagine it, not necessarily the past as it was lived by real people at the time.”

But Gullace isn’t trying to spoil anyone’s fun. She counts herself among the legions of “Downton” devotees, enthralled by the exquisite costumes and set design. “I think the show really gets right the museumization and curation of the period in time — the cars, the settings, the costumes, especially, the tableware,” she says. “For some historians, these things seem trivial, but for members of the public just having a visual impression of what a particular slice of time and history might have looked like is in itself really interesting and illuminating.”

THE “GREAT GREENVILLE TRESTLE FLY-UNDER” LIVES ON: It’s the kind of thing that would have surely gone viral had it happened in 2019, but for years footage of local daredevil Bronson Potter’s quest to zoom through a former railroad trestle in Greenville went largely unseen — though the 1979 feat drew headlines from all around the region at the time. Newly uncovered film of the stunt premiered at the Mason Town Hall last month, stirring cause for celebration among Potter fans and locals alike.

NOW PLAYING: A new documentary charts the inspiring life story of Guor Mading Maker, also known as Guor Marial, who fled Sudan’s civil war and resettled in Concord. There he earned a reputation as a rising track star and set forth on a path that would eventually take him to the Olympics. The movie, “Runner,” recently premiered at the Woods Hole Film Festival earning a “Best of the Fest Audience Award.”

courtesy photos

Nicoletta Gullace

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: A few Granite Staters made recent cameos on reality shows. Boscawen’s Eddie Hoyt tapped his way into the hearts of fans of FOX’s “So You Think You Can Dance” — returning for a second attempt after getting cut from an earlier season. Elsewhere, Salem tattoo artist Ashley McNamara (going by the pseudonym Ashley Anoneison) was featured on Paramount Network’s “Ink Master.”

courtesy photos

And Gullace also gives credit to “Downton” showrunners for correctly picking up on the vibrant women’s suffrage movement of the era — one of her favorite characters, in fact, was a suffragist — even if the series was perhaps a bit too generous in its portrayal of broader societal attitudes toward gender roles.

As “Downton” inches ahead in the arc of modern history — its final television season was set in 1925 — Gullace says she’s eager to see whether writers will be “brave enough” to tackle the fall of the stock market and the fallout that had for many wealthy families like the ones depicted in the series. She’s also intrigued by hints dropped in the trailer that one of its gay characters might find romance in this new chapter.

Back at UNH, believe it or not, Gullace says the series doesn’t make too many cameos in her classroom. She’s never taught a seminar focused on the series — but if she can find a way to bring up television’s depiction of modern British history in her regular lesson plans, “when I have a chance to put up a ‘Downton Abbey’ slide, I definitely do that.” NH

ARTIST

Sweet Sounds Guitars made to be played

BY SUSAN LAUGHLIN

courtesy photos

J

eff Figley knows hardwoods — how they look, how they handle and, most importantly, how they sound.

As a luthier for the past 20 years, he has honed the skills necessary to make a great axe — as beautiful as it sounds. His King Blossom Guitars workshop is based in his quaint New England home, which is nestled in a 125-year-old apple orchard in Grantham.

Each of his electric guitars is made with the highest quality, sustainably grown tone woods, along with deluxe hardware and high-end (and often custom) finishes.

As Figley builds the piece, he is constantly checking the tone as the body is shaped and the fingerboard added. Wood types resonate at different frequencies and are best suited to specific music types.

He may use mahogany, with its warm sound, for a jazz guitar, or maple and alder to amplify country twang.

603 INFORMER

“You can feel a good guitar vibrate in your hands when the strings are plucked,” he says. “It is a bit subjective, but musicians with good ears can detect subtle differences, much like a sommelier with fine wine.”

The beauty of wood grain is enhanced by special dyes, and is brought to full visual delight with layers of lacquer, which is the finish of choice for a purist. “When I see an interesting grain pattern, I know I should make something cool out of it ... it shouldn’t go into stair treads,” he says.

Figley is a juried member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen and travels to music shows around the country, including NAMM in Anaheim, California. He makes two basic models, one of which is a hollow body, and he just released a two-channel model that plays like an acoustic. He says, “I have made thousands of guitars for great musicians, but haven’t sold to a superstar yet.” But, he adds hopefully, “you never know.”

Hey, Steven Tyler — tell Joe Perry that King Blossom Guitars is only a town over! NH

Find It

Jeff Figley, King Blossom Guitars, Grantham, kingblossomguitars.com Prices start at $1,700. nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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603 INFORMER

FIRST PERSON

Chaya Harris with Willem Lange and Kiki

Walking with Willem A meeting of minds on a trail into the wild

BY CHAYA HARRIS, PHOTOS BY JOE KLEMENTOVICH

I

was shifting from foot to foot, watching the early morning sky for warning signs and glancing at my activity tracker in a parking lot at Pinkham Notch, greeting my hikers as they arrived to get started on our climb up Mt. Washington. While the “Windows to the Wild” crew from NH PBS mic’d me up for the episode they were filming, they said not to worry and just talk naturally with the host Willem Lange. Despite the breeze and cool temperatures, I started sweating.

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Willem casually strolled toward my group at the trailhead, already chuckling and eager to learn our names, what brought us out that day, our interests, our German folk song knowledge, and anything else we wanted to share. He listened precisely to get names like Chaya and Johanny correct.

As he asked about my connection to nature and our group, Outdoor Afro, a national nonprofit that celebrates black leadership in nature, I kept glancing up the trail. I

worried about the unpredictable weather we’d likely face as I led the group on our first time up Tuckerman Ravine.

“You’ve never done this before, right?”

Willem asked me. “I have a feeling you’re gonna do just fine.”

In this brief time, Willem’s amiability and authenticity were easy to sense. Just like you often see on his show, he sang old songs that spurred lots of questions and chuckles. He made me feel like the rocky summit at 6,280 feet was easily within our reach. Perhaps it’s because of our experience as educators — Willem as an English teacher and Outward Bound instructor, me formerly as a fifth grade teacher — that we both love a good story. I later learned that he’s experienced a myriad of runs, ziplining, cook-offs and even a wedding on Mt. Washington, and yet as I told him our story, he was fascinated.

I was happy to have a NH black history story to share on the way up. Ona “Oney” Judge was a young woman who escaped bondage under our first presidential family, the Washingtons, in 1796, and later settled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where the residents helped defend her right to emancipation. She married, had three children, and managed to earn a living using her sewing skills. Despite living in poverty, Judge exemplified the motto “Live Free or Die.” When our group reached the summit, we discussed Judge’s legacy and what it means to us. Visibility was low through the blanket of fog, but Willem was focused on the hikers and the tourists on Mt. Washington, pondering the lack of diversity and how it influences the stories we carry with us to such places.

We wearily ended our story for the day with hugs, gratitude and, of course, a song.

“Until we meet again ...” he crooned, which I would soon discover is his signature closing.

Somehow, after about five miles with more than a 4,000-foot elevation gain, my legs felt lighter than when we began that morning.

Now when I happen to see that episode of “Windows to the Wild,” I smile at how anxious I’d felt, researching historical and environmental facts about the trail to prepare. Willem had reminded me that such connections to the land and the past renew our energy and strengthen our connections to each other. He wrote about our meeting in his weekly column “A Yankee Notebook” a few days later on October 9, 2017, explaining some of the nerves he felt too, and showing how he leaned into his discomfort.

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FIRST PERSON

I left that day with so many questions about Willem’s 80-plus years of life. Fortunately, I was able to see him again at the NH Audubon center last summer in Concord, and could ask a few of them: How did he come to host “Windows to the Wild”? Where does he get his ideas for “A Yankee Notebook,” which he’s been writing for about 1,940 weeks? How can I blend a career in education and the outdoors? I wanted to know more about all of his adventures, from 13 trips to the Arctic to several times on the Presidential Traverse to almost every peak in New Hampshire, where he still loves to hike.

“I look forward to going up Mt. Moosilauke,” he says. “I’ve climbed it so many times. It’s the westernmost of the 4,000-footers, almost 5,000 feet. I just love that I get to talk to so many people as I go. I love meeting everyone, and I look forward to going back with Kiki.” It seems like Kiki, a 2-year-old, sandy-brown mixed terrier from a shelter in Texas, is ready too. During our walk down memory lane at the McLane Audubon Center, she stayed close to Willem’s side.

Willem’s stories reveal courage to keep going through all types of challenges, viewing them as opportunities to deepen his

Willem’s stories reveal courage to keep going through all types of challenges, viewing them as opportunities to deepen his understanding of the world and of himself. understanding of the world and of himself.

Thinking back to his first overnight in the woods, he explained that wild places can teach us quickly what it might otherwise take us a lifetime to learn. He recalled how he had grown up in central New York and one day hopped on a bus, carying an Army pup tent, cans of beans and a fishing pole.

He finally made camp near a small stream, admiring the night sounds of the bubbling brook and whip-poor-wills, but feeling unsettled. In the morning, he packed up and hiked back to the bus. It took him a while to

understand what was wrong. He was lonely.

Maybe that’s what pushed him to join the Boy Scouts at age 12 (although he notes that the scoutmaster, Doc, also had a very sleek Model A Ford that purred down the street).

His first Thanksgiving weekend scouting trip involved hours of map reading and retraced steps, struggles cutting down trees and trying to light fires for the cold — and lots of tears.

Willem still takes inspiration from Doc, who comforted scouts back at the campfire and got everyone ready to try it again.

From experiences like that, Willem

Willem rows his Adirondack guide boat during the filming of a “Windows to the Wild” episode in Maine’s Casco Bay. nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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603 INFORMER eventually became the director of the Dartmouth Outward Bound Center, leading outdoor education through hikes, climbs, paddling and skiing throughout New Hampshire, and also fishing and sailing in Penobscot Bay. “When you get outdoors, you have some problems to solve, issues to navigate, both alone and in groups,” Willem says.

“That’s where initiative and growth occurs.”

After working with Outward Bound, Willem built and remodeled houses while living in Hanover with his wife, Ida, and three children. His family, faith and need to explore were constants. One of his toughest outings was in Baxter Park, Maine, when his youngest child was just a toddler. The family was canoeing down the length of a lake when gale force winds suddenly moved in. Two of his children had to hike on their own to camp, while Willem and Ida paddled with the youngest and the gear. When they reunited hours later, Willem sensed that their very survival depended on getting a strong fire going, but his family grew in resourcefulness and togetherness (he still has an 8-mm movie recounting the experience).

He’s candid about how his age impacts his adventures and is proud he’s now “fluent enough in Facebook” to show vintage pho-

FIRST PERSON

WIllem Lange at the end of an exciting day on Onondaga Creek, spring 1955

tos. He told me about founding the Geriatric Adventure Society in 1973, a group of “staunch outdoor enthusiasts,” who he says prove “there’s life for the old guys yet.” This group of older men has problem-solved on skis and in kayaks and canoes across barren, frozen land and through small villages and dense forests in Alaska and the Arctic.

Once, they just chose a river and went down

Willem, Chaya and Willem’s loyal companion, Kiki, at the McLane Audubon Center in Concord

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it, learning later than no one else had ever recorded navigating it. A member of the group left an aluminum-frame pack behind along the river. On a return trip, 22 years later, they heard the wind whistling through something and found it was that same pack.

It was in 1981 that Willem began seriously writing about these adventures — and whatever else he wanted to write about.

With his talent for storytelling and joy in connecting with people, his column led him to appear in a series of popular segments for Vermont Public Radio and hosting 13 seasons of “Windows to the Wild” on New Hampshire PBS. He’s won an Emmy for simply doing what he loves. Two of his favorite TV episodes are “Climbing Mount Katahdin” and “Meet Kiki,” and most of them can be streamed on NH PBS. Our walk was my first time meeting Kiki, who playfully hopped on and off the rocks, yelped hello, and proudly perched at Willem’s side, showing off a light patch on her chest in her sandy-blonde fur. He always has one eye on her, even in the rare moments when she’s quietly resting between his feet.

She’s sometimes anxious and skittish, like a young terrier can be, but he noted that she bravely crossed a suspension bridge over

603 INFORMER

FIRST PERSON

NH’s Dead Diamond River last spring.

During our walk, I chuckled when Kiki barked and charged at some threat to Willem that we couldn’t detect, and then in a flaxen flash scampered to retreat behind him. He marveled at how she slightly cocks her head for far-off sounds, and described her first time prancing in fresh snow. “Without realizing what effect she has on me, she’s pulling me out of a dive that could have only ended in a crash,” Willem explains. “She appeared at my door in May of last year, and we’ve been inseparable ever since.”

Author Tom Ryan, who wrote memorably about the bond between a man and his dog in the outdoors with his book, “Following Atticus,” inspired Willem to adopt Kiki while he was taking care of his wife through her battle with terminal cancer. The dog became a source of wonder and healing for Willem. “Kiki helped with the transition between ‘my wife’ and ‘not my wife,’” he says.

Those who have read some of Willem’s essays probably know about the remarkable love he shared with Ida, and he tells how she literally pulled him out of a hole. It was 1959, and Willem was working as a contractor on State Street in Syracuse, New York.

“WINDOWS TO THE WILD”

Each Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. you can join outdoor adventurer Willem Lange as he explores New England and meets others who share his love for nature. Occasionally he ventures to faraway lands, including a recent episode “Trekking Norway,” where he “trades mountains for fjords.”

You can learn more about this award-winning show at nhpbs.org/windows.

He was covered in mud, digging a manhole when Ida walked by. One look and he took off after her down the street. Perhaps it was due to his devotion and his adventurous spirit that 12 weeks later, on Halloween, they were married.

He says “Mother,” as he most often refers to Ida, was the purest of adventure seekers. In his book “A Yankee Notebook” he tells how, just after marrying, they moved to a small cabin in the Adirondacks. There Willem announced bobsled races and drove a taxi at night while Ida worked in a S&H Green Stamps store. “She hadn’t been much of an outdoors person,” says Willem, “Now suddenly she was living on the edge of the woods with a space heater she never did master, an old radio that got two stations ... and no transportation unless I was home from work.

She was an incredible blessing on my life.”

Toward the end of our walk together, he reflects on a few of the other people who have “enlarged” his life, and how “through the roughest patches, I’ve always had someone to help me.”

Now, along with the wisdom that comes with age, Willem still has incredible resillience. He uses moments of connection, like our encounter and the hundreds of others he has made, to keep reigniting his spark of adventure, even when it includes unexpected tears or a day of simply sitting.

Though time is slowing him down a bit, he isn’t stopping and his enduring spark continues to inspire many, from a firsttime hiker after a mid-life heart surgery to a veteran Marine healing from trauma. He says that time in the outdoors teaches us all to take care of each other.

When I hear he’s off to adventures in Scotland, I glimpse at the calendar, imagining another walk with Willem, maybe at Carter Notch, to share how I’m starting out as a director at Thompson Island Outward Bound this summer and to hear his Hurricane Island stories. And I grin, feeling my own spark, until we meet again. NH

The Author

The late John Sales and Willem in Baxter State Park, Maine, December 1955

Chaya Harris loves the outdoors and a great book, and is always looking for pizza with the perfect ratios. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh and then Northwestern, she taught in Boston public schools for almost a decade. She now serves as the director of curriculum and instruction at Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center and is a volunteer leader with Outdoor Afro. (outdoorafro.com) nhmagazine.com | September 2019

39

POLITICS

illustration by peter noonan

603 INFORMER

Claremont Primary

Move over, Dixville Notch, as a new bellwether emerges

BY JAMES PINDELL

M

ost readers of New Hampshire Magazine would agree that Arizona is an important state in American politics. It’s at the center of the immigration issue, is emerging as a swing state, and has more than five times our population.

But when it comes to the 2020 presidential race, Arizona can’t compare to Claremont, New Hampshire, and not just because of the drastic difference in climate. So far none of the 25 or so presidential candidates has held an event in Arizona in 2019 — however, Claremont, population 13,000, has already had dozens of events.

South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg? He’s done a Fox News televised town hall there. California senator Kamala Harris? She made some stops downtown. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders watched the local high school perform on the city green for Memorial Day. New Jersey senator Cory Booker did a house party there. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio attended an opioid roundtable with the mayor. New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand attended the Rural Pride Festival there in June. Massachusetts

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senator Elizabeth Warren and former Texas representative Beto O’Rourke held events at the same Common Man restaurant.

This is why much of the country is infuriated with the idea of the New Hampshire primary. Our state’s residents and tourists simply have more access to those who might be the next leader of the free world.

But perhaps they should hold off on the criticism. Claremont promises to be something of a laboratory for the 2020 presidential campaign, which might tell us a lot about the general election nine months later.

Claremont was traditionally a Democratic city in a traditionally Republican state. But as politics have changed in the state and in the country, they have also changed here.

In 2016, for the first time in most memories, the city voted for a Republican for president. Donald Trump’s message appeared to resonate there as it did among white working class voters in other traditional Democratic states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

If, as some political scientists believe, we are undergoing a major American politi-

cal realignment where the parties will be redefined along lines of education and unban-versus-rural attitudes, then maybe Claremont will stay Republican while a highly educated, traditionally Republican town like Hollis may stay Democratic after it also flipped in 2016.

The number one item that Democrats say they want is a candidate who can beat Trump, and candidates who do well in Claremont can argue that they can compete against Trump in similar places. Imagine a scenario where one candidate takes the stage on primary night declaring a win in the state, while another in a different ballroom declares, “Yeah, well, I won Claremont.”

The “Claremont Primary” concept is evidenced by the attention from the candidates and even Fox News, which picked it as a not-very-convenient location for their town hall meeting. Campaign history is already rich here. This was where a campaign finance-reform promise between then-US House Speaker Newt Gingrich and then-President Bill Clinton was settled with a handshake (before it fell apart). It was also where, in 1987, Joe Biden began to blow up his campaign when he angrily snapped at a voter.

That same voter now says he is on Biden’s side in 2020. But as for the rest of the city’s residents, it is anyone’s guess. But we all will be watching. NH

603 INFORMER

Review (Stuff worthy of your time and treasure or we wouldn’t bother with it)

“My mom told me to never forget I’d be a ‘nobody.’ It’s been a long quest of mine to be something other than a nobody.” courtesy photo

—Rob Azevedo

First Book: Last Breath

Memoir reveals the hardest-working nobody in Manchester

BY NATHAN GRAZIANO

M

anchester author Rob Azevedo is exhausted.

The youthful-looking 49-year-old husband and father of two recently returned from Gonzofest in Louisville, Kentucky, the ninth annual tribute to the late Hunter S. Thompson, where Azevedo was one of three spoken word features, preceding a keynote address by Rolling Stone’s Matt Tiabbi.

At Gonzofest, Avezedo read a piece about visiting the iconoclast’s house in Colorado, a chapter titled “Visiting the Home of Hunter S. Thompson” from Azevedo’s first book from Concord’s Plaidswede Publishing titled “Notes From the Last Breath Farm: A Music Junkie’s Quest to Be Heard.”

But Azevedo admits, when cutting his teeth in the literary world, he fell victim to one of the pratfalls many young writers hit when trying to find their voice.

“I failed miserably at imitating Thompson,” Azevedo says. “I knew I had to break away from trying to write like him. I can be influenced, but in order to make it, I’d have to find my own voice.”

Now Azevedo has found that voice on the page, on the airwaves and the big screen —

Azevedo was also the award-winning writer of the short film “Muddy” in 2011.

“I’m hyper by nature, and if I’m not doing something creative, I can be a fairly miserable person to be around,” says Azevedo. “It has everything to do with my own sense of self. I want to be heard.”

Azevedo attributes some of this to a childhood conversation with his mother, where the Melrose native and the matriarch of his household had a heart-to-heart — of sorts.

“My mom told me to never forget I’d be a ‘nobody,’” says Azevedo. “I needed to be something besides nobody. It’s been a long quest of mine to be something other than a nobody.”

Guided by his quest and a great gift of empathy, Azevedo reached out to radio stations with a pitch for “Granite State of Mind,” a radio show featuring local artists and musicians. He was given a three-week trial period, and eight years later, “Granite State of Mind” still brings premier indie musicians throughout New Hampshire into the studio each week, a significant source of inspiration for him.

“Without ‘Granite State of Mind,’ there wouldn’t be this book,” says Azevedo.

But Azevedo also makes connections with his own literary pursuits and their musical ones.

“A lot of these musicians are on the same quest to be heard that I am, but they use chords and riffs while I use sentences,” he says. “It’s all the same quest.”

Even exhausted, Azevedo, who was recently named a first place winner in a column-writing contest held by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, continues myriad creative pursuits.

“If you have that itch, that idea in your head, those thoughts are there for a reason,” he says. “And your job is to act upon those thoughts. Or ignore them. But, for me, the act of doing something with them is enough.” NH

“Notes From the Last Breath Farm,”$15.95, is available at local bookstores and online from nhbooksellers.com. nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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603 INFORMER

TRANSCRIPT

Crowd Pleaser Photo and interview by David Mendelsohn Adopted at the height of the brutal blood diamond-fueled civil war in Sierra Leone, Senie Hunt was transported from a theater of horrors to the placid fields of New Hampshire, a journey of contrasts.

Hunt has used the bucolic peace of our state to heal — he also used it to develop his music. Self-taught, he plays percussive guitar, a style that incorporates rhythms formed from tapping the hollow body of the instrument while simultaneously picking its strings. As his star rises and shines here, Hunt is playing all over to growing crowds, finding the applause and recognition he deserves. Quite the ride.

My very first instrument when I was living in the ­ a tradiorphanage in Sierra Leone was the djembe — tional West African hand drum made by pulling goat skin over hollowed out, hourglass-shaped wood.

Music played a big part in helping me shift my focus away from the sounds of the combat.

The blood diamond wars had such a devastating effect on the population. For me as a child and many others, it meant the threat of “recruitment” into the conflict.

I was about 4 years old when my twin sister and I fled the orphanage. We made most of the journey to the refugee camps in Ghana on foot through the mountains to remain out of sight of the military and rebel troops.

When I met my parents and my older adoptive sister for the first time at the airport, I had felt a rush of joy, relief and excitement; this was something that was really happening. I had made it with my twin sister into the arms of a family — my family.

I had been terrified of what lay ahead of us, and what it meant to leave Sierra Leone. Most of these feelings had been hidden behind the complete and utter fascination I had when seeing an airplane for the first time.

When my adoptive family brought me to my new home in Bradford, I was overjoyed by the farm animals that filled the pasture on the hilltop of their home.

I remember the first time I saw snow I had thought that the clouds were literally falling to the ground. I always thought clouds would be warm, soft and fluffy, so imagine my surprise when I took my first dive into a snowbank.

I am hoping to use my music as a way of getting back to Sierra Leone to meet my family, and let them know that despite all the chaos in our lives, that we are healthy and doing what we love.

I would like to do what I can to help out the community that my family lives in, starting by performing a concert to show them that all we have been through was worth it to land us in a life that allowed us to follow our dreams.

After developing his sound, Senie Hunt’s first official gig was at The Local in Warner just five years ago. His “local” fame grew quickly, and fans now seek out his concerts and helped him raise $9,000 to crowdfund his first CD, “Song Bird.” His twin sister painted the cover image and he says the entire album was “inspired by the idea that nature will continue to be what it is. It expresses the importance of letting things find their way naturally.”

Thanks to the UNH Organic Dairy Farm in Lee and to manager Ryan Courtright for the use of their talented cows, and for the loan of his boys Logan and Luke and student Roger Lawrence to wrangle the beasts for the shoot. nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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The Wonders of Wellness

Whatever health challenge life has thrown at you, you can still take your personal well-being into your own hands — with a little help from science and faith.

By Karen A. Jamrog nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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Start young Kids are as multifaceted as adults when it comes to their wellness needs, and the Department of Education (DOE) acknowledged that when it formed the Bureau of Student Wellness in 2013. Prompted in part by the Sandy Hook tragedy, the DOE set out to proactively support mental health and wellness in the younger generation rather than only reacting to future troubles and tragedies, says Michelle M. Myler, administrator of the Bureau of Student Wellness at the New Hampshire DOE. “One in five kids experience mental health disorders,” Myler says, “and that is not helped by the fact that mental health facilities lack capacity to meet the needs of those kids and families.” The Bureau of Student Wellness’ wide-ranging framework for schools and communities addresses not just mental health but the whole child, from academic success and physical health to emotional wellness in relationships, and promotes supportive environments in the home, school, and community. “We recognize how important all these dimensions in a child are,” Myler says. They all overlap, she notes, and influence a child’s life and ability to thrive.

Initially, the bureau chose which school districts would participate in its wellness programming based on risk factor data such 46

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as the number of disciplinary problems at each school and the availability of public preschool. But the program took off as school administrators and teachers heard about it and wanted in. Today, Myler says, “we have touched 70-80% of all schools across the state,” resulting in fewer problem behaviors in participating schools, along with increased academic achievement, decreased substance abuse, and teachers who have more time to teach.

One of the bureau’s initiatives, “Youth Mental Health First Aid,” is delivered by trainers across the state who work with a

“I see people all the time who say, ‘I’m here because I’m tired of people asking me if I’m tired.’”

— Lisa Vuich range of adults, including teachers, clergy, fire and rescue personnel, bus drivers, and parents. “It’s to help the adults recognize the mental health challenges in children and be able to steer them toward resources for help,” Myler says. “We want to include families, communities, everybody.”

In all, the bureau addresses 40 developmental components that affect students’ ability to succeed and academically achieve, with an emphasis, Myler says, on resilience building and healthful coping skills for kids who are stressed or struggling. But overall, “there needs to be that balance” among the many dimensions of wellness, she says, a consistency that hopefully will carry into the child’s adulthood.

Have your wellness and look good too While no one is suggesting that you get Botox to better your health, exactly (though Botox injections have been proven to provide relief from migraine headaches), some medical spas today — known as medispas for short — offer not just wrinkle-erasing procedures like Botox and other beautifying services, but also treatments for functional health problems such as vaginal dryness.

And some provide naturopathic medicine to treat conditions including high cholesterol, asthma and allergies. But even the purely aesthetic services at medispas can provide benefits that extend beyond beauty to potentially affect wellness.

“With respect to facial aesthetics, I think most people realize that how you perceive the way you look really has an impact on not just your mood but also how you interact with other people — how confident you feel, how social you are, how you approach others, and even how they respond to you,” says Lisa Vuich, MD, owner of Renew MediSpa in Windham.

“I see people all the time, for example, who say, ‘I’m here because I’m tired of people asking me if I’m tired, or if I don’t feel well, or what’s wrong,’” Vuich says. When people look at your face and read “emotions and moods that aren’t there, that has a real negative effect, I think, on how [you] feel.”

Plus, it’s a reality that what might seem to be merely a superficial concern can matter if you’re interviewing for a job or need to look your best at work, Vuich points out. “[People] want to look fresh, they want to look vibrant, and that’s hard to do if your face looks worn or tired or has distracting pigment or worry lines or that sort of thing.”

Indeed, people who feel that they don’t look their best “have lower self-esteem, which can affect mental health,” says Tanya

courtesy photo

H

ow do we achieve wellness? Let us count the ways. You might be tempted to write off wellness as a trendy buzzword. After all, wellness is everywhere. You see it at the gym, certainly, and you might see it at your job if your employer offers onsite wellness programs. Some veterinarians offer acupuncture alongside rabies shots. And these days, wellness is even on Netflix, where decluttering guru Marie Kondo extols the serenity that comes from eliminating physical chaos.

Clearly, wellness is hot. It has spawned what the Global Wellness Institute estimates to be a $4.2 trillion wellness economy that promises to rejuvenate and unite mind, body and spirit. But wellness is a somewhat nebulous concept, and the best path to achieve it is largely a subjective decision.

You might find zen in a weeklong retreat at a resort, your days filled with sun salutations, and workshops on body energy centers.

Or maybe you’re into cow cuddling. (Yes, it exists.) Or not. It’s all in the eyes of the wellness pursuer. But as the small sampling below attests, there is a wellness approach to suit just about everyone.

Michelle M. Myler, administrator of the Bureau of Student Wellness at the New Hampshire Department of Education

courtesy photos

Lawson, ND, a naturopathic doctor and owner of InBloom Health in Londonderry.

“It can create anxiety and even a decreased ability to form relationships, so I think anything people can do to improve their wellness — and wellness can be defined in so many different ways — it really helps, because any time we feel stressed, when we don’t feel good about ourselves, that has a physical impact on health.”

Scientific evidence supports the idea of a mind-body connection. There’s even a relatively new field called psychodermatology that focuses on the interplay between mind and skin. Lawson notes that patients with skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema and acne have higher rates of depression and suicide.

As the medispa field has grown, so has the variety and safety of treatments they offer, including facials and “injectables” such as Botox and fillers that smooth or plump areas of the face that are wrinkled or have sagged with age, lasers that zap away unwanted hair, and noninvasive body contouring procedures such as CoolSculpting,

Tanya Lawson is a naturopathic doctor and the owner of Londonderry’s InBloom Health, pictured below.

which eliminates fat by freezing it.

Then again, you might visit a medispa that provides floatation therapy, where you can seek refuge from the cacophony of life by floating in a clam-like pod that is filled

with warm, salty water and devoid of sound and light. Float therapy’s sensory deprivation is meant to relieve stress and relax body and mind. Some floating enthusiasts say the experience helps ease not just anxiety but also insomnia and pain. Reportedly, Tom Brady is such a fan he had a float therapy tank installed in his home.

While medispas initially appealed mostly to a middle-aged market, today more and more millennials are coming through the door, Lawson says. Most often, they sign up for noninvasive body contouring, and as the years pass, they turn to anti-aging procedures.

Adults of all ages find appeal, Lawson says, in the transparent pricing and personalized approach available at medispas and niche practices. In these days of insurance hassles and paperwork, “to have more of a direct care practice that puts the patient at the forefront of care, which is why most of us went into medicine — we really want to care about our patients — and to do less paperwork is a trend we’re going to see.”

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What’s your path to wellness?

Self-care routines are as varied and individual as each of us, and what brings wellness or feelings of bliss is different for everyone. We checked in with a handful of Granite Staters via phone or email to find out how they keep themselves well. Here are their responses.

Jack Blalock

Dean Kamen

“I’m a juicer,” Blalock says, enjoying a dose of “juiced” veggies every day. He also practices yoga, dutifully reports for his yearly physical, and has a passion for kayaking. “I kayak at least three times a week early in the morning,” he says. “It’s very peaceful.” (In the winter, he heads for the mountains to ski instead.) He also tries to squeeze in reading time with a book of fiction. Reading, he says, “helps me unwind and decompress.”

“I am constantly, literally, running from project to project,” Kamen writes, “so exercise is not a problem for me. I try to eat healthy food and restrict sugar whenever possible, unless part of a special treat.”

Joanne M. Conroy

MD, CEO and president of Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health:

As a self-described “avid golfer,” Conroy gets her wellness on the links — but also on the Pilates mat, having practiced Pilates for 20 years. In addition, after being in New Hampshire for two years, she says, “I recently decided to start working on the New Hampshire 4,000-footers, and so I hiked my sixth 4,000-footer, Mount Cardigan, at 5 a.m. early in July with Dorothy Heinrichs, the associate director of development for Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Geisel School of Medicine. It was a blast!”

Carl G. Hindy

PhD, a clinical psychologist in Nashua:

“I do my best to walk 10,000 steps per day, doing this more days than not. When time permits, those steps are spent exploring local towns. I read a lot and enjoy the daily rituals of caring for our cats and parrots. I confess that too often I watch cable news, but sometimes it seems like a repetitive hypnotic induction as I sit in my Stressless recliner and have it wash over me rather than really listening!”

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inventor and entrepreneur:

Arthur O.

“Buddy” Phaneuf fourth-generation funeral director and president of Phaneuf Funeral Homes & Crematorium: “In my business, I see firsthand how people who do not take care of themselves can lead shorter and less productive lives. To keep myself fit, I play hockey once or twice a week, work out with a trainer twice a week, and try to get in a hike, bike ride, or run weekly.

My wife and I also take our dogs for a walk during the evenings as well. Since my business is 24/7, the only way I can really relax is when I am on vacation with my wife and family, so we travel extensively, making sure I can unplug and disconnect from my work to help me relax and recharge.”

Mary Valvano

MD, chief of emergency medicine at Portsmouth Regional Hospital:

“I think I’m an artist in my real life, so I try to create something at least once a week, usually at my pottery wheel. I read lots of current health and wellness info. and try to actually do some of it. I try to practice Buddhist ways, and the more mindful and grateful I am, the more wellness I find in my life. Mostly, I deliberately make time (easier some days than others) to be with my kids, husband and friends. Running, chocolate, and three dogs help.”

courtesy photos

mayor of Portsmouth:

Lisa Vuich, MD, owner of Renew MediSpa in Windham

Wellness for medical populations According to research, 60 to 90% of visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related problems. The mind-body connection affects all of us, and as more medical professionals and members of the general public come to accept the importance of a holistic approach to health, an increasing number of health care centers have developed wellness programs and services specifically for people dealing with various health conditions, including cancer.

For someone with cancer, wellness entails “not just treating the disease or the diseased organs, [but] treating the whole person experiencing this disease,” says Mary Wood-Gauthier, RN, MSN, coordinator of Community Health Education at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester.

Cancer, as well as some cancer treatments, she says, attacks “the entire person, so it is important to pay attention to how this is affecting an individual not just in their body but in their mind and spirit and in their functioning in the world rather than just focusing on the disease.”

Wellness programming for cancer patients runs the gamut, from art therapy to massage, yoga, exercise, and training in mindfulness and relaxation techniques to help patients cope with treatments, pain, anxiety, and fear. Art and music therapy, in particular, “are powerful,” Wood-Gauthier says, because they enable patients to

nonverbally express trauma. “Sometimes trauma cannot be expressed in words and it stays sort of bottled up in people as anxiety,” she says. Wordless expression provides a release valve.

Wellness programming can also be beneficial when it introduces patients to different modes of self-care, prompting them to explore new ways of dealing with emotional as well as physical pain or other difficulties rather than automatically turning to a habitual, and often unhealthful, go-to stress reliever, which might consist of eating a pint of ice cream or drinking alcohol.

While many people understand that physical problems such high blood pressure, excess weight, or an irregular heartbeat threaten health, the importance and physiological consequences of wellness — the connection between emotions and psychological well-being and physical health — can be tougher to grasp. “I think people don’t understand how connected all that is,” Wood-Gauthier says. “We’ve become so conditioned to excelling, adding more to our calendar so [we] can get as much done as possible. The more you do, the more you’re rewarded by, ‘Oh, aren’t you amazing!’ or you get more money or a promotion or whatever,” whereas taking time for yourself is not similarly recognized.

If you pay attention to your health, recognize your stressors, and maintain a positive attitude rather than focusing on your bad luck or pain, “you get through [tough times] better,” Wood-Gauthier says. Whole-person wellness is “not pushed enough, I don’t think, and until we have insurance companies behind it, we’re going to have roadblocks for some people [due to] cost.”

But more members of the medical community have come around to the idea of addressing whole-person wellness, Wood-Gauthier says. “Some of our doctors are encouraging it, making it part of their getting-well plan” for patients. “They’ll say [to patients], ‘What are we doing about your stress? What are we doing about your finances? What are we doing about your physical ability to move?’ That all has to be part of the plan, and doctors are getting more into doing that, which is a great thing.”

As for the patients, they sometimes dismiss wellness programs as “fluff,” Wood-Gauthier says. “They’ll say, ‘I don’t need that; I’m fine.” But then they try it, and often, the skepticism fades. “They’ll say, ‘I’m so glad you offer this because I don’t do this for myself,’ or ‘I do this for my kids, but I don’t do it for me.’” People are pleasantly surprised, she says, by “how effective it can be.” NH

Dimensions of wellness

How you achieve wellness is up to you, but it’s best to cover all your bases. The National Wellness Institute, which partners with various organizations and provides education and certifications for wellness professionals, highlights six dimensions of wellness: nationalwellness.org/page/AboutWellness.

Need a lift?

Cosmetic concerns might seem frivolous, but they can be more than skin-deep, capable of affecting our psyches and our lives. One of the hottest new trends in nonsurgical aesthetics is a procedure called thread lifting. It’s been around for decades, but here in northern New England, it’s just catching on, says Lisa Vuich, MD, owner of Renew MediSpa in Windham.

Thread lifting uses temporary sutures to reposition skin and soft tissue, providing a subtle but youthful-looking lift to droopy or sagging skin.

“It can lift jowls and cheeks and even brows,” Vuich says. The sutures are placed in the layer of fat under the skin, and dissolve slowly over the course of six to eight months. It’s safe, minimally invasive, and “a way to take 10 years off your face in just a couple of hours,” Vuich says.

“Nothing is permanent in aesthetics,” she adds, “but this is something you could tweak once or twice a year and be able to keep your cheeks and jowls area elevated nicely.” Thread lifting enables patients to achieve a result, Vuich says, that previously “really wasn’t achievable without a knife.” nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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Hitting the Sweet Spot Fresh, live oysters are a curious delicacy, causing some to react with moans of pleasure and others with groans of disgust, but how many in that second group have ever actually tasted one? Here’s how, when, where and why they should suck it up and suck one down.

By Sarah Cahalan Photos by Greta Rybus and John Benford Opening photo by Greta Rybus nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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Portsmouth, goes to the water one day and notices edible little shellfish coating the riverbed. They grab a few for dinner, then pass on to their friends the same trick.

Multiply that by a few hundred years and add in an ever-industrializing society bent on damming the rivers, operating waste-inducing factories, and building neighborhoods with million-dollar water views, and the Great Bay begins to lose a bit of its greatness.

The Nature Conservancy estimates that, in 1970, up to 1,000 acres of live oyster reef lined the bay. Today, we’re at less than 10% of that figure — and more than our bivalve intake has taken a hit because of it.

“One of the things that most estuaries suffer from, in New England and worldwide, is over-enrichment with nutrients,” says Baker.

“So the bay’s response — and we’ve seen this in Great Bay — is these algae blooms. And that can make the water look really green and kind of pretty, but it really limits the ability of sun-

Above and next page: Fox Point Oysters is one of 15 farmers operating in the Great Bay. Oysters help filter the water, ultimately improving the health of the bay.

light to penetrate to the bottom.”

Without adequate sun, species die off and the entire ecosystem is put at risk.

“But the beautiful thing about oysters is, they’re filter feeders,” he explains.

An oyster’s diet consists entirely of the phytoplankton and algae that flow through its shell, which makes the critter a natural water filter. When algae is filtered out before it can become an ecosystem-altering problem, the health of the estuary at large improves.

“It’s just all-around good for the bay,” he says.

Restoring the health of a compromised ecosystem requires many plans of action, but in the Great Bay, the simplest solution is also among the best: Just add oysters. The Nature Conservancy and the University of New Hampshire launched an oyster restoration project in the bay in 2009, and the local chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association — perhaps best known as the

sponsors of the annual Oysterpalooza food festival — followed suit shortly after with an initiative of their own.

The Oyster Shell Recycling Program, says the project’s manager, Dave Beattie, is “just a win-win.” One of the biggest hurdles for restaurateurs looking to serve oysters is the amount of waste produced by all those empty shells. Through the recycling program, CCA takes those husks off of restaurant owners’ hands and stores them, before working with the Nature Conservancy to redistribute them into Great Bay. Once placed, the empty shells become crucial bedrock for the regenerating live oyster reef.

Many types of restoration and conservation work can boost the health of the bay, but Beattie says that some are either too technical or too controversial to gain widespread public acceptance. Curtailing waterfront development and easing up on water-repellent blacktop paving, for example, are both useful for the ecosystem, but they’re not likely to earn a stamp of approval from a Seacoast transplant looking for a bay-view home.

Shell recycling, on the other hand, is easy to appreciate.

“You’re taking away waste, you’re helping the bay, and you’re making people aware of the issues of the bay,” he explains. “We’ve yet to find anyone who doesn’t say, ‘Oh, that’s a great idea!’”

As counterintuitive as it may seem, oyster farming is another critical method for rebuilding the critter’s numbers in the bay.

Where most fishing operates by plucking from the water a creature that’s already there, oyster aquaculture relies on a growing structure. On an oyster farm, baby bivalves — like seeds for the herb garden in your backyard — are brought in from elsewhere and planted where the conditions are favorable for them to grow. Oyster farmers in the bay cultivate them and, once they reach maturity, harvest them to distribute to local restaurants and consumers. In the process, the growing oysters filter the waters of the bay, essentially cleaning their own habitat as they live in it.

“You can’t have too many oysters,” says Laura Brown, owner of Dover-based farm Fox Point. A former artist who pivoted into oyster farming in 2012, Brown is one of 15 farmers currently operating in the bay — a tight-knit group of boutique growers who she says are “doing it right.”

“I catch my oysters every day. I get in there.

I clean them all the time,” she says. “I’m raising the best oyster I can raise.”

The built-in quality control of small enterprises like Brown’s is great news for New Hampshire foodies.

photo by john benford

f you think about it, “the world is your oyster” is an awfully strange phrase.

Congratulations! We tell our college graduates and bright young things. The world is your one-dollar piece of shellfish!

Most people are too scared of oysters to eat them, and those who are willing must struggle mightily to get them open. That latter difficulty, in fact, is where this idiom originated — with a Shakespearean ne’erdo-well saying he would cut the world open with his sword just like you’d cut through an oyster with your pocketknife.

So why has this quip stuck around through the centuries? Given the possibility that any shucked oyster might contain a pearl, the notion of potential may have something to do with it.

And if there’s one thing that the New Hampshire oyster industry has in droves, potential is it.

“New Hampshire oysters are awesome for so many reasons,” says Keith Sarasin, founder of The Farmers Dinner and owner of the newly opened Greenleaf restaurant in Milford. In addition to being a sustainable product (and a tasty and nutritious one), he explains, they’re especially well suited to a Granite State growing environment. “It’s something that, for New Hampshire, can help put us on the map a little more.”

Jay Baker, a former fisheries scientist and the co-founder of Fat Dog Shellfish, agrees.

“A lot of people think of the south shore of Massachusetts or the Damariscotta region of Maine as producing the highest-quality oysters. And they do — they produce great oysters,” he says. But our local products are nothing to scoff at. “We’re producing a very high-quality oyster that can stand up to any oyster in the region.”

“It’s just getting the word out that we’ve got great oysters in New Hampshire that come from a really spectacular bay.”

That bay — the Great Bay, to use its synonymic proper name — is, in some ways, the main character in the story of New Hampshire’s oyster industry.

It would be easy to assume that, as with other types of seafood or maritime activity, our state’s small footprint in the oyster scene is due simply to our smaller coastline. But oysters are not exactly a coastline animal.

For as long as there have been people in the Granite State, there has, in all likelihood, been oyster harvesting in the Great Bay. Though little is definitively known about the bay’s history before 1900, one need look no further than the name of the Oyster River to imagine how abundant the bivalves once were. It’s easy to visualize: A Colonial family, living in what we’d now call Durham or

photo by john benford

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photos by john benford

“You have to realize that, with buck-aThough oysters — and oyster bars — have skeptical about eating them.”

Yet Louis and McSharry were passionate. shuck, the restaurants are getting you in to buy enjoyed many periods of popularity over the “I really thought, ‘We have this amazing alcohol and other food,” she says. “They’re not past couple of centuries, The New York Times traces the origins of the latest wave to 2014. resource right in our backyard, but no one is making a penny on those oysters. If you want It was around then, they say, that inventive really showing it off,’” Louis says. it fresh and you want it good, you’re going to new raw bars began popping up in cities like Today, the menu at The Franklin (“Oyster have to pay more than a dollar for it.”

New York and Los Angeles. By 2015, the House” was dropped from the name last year) Oysters like Fox Point’s can reach $3-$4 trend had come to Portsmouth. apiece on raw-bar menus — pricier than the average bivalve, but “We kind of pushed the issue with still less than it would cost to add The Franklin,” says Matt Louis, head chef of the city’s original new-wave an order of fries to your meal at the raw bar. “Jay [McSharry, a Seacoast Seacoast’s tonier spots. And, in the restaurateur] always had the idea oysters’ case, the price tag brings of opening an oyster bar. When the with it a serious history. space became available, he brought “It takes 2 ½ to three years to raise me there to see what I thought.” one single oyster,” Brown explains.

“People ask, ‘What makes your farm The James Beard semifinalist different?’ Well, what makes a wine agreed that the idea seemed promdifferent? What makes a beer different? ising, and in May 2015, The FrankEverybody puts the same three things lin Oyster House was born. Though in beer, but boy, does it taste different.” other bivalve-centric establishAbove and below: Laura Brown of Dover-based Fox Point ments followed — one, the Boston Oysters at work in the bay New Hampshire’s oyster farmers transplant Row 34, debuted just often refer to their products’ “mera day after Franklin — Louis says that the features a rotating cast of local oyster pro- roir,” a spin on the wine industry’s terroir that oyster bar as hip eatery wasn’t initially an ducers, whose single-digit distances from the describes the conditions in which an oyster obvious fit for the Granite State. restaurant are listed down to the tenth of a mile. was grown. Even though local farms are con“When we opened and started doing it, the Local oysters at a hotspot like The Franklin fined to one limited stretch of Great Bay — the public was definitely a little taken aback,” he or Row 34 don’t come cheap, but Brown says majority of the estuary is protected as a wildadmits. “Many people didn’t even know there the rising prices represent a serious increase in life reserve — the oyster’s filtering function were oysters in Great Bay, and others were quality over the old “buck-a-shuck” model. means that each batch will taste different from

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courtesy photo photo by greta rybus

Above: Jay Baker of Fat Dog Shellfish Company, another Great Bay oyster farm Below: Chef Matt Louis at The Franklin in Portsmouth, which regularly features oysters from a number of local producers

the next, depending on what flowed through the water in any given inch.

In addition to providing locavore bona fides, buying your oysters in a restaurant setting can also eliminate some of the fear factor that comes with consuming the only animal that humans eat while it’s still alive.

“I think it’s great to go to a restaurant and try them,” says Baker, of Fat Dog. “Most restaurants are carrying half a dozen or more varieties at any given time, and there’s a shucker there.”

Fat Dog’s farm manager works as a shucker at a Portsmouth restaurant when he’s not in the bay, and Baker says the role is similar to another custom borrowed from the wine world: the sommelier.

“They can recommend, ‘If you’re new and you want to try something small, try this one. If you like salty foods, this oyster might be saltier than this one,’” he says.

“They can guide you.”

Andrea Tomlinson, the manager of New Hampshire Community Seafood, explains that there’s no reason to fear eating New Hampshire’s oysters at home. The industry is highly regulated by authorities like New Hampshire Fish and Game, and the vibrio infections that can plague some southern oysters almost never appear in the colder waters of New England. But nevertheless, opting for a restaurant oyster rather than an at-home one is a critical part of the consciousness-raising that experts say the local industry still needs.

“We have to educate the consumer on why New Hampshire oysters are so great,” says Sarasin. “And that starts with the owners and the restaurants. I think it’s really important that we all come together and say, ‘Let’s buy New Hampshire oysters. Let’s train our staff on New Hampshire oysters. Let’s get this onto our customers’ plates.’”

This month, Granite Staters will have two exceptional opportunities to fill their plates with the bay’s finest. The Stone Church Music Club in Newmarket will host its annual Oyster

“People are interested in foods that are connected to where they live. That’s driven the demand for oysters, but it’s also driven the rise in local craft beers and local wineries and people being interested in local farms and CSAs. I think that’s all tied together.”

— Jay Baker, Fat Dog Shellfish

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photos by greta rybus

Festival on September 14, and on September “People are interested in foods that are “I think people need to ask a thousand 30, CCA’s Oysterpalooza will take up resi- connected to the place where they live,” questions about oysters,” she says. “On my dence at Portsmouth’s Liars Bench Beer Co. adds Baker. “That’s driven the demand for website, we have frequently asked questions.

“Oysterpalooza is an amazing fundraiser oysters, but it’s also driven the rise in local Read those. And if you have more questions, for the Coastal Conservation Association,” craft beers and local wineries and people email me! Come and ask me.” says Louis, a co-organizer of the event being interested in local farms and CSAs. I In talking with New Hampshire’s oyster since 2016, “and it brings so much farmers, a consumer can learn all kinds awareness to the Great Bay and the loof facts that you wouldn’t pick up from cal oyster scene.” the seafood department at the grocery Featuring a statewide shucking comstore. For starters, there’s the nutrients: petition and fresh-harvested goods Brown points out that oysters are rich in from farms including Fox Point and the zinc, vitamin D and particularly protein nearby Virgin Oyster Company, the fes— the last of which, she says, is the reatival dedicates monies raised to CCA’s son for the fish’s aphrodisiacal reputation. shell recycling program. (“Slam a couple protein bars and you’ll be “We’ve been shocked at the outpretty ready to go too,” she jokes.) Talking pouring of attendees and the support directly with your suppliers can also help from them,” says Beattie, the recycling demystify the product. program chair. Outlets as far-rangTomlinson offers local oysters as ing as the Portland Press Herald and Above, below and at right: The Franklin opened in part of New Hampshire Community WCVB Boston’s “Chronicle” — not 2015, and is still a popular spot for diners seeking the Seafood’s “community-supported fishfreshest oysters. The menu changes nightly dependto mention New Hampshire Maga- ing on the availability of local ingredients. ery” project, and each week members zine — have featured the festival since receive recipe suggestions with their its inception in 2011, and Beattie says he’s think that’s all tied together.” haul. Farmers, too, can recommend both continually surprised by both the press atFor her part, Brown has made local eating places to try their oysters and techniques a way of life at home, shopping locally when- for whipping some up at home. Tomlintention and the impressive crowds.

“I figured this would eventually go the way ever possible and only eating meat that comes son’s favorite method is to simply toss of [fads like] cigars in the ’90s, but it’s been from farmers she personally knows. She ad- your oysters on the grill and wait for them strong now for years,” he says. “It’s oyster this, vocates for a similar level of awareness when to open on their own, while Brown favors it comes to your seafood. oyster that. It’s great.” anything that matches your taste while

minimizing fuss. Her cardinal rule? “It doesn’t have to be hard.”

“Anything new in life can be intimidating and scary,” adds Louis. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.”

Like the bay that produces them, New Hampshire’s oysters have some hurdles to overcome before they reach their full potential. But with time, attention, and a bit of hard work, the bivalves might just become the pearl of the Granite State food scene.

“I don’t think we’ve hit the precipice of where New Hampshire oysters could be yet,” says Sarasin. “We live in, arguably, one of the best places in the world for seafood. We’d better get it right.” NH

Farm-to-Table Oysters photo by greta rybus

Looking to try some New Hampshire oysters at a restaurant near you?

These spots are known to have Great Bay bivalves on the menu.

The Franklin

148 Fleet St., Portsmouth (603) 373-8500 franklinrestaurant.com

Row 34

5 Portwalk Pl., Portsmouth (603) 319-5011; row34nh.com

photi by john benford

Baywatch

Though major players like The Nature Conservancy are leading the efforts to restore the Great Bay, you can play a part too. If you live on the water, you can start by joining the Conservancy’s restoration project as an oyster conservationist. These volunteers each receive their own cage of oysters to take care of during the summer months, which they raise and monitor until the pros decide they’re ready to be collected and planted into the bay. For non-Seacoasters, Dave Beattie of the Coastal Conservation Association says there are still ways to look out for the health of New Hampshire’s marine ecosystems.

“There are rubbish pickups, there are nonprofits,” he says. “It’s just becoming aware of the issue and then deciding, based on your interests and time, which way you want to go with it.”

Jumpin’ Jay’s Fish Café 150 Congress St., Portsmouth (603) 766-3474; jumpinjays.com

The Carriage House 2263 Ocean Blvd., Rye (603) 964-8251 carriagehouserye.com

Newick’s Lobster House 431 Dover Point Rd., Dover (603) 742-3205; newicks.com

Surf Restaurant

207 Main St., Nashua (603) 595-9293 99 Bow St., Portsmouth (603) 334-9855; surfseafood.com nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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The

Puritan Ethic Arguably the state’s most iconic stand-alone restaurant, the noble Puritan celebrates 100 years of being everyone’s favorite home away from home.

By Jack Kenny Photos by Kendal J. Bush

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s the third of the four generations of Pappases that have owned and operated the popular Manchester restaurant known as the Puritan, Arthur Pappas offers a general theory of the evolution of a multigenerational family enterprise.

“The first generation works like mad. The second generation makes a lot of money. And the third generation screws it up.”

He smiles broadly at that last part. “I’m trying not to screw it up.”

If Pappas, the company’s president and treasurer, appears untroubled over that possibility, the reason becomes obvious to anyone who follows him around as he moves briskly through the three kitchens, a takeout center (the “Front Room”), a function room, the 240-seat dining room and, across a segment of the large parking lot, to the conference center, all of which make up the Puritan enterprise. Now 66, he has been working fulltime in the family business since shortly after his graduation from UNH in 1972. If there have been “screwups” along the way, it would be hard to find evidence of them. A large restaurant with a steady flow of customers, day and night, seven days a week, 100 years after its founding must be doing something — make that a lot of things — right.

“Forty-five ‘bus kids,’ 45 cooks, probably

85 waitresses, 20 dishwashers, 16 bartenders,” says Pappas ticking off the numbers in various categories of the Puritan workforce of about 225. That makes for a lot of paychecks. And a lot of premiums. Medical coverage for employees cost the business $16,000 a month, Pappas says.

“We’re more than competitive,” he says, when asked about competition from other local and area restaurants in attracting and retaining help. Even in a strong economic climate and a near-record low in unemployment, the Puritan seems to have little problem filling the rare vacancies that occur on the restaurant’s large and loyal staff. Several of the employees who started as part-time help as teenagers are still there decades later.

“We have waitresses who have been here so long, they’re now waiting on the children and grandchildren of people they waited on years and years ago,” Pappas says.

That’s certainly true of bartender Julie Rosa, who began working at the Puritan around the time Ronald Reagan was still settling in at the White House.

“Thirty-eight years,” she says cheerfully, while pouring drinks and serving food to a busy lunch-hour crowd. “I started when I was 16. It’s the only job I’ve ever had.”

Having started when Arthur’s father Charlie, and the late Canotas brothers, Plato and

Milton, were running the business, Rosa continues to find the work and the atmosphere to her liking.

“They come in here and feel at home,” she says of the customers. “They come in dressed up for an occasion or dressed casual, and don’t feel out of place.”

“Nobody leaves,” says Daria Fortioni, a Puritan employee for 25 years. “It’s a good place to work. They’re good people.”

The current longevity leader, Patrick Cronin, came on board in 1967. Fifty-two years later, he’s still at work in the restaurant kitchen, wearing a broad smile as he talks about his long years with a restaurant that has become something of a second home for him.

“It’s just like family to me,” he says, a sentiment expressed by several long-time members of the staff. “You can talk to them about things,” he says, recalling financial troubles he ran into, like having to replace a broken water tank at home, and how the people he works for helped him out.

“When I’d try to repay them, they said, ‘No, don’t worry about it.’ I don’t like to do that, but ... ” Pappas responds with a shrug to accounts of management’s benevolence toward the Puritan’s workers.

“You help family out, you help employees out,” he says. “We treat our help like family.

We treat our customers like family.”

Arthur Pappas and his sister Pamela Goode

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Solange Binette and her brother John Couture are regulars who typically visit two to three times a week.

It’s not uncommon to see groups from all generations enjoying meals at the Puritan.

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“What’s amazing to me,” Pappas says, “is that they came here in 1906 and they had nothing. And by 1919 they opened a really nice restaurant.”

Moises Montes, who started in 1987, created the recipe for the spicy chicken tenders.

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It’s hardly surprising that “family” should be a recurring theme at the Puritan, where Arthur’s son, Congressman Chris Pappas, and son-in-law Eric Zink, vice presidents and co-owners of the business, are the fourth generation of the family-owned enterprise started by a pair of plucky Greek immigrants who arrived in Manchester early in the last century. As chronicled in a 1949 article in the Union Leader, Arthur Pappas, grandfather of the current owner, and Louis Canotas, father of Plato and Milton, had clerked together at a remnant store in Elassona, Greece, before coming to Manchester within a few months of each other in 1906. Pappas went to work in one of the Amoskeag mills, while Canotas found work at a McElwain shoe factory. Pappas later opened a fruit and candy store in Natick, Massachusetts, while Canotas remained in Manchester, running a shoeshine parlor on Elm Street. The pair went into business together when the opportunity came to buy a bakery on Hanover Street.

They formed a partnership with Charles Gouliamas, to form the Puritan Confectionery Company, making and selling candy and ice cream instead of bakery goods.

Gouliamas sold his interest and went back to Greece soon after, returning decades later to manage a Puritan ice cream stand on the Daniel Webster Highway. The confectionery opened at 57 Hanover St. on April 5, 1917.

The ice cream and candy were good, but the timing was not propitious. The United States had just entered World War I and food items, including sugar, were being rationed.

‘They had to buy sugar on the black market,” Pappas says. “How do you make candy without sugar?” The business not only survived, it prospered. Two years later, they purchased a 20-year lease and opened a new restaurant in a store occupied by the former Lee’s Specialty Shop at 897 Elm St. Some $25,000 to $35,000 was spent on remodeling the store.

“What’s amazing to me,” Pappas says, “is that they came here in 1906 and they had nothing. And by 1919 they opened a really nice restaurant. That’s it right there,” he says, pointing to a large framed photo on the wall. “They paid $10,000 for the lease — not the building, the lease. They had to deal with a bank.” Back then, he says, “business was done on a handshake.

At my bank today,” he laughs, “they ask every time for my social security number and driver’s license. And I’ve been doing business with them for 20 years.”

A fire in the building required a months-

Linda Harvey

Kevin Rosa and Gene Rosa

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long closing and more than $100,000 worth of renovations before a grand reopening of the two-story restaurant and tea room in December of 1949, with Mayor Josaphat Benoit performing the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The “tea room” soon became a function room to complement the business at the ground floor restaurant. Meanwhile, the Puritan continued to churn out the ice cream and make candy at the Hanover Street site.

“I was a kid in a candy store,” Pappas smiles as he recalls the days when he would accompany his grandfather on the way to church and watch the family patriarch stop at the store and place an order for candy for later consumption at home.

Between the ice cream and candy store on Hanover Street and the restaurant on Elm, the Puritan flourished in the heavy volume of foot traffic in the heyday of Manchester’s downtown. The restaurant “was kind of a favorite spot, across the street from City Hall,” recalls former Mayor Sylvio Dupuis.

“For people working or doing business in Manchester, it was at the top of the list of places for having lunch.” Business was also lively in the evenings, Pappas remembers.

“Monday and Thursday nights were the busiest,” says Pappas. “That’s when all the stores stayed open at night.” Thursday was payday at Manchester’s mills and factories.

As for Monday nights, well, “I don’t know.

I guess they just wanted to have another shopping night,” says Pappas. “People did their shopping downtown, their banking, you went to the movies downtown, everything was downtown.” That was before retailers began migrating out to plazas on South Willow Street or locations in nearby suburbs, with room to expand and ample space for parking. The Puritan took its business out to its current location on the Daniel Webster Highway in 1969.

“It turned out to be a pretty good move,” Pappas says. “Business on Elm Street just wasn’t as good as they needed it to be. Down

on Elm Street, they would have struggled to make ends meet.” When the city turned down a plan by Jordan Marsh to open a department store downtown, the retail chain opened a store just over the line in Bedford.

“I think if Jordan Marsh had come in, retail would have remained downtown longer,” says Pappas, who believes the Puritan made its move at “just the right time.”

The ice cream and takeout stand on the DW Highway became known as the Front Room after the owners had an addition built behind it for the opening of the new Puritan restaurant in 1974, dubbed, for lack of a better name, the Back Room.

The Front Room still handles a steady volume of takeout orders, and features a walkup window where long lines of ice cream lovers gather to choose from among 37 flavors of ice cream, four flavors of sherbet and three flavors of sorbet, all made on-site. In 2010, USA Today published a survey of the best ice cream stops in each state. The Puritan was ranked No. 1 in New Hampshire.

One disruption in the company’s business came in 1989 when the ice cream window was closed while renovations to the Front Room were going on. “We tried serving the ice cream through the bar and that was a nightmare,” Pappas recalls. The window was reopened a year later. Today the Puritan makes and sells about 20,000 gallons of ice cream each year.

Additions to the Back Room over the years have brought the seating capacity to 240 in the dining room, with seats for another 20 at the bar. The numbers make it possible to accommodate large parties.

“Twenty-five people can come in and get

Carina Wells learns early why the Puritan’s ice cream is so popular.

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The Puritan’s famous chicken tenders

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Jim Sullivan, who started doing “a little bit of everything” at the restaurant in 1982, still works there despite the muscular dystrophy that has kept him in a wheelchair for the last two years. seated,” Pappas says. “Very few days go by when we don’t have large parties come in for birthday or anniversary celebrations.”

Fortunately, for the Puritan, many of the partiers come back time and again “We all need repeat customers,” Pappas says.

“When you meet a customer for the fist time, you treat them like your favorite relative.”

A favorite relative shouldn’t be hard to find for Pappas and his staff at the Puritan. Arthur’s wife, Dawn, is the company’s bookkeeper. His sister, Pam Goode, who does the baking, has been with the business for 46 years, having joined the crew after her 1973 graduation from Wheelock College in Boston. His son, Chris, continued to put in 50 to 60 hours a week at the restaurant while serving on the state Executive Council, before becoming New Hampshire’s new congressman in January of this year.

“He managed to balance his work here with his political stuff,” his father says. That obviously has changed now that the con-

gressman’s weekends back home are taken up with political events and meetings with constituents. “We tried putting him on a Sunday shift, but that didn’t work out,” says Pappas, who recalls that his wife told Chris long ago, “I don’t care what you do when you graduate, just don’t get involved with your dad.”

“I think I started him [telling him that] when he was 5,” says Dawn, noting that the restaurant business has long and demanding hours. “Even when you’re home, you get phone calls and it’s always in your head,” she says. “It’s just a really tough business. I was hoping for more of a normal life for him, with a more normal schedule.”

“Like the kind he has in Washington?” jokes son-in-law Eric Zink.

A number of staff members have family connections of their own at the restaurant.

Julie Rosa’s husband Kevin and brother Gene are both cooks there. Moises Montes, a native of El Salvador, started work at the Puritan in 1987, where he learned to “cook, clean, every-

The Puritan moved from Elm Street to its current location in 1969.

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thing.” Now 56, he remains part of the kitchen crew where he takes pride in the recipe he came up with for spicy chicken tenders. In his first year, he recalls, Plato Canotas sent him to school at Central High and at UNH-Manchester to learn English at the company’s expense. His wife, Maria, works at kitchen prep when she is not waitressing or busing tables in the dining room. With a friendly smile and easy laughter, she has made a lot of friends in 23 years at the restaurant.

“It’s a big place and you meet a lot of nice people,” she says. “Everywhere I go people know my name. It’s like I live here and they are part of my family.”

Not everyone who goes to work at the Puritan stays for a lifetime, but Pappas notes most of the turnover that does occur is among those he calls “the bus kids,” the young, part-time workers who scoop ice cream and serve the takeout orders in the Front Room or clear tables in the restaurant.

“Those who are here after five years tend to stay a while,” he says.

Jim Sullivan, who started doing “a little bit of everything” at the restaurant in 1982, still works there, despite the muscular dystrophy that has kept him in a wheelchair for the past two years. He now coordinates the activities of the “bus kids” in the Front Room, and values the flexible hours that allow him to coordinate his own work at the restaurant with his political duties in Hooksett, where he is both chairman of the town council and a member of the school board.

Some of the long-time employees who have left are seen again at the other side of the table or bar. Sheila MacDonald, who worked at the Puritan from 1977 to 1992, returns as a customer every week or two.

The tenth of 13 children, she was one of four in the MacDonald family who worked at the restaurant, where their earnings helped pay their way through college. They learned early in life to “be on time and do a good job,” says MacDonald, now an administrative assistant at Hillside Middle School. There was an incentive to maintain the work ethic away from the restaurant as well.

“I had to maintain a B average to be able to work here,” says MacDonald, recalling that was a mandate she received from Plato Canotas. Coming back as a customer, she still feels at home.

“You always run into somebody you know,” she says. “The food is good, the people are good ... I rave about the place. I always have.”

Carol Plaza of Hudson first stopped at the Puritan 45 years ago and returns with her husband Nate once every week or two.

Jim Sullivan joined the staff in 1982.

From left: Jimmy Melas, Moises Montes and Mary Lou Parker

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Among other things, she is sure the Puritan serves the best mudslides, a smooth but potent blend of vodka, Kahlua and Baileys Irish Cream. “When I was young, I had my first mudslide here. Then I had a second one,” she says, recalling that later “I slept very well. I’ve been having mudslides here for 45 years, but I’ve never [again] had a second one.”

Denis Parker recalls going to the Puritan in his high school days, gathering there with teammates after football and basketball games, reliving the night’s game over milkshakes and burgers. Parker, a retired former executive director of the State Employees Association, returns to the restaurant five or six times a year. “People come back to renew acquaintances,” he says, along with younger customers making friends of their own.

“I don’t think any other restaurant has so much intergenerational attraction,” he says.

“They haven’t lost their touch. The quality is consistent, the food is always delicious.”

And the portions are generous. “You never leave here hungry,” Parker says.

One of the delicacies that keep bringing customers back is the result of what might be called a recycling project. “We were the first to sell boneless, skinless chicken breast,” says Pappas. The question arose about what to do with the left over strips of white meat peeled from either side of the breastbone.

The answer was to fry them and serve them as chicken tenders. Puritan’s chicken tenders

Photos throughout the decades adorn the walls, giving patrons a glimpse into the restaurant’s past.

have been a perennial winner in New Hampshire Magazine’s Best of New Hampshire Readers’ Poll. “It was something that started out as a couple hundred pounds a week,” says Pappas. “Now it’s a couple thousand pounds on a busy day.“ “Oh, God, yeah!” answers New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association president Mike Somers when asked if he ever dines at the Puritan. “Are you kidding me? They make the best chicken fingers in

Julie Rosa, who’s been at the Puritan for 38 years, pours one of several varieties of the ever-popular mudslides.

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the world. The mudslides are good too. Just make sure you only have one or two. It’s a very serious drink.” The tenure of the staff “speaks to the quality of the operation,” Somers says. “It’s a family ownership that treats staff like part of the family.” Somers can’t think of any other family-owned restaurant in the state that has lasted as long as the Puritan.

“There are certainly examples of some that have been handed down through multigenerations — definitely in the 50-year range. But 100 years is a pretty solid run.”

So how much longer will the run continue for the Queen City restaurant oft-described as a city “icon”? Will one or more of Arthur’s four young grandchildren be the next generation of Puritan owners?

“My hope is that they’ll do what they want to do,” he says. “If they want to come with me, that’s great.” Pappas acknowledges that running the business he loves can take its toll on management and workers alike.

“It’s like being a landlord with 25 houses,” he says. “There’s always something to fix.” And even that loyal staff of veteran employees can’t be there forever. “The job gets a little old,” he says, “especially when you’re on a fryolator all day long. That’s hard work.” So far neither Pappas, an energetic 66, nor his staff appears any worse for the wear.

“The first hundred years were easy,” Pappas jokes. “The next hundred years will be hard for me.” NH

Patrick Cronin has worked here for 52 years, making him the longest-serving employee.

Daisy Montes

Emily Tentas and Raquel Beltran at the ice cream window

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

New Hampshire Magazine’s Guide to Wills and Estate Planning

Ask the

EXPERTS Proper estate planning can help alleviate stress during a trying time, ensure your wishes are fulfilled and help save money. We asked several experts to identify some of the most important elements of wills and estate planning.

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Our panel: • Thanda Fields Brassard, Esq., vice president and general counsel, Fiduciary Trust of New England ftnewengland.com • Linda R. Garey, counsel in the trusts and estates department at McLane Middleton, Professional Association, mclane.com • Elizabeth M. Lorsbach, Esq. of Sulloway and Hollis sulloway.com • Stephanie K. Burnham of Hage Hodes, hagehodes.com • Elizabeth A. Brown, Esq., senior counsel, Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC, primmer.com • Benjamin T. Siracusa Hillman, Esq., chair, estate planning, elder law, probate and trust group, Shaheen & Gordon, P.A., Concord; and Carole Waters, Esq., estate planning attorney, Shaheen & Gordon, P.A., Dover shaheengordon.com • Fred Forman, Forman, Pockell & Associates, P.A. ourlegalwebsite.com

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When should I start estate planning and how do I begin?

Burnham: “Many people believe that they should have a lot of money or children to have an estate plan, and while those are excellent reasons, they are not the only reasons. If you are over 18-years-old, there are documents that may be essential in the event you are injured and cannot make decisions for yourself.

An estate plan involves documents that are designed to assist you or your family in dealing with your affairs if you become incapacitated or you pass away.

“At a minimum, every adult should have a last will and testament as well as a durable general power of attorney and a power of attorney for health care with living will. A last will and testament will allow you to control who is in charge of your belongings and who is going to get your belongings when you pass away. This is extremely important because if you want friends, a significant other, or even your spouse to receive your assets, relying on the state laws alone may not get it done and the ‘wrong’ people may inherit your belongings.”

What are the elements of a good estate plan?

Forman: “A good, comprehensive estate plan includes 10 elements: • Making sure that guardianship is in place for your minor or disabled children.

• Making sure that medical decisions can be made for you if you are disabled.

• Making sure that end of life decisions can be made for you if you are disabled.

• Making sure that financial decisions can be made for you if you are disabled.

• Making sure that you pass your assets at death in the most efficient way, which often means avoiding the costs, delays and hassles of probate.

• Making sure that you protect your heirs’ inheritances against lawsuits and divorces and any issue they may be having now or in the future.

• Making sure that you lower or eliminate any estate taxes.

• Making sure that family businesses pass on in the best and most tax efficient manner.

• Making sure that you protect assets against the risk of long-term care costs.

• Making sure your assets are protected against lawsuits while you are still living so that you have assets to pass on.”

Is estate planning only planning for my assets after I die?

Siracusa Hillman: “Estate planning is much more than planning for your assets after death. It is often as essential, if not more essential, to plan for your ‘incapacity’ — that is, a period of time where you are alive but cannot manage your own affairs or make your own health care decisions. Durable powers of attorney for health care and finances are tools that you can create while you are healthy and have the capacity to appoint agents. If you become incapacitated, your agents can act on your behalf to make decisions regarding your health and your money. Another tool to manage finances during incapacity is a revocable trust. A revocable trust can hold your assets and nominate a trustee to manage those assets while you are incapacitated.

Medicaid planning is another essential part of modern estate planning. In New Hampshire, the private pay rate for nursing homes averages over $10,000 a month. You and your family may want to plan now to maximize your ability to qualify for Medicaid, which covers long-term nursing home care.”

What are the differences between a will and a trust, and why would I want to use one or the other?

Siracusa Hillman: “A will is a public document that is filed with the probate court after your death. In a will, you say where you wish your assets to go and nominate an executor to carry out those wishes. Your executor will be required to report to the probate court and will be held to a rigid timeline. Your executor may be required to file a public inventory of all your assets and an accounting, showing where all the assets were disbursed. You can also use your will to nominate a guardian to take care of your minor children.

A trust is a private document that is not filed with the probate court or in any kind of public registry. A trust can provide for the distribution of your assets, just like a will. However, unlike a will, a trust can actually hold assets, like real estate or stock. The assets in a trust can benefit you and others during your lifetime and can continue to benefit others upon your death. Your trust agreement nominates trustees to manage the trust.

Trustees do not report to the probate court unless a beneficiary complains about their conduct. Any asset that is held in your trust at your death does not go through probate. In New Hampshire, many individuals use a revocable trust along with a pour-over will to provide for incapacity and avoid probate. The revocable trust holds their assets during their lifetime. The trust becomes irrevocable, or

unchangeable, upon their death. A pour-over will directs that any assets not put in the trust during lifetime be moved into the trust at death.”

Does New Hampshire allow for the creation of asset protection trusts, and why should I do this?

Garey: “Yes, New Hampshire law allows for the creation of a self-settled Asset Protection Trust (APT), in which you (the grantor) are a beneficiary and the trust assets will be shielded from your creditors. In addition, in certain cases, there may be significant state income tax benefits to forming this type of trust. In fact, New Hampshire recently strengthened the creditor protection afforded by irrevocable trusts of this nature. Under New Hampshire law, the only remedy a creditor has against the assets in this type of trust is to seek a court order to attach present or future distributions to a beneficiary (such as yourself) and more importantly, the only creditors who may reach trust assets are certain exception creditors.

Practically speaking, a current creditor may only bring a lawsuit against you for one year after the creditor knew or reasonably should have known of the transfer to the trust. All creditors (current or future) are precluded from bringing a lawsuit against you four years after the transfer of assets to the trust. Thus, four years after you have transferred assets to the trust (and one year if you provided notice), you should be fully protected from creditor claims (other than the exception creditor claims referenced above).

New Hampshire asset protection trusts are particularly attractive to those who work in high-risk professions and very wealthy individuals who may be targets of creditors due their net worth. There may also be income tax advantages for non-New Hampshire residents to create this type of trust which an experienced estate planning attorney can explain to you.”

Forman: “New Hampshire is now one of the leading states when it comes to establishing trusts that protect inherited assets against lawsuits and divorces. Lawyers from other states routinely contact me to draft New Hampshire trusts for their out-of-state clients. Even a basic revocable trust, which is designed to avoid the costs, delays and hassles of probate, should contain ‘spendthrift’ language that protects the inheritances of your heirs. I am continually surprised by the fact that many attorneys draft estate planning documents for clients that fail to protect the inheritances of the next generation. Given today’s high divorce rates, and the fact that people are quick to sue others, >> nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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Guide to Wills and Estate Planning any inheritance can be at risk without proper protection.”

What happens to my agent/power of attorney if I move? Will it expire?

Brassard: “Every state has its own set of laws governing powers of attorney and health care proxies, which are documents that are in effect while you are living (and usually when you are incapacitated), so if you move to a different state, you should execute new versions of these documents which are valid in the state where you now live.”

When is a generation-skipping trust beneficial to implement?

Lorsbach: “A generation-skipping trust may be beneficial to someone who wishes to leave assets to someone who is two or more generations below the creator of the trust. Most often, such trusts are set up for grandchildren, but even if the beneficiaries are not grandchildren, a trust can still be considered a generation-skipping trust.

A generation-skipping tax, however, only applies to people who have a federally taxable estate.

Given the current level of the federal estate tax exemption ($11.4 million per individual), most

estates and trusts will not benefit from generationskipping trusts since their estates are not large enough to owe generation-skipping tax.”

What differences are there in same-sex estate planning?

Brassard: “In the past, estate planning for same-sex married couples had to take into consideration federal and state laws that did not recognize same-sex marriages. Fortunately, as a result of some recent Supreme Court cases, same-sex married couples have the same rights as opposite sex married couples today.”

What are some of the estate tax considerations I should know about while planning my will?

Lorsbach: “The federal estate tax level is very high in 2019, so most people do not currently have to worry about their estates owing estate taxes after their deaths. However, many states have separate state estate taxes, which are significantly lower than the federal estate tax level. Even if an individual lives in a state that does not have an estate tax, that individual may have state estate tax issues if he or she owns real estate in another state that has an estate tax.”

What is the best way I can assist my attorney when conducting valuation and inventory of my property?

Garey: “In order for your attorney to advise you and provide the best legal advice, you will need to inform your attorney of all of your assets and where they are located. For instance, if you have bank accounts at two different banks, you should tell your attorney about both banks. You should tell your attorney about any investment accounts, real estate holdings, retirement assets such as IRAs or 401(k) retirement plans, life insurance policies, business holdings and personal property. If you have collections, such as antiques, art, guns or other collectibles, these should also be mentioned. I often request, and clients often find it easiest to provide, copies of any bank or financial statements, copies of deeds to any real estate, and copies of any appraisals you may already have.

Your attorney can assist you in deciding whether it is important to value certain assets now or if the valuation can wait until after your death.”

How do I access my documents during an emergency?

Forman: “When I draft estate planning

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Elder Law, Estate Planning, Probate and Trust Group Attorney Benjamin T. Siracusa Hillman CONCORD (603) 225-7262

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DOVER (603) 749-5000

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documents for my clients, I provide the client with a flash drive containing all of the executed documents in PDF format. My clients can email the documents to themselves. This allows the clients to access their documents from their phones, tablets, clouds and computers 24/7. This is particularly important if you need have access to your medical powers of attorney in an emergency.

It also allows you be able to email your financial power of attorney to a third party in real time who would otherwise not speak with you without proof of your authority.”

Considering an Estate Plan? let’s work through it

What are some of the estate tax considerations I should know about while planning my will?

Brassard: “You should know whether your plan is ‘tax efficient,’ and minimizes taxes, or whether a tax will be incurred upon making the distribution requested in your will. You should also understand if the tax will be paid by the recipient of the property or the residue of the estate. Finally, you should make sure that there is liquidity in your estate to pay any tax that is due, when it is due. For example, if your estate is largely real estate or consists of other illiquid assets and a large estate tax is due and there is no cash or other assets that can be liquidated to pay the tax, some of the nonliquid property may need to be sold to pay the tax, which may not be a desirable result.”

Elizabeth Brown Manchester, NH (603) 626-3338 ebrown@primmer.com

· Manchester, NH · Portsmouth, NH

We work with clients of all levels of wealth to understand the dynamics of their families and to identify their particular objectives. Our experience allows us to recommend individually tailored, comprehensively considered estate plans. We work collaboratively with other professionals, including financial advisers, insurance professionals, and accountants in order to provide an integrated and efficient approach to estate planning.

· Littleton, NH · Burlington, VT

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603.626.3300 | primmer.com

How are plan benefits distributed after my death?

Brown: “Retirement accounts such as IRAs, 401(k) accounts and Roth IRAs will be distributed at the time of death to the beneficiary named on the account. The distribution terms of an individual’s will or trust do not affect the distribution of these assets. These types of accounts pass like a life insurance policy — solely to the named beneficiary and outside of the probate or trust administration process. The major difference between a retirement account and an insurance policy is that when you die and leave a retirement account, your beneficiary will have to deal with the tax consequences of the distributions from the account.

Money that is distributed from an IRA or a 401K (other than a Roth) is taxable in the year that the money is distributed from the account. The plan administrator will report the distribution to the IRS under the beneficiary’s name and social security number. Distributions from inherited retirement accounts, just like personal retirement accounts, are taxable as ordinary income and the beneficiary is responsible for reporting the distribution and paying income taxes on the distributions. Keep in mind, while income tax is owed on distributions

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>> nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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Guide to Wills and Estate Planning from a retirement account, distributions from an inherited retirement account are not subject to the 10 percent early withdrawal penalties regardless of the age of the beneficiary.”

What questions should I ask an estate planning attorney before retaining them to do my estate plan?

Forman: “Will my initial consultation be complimentary? The answer should be yes.

Will you charge me a flat fee and not bill me hourly? The answer should be flat fee.

Will you tell me the exact costs before I move forward? The answer should be yes.

Will you charge me for copies of my documents or for questions that I may have about my documents after I sign them? The answer should be no.

Will you provide me with a personalized and step-by-step list of what I need to do to fund my trust and fully implement my estate plan? The answer should be yes.

Will you explain things so that I am not signing anything unless I completely understand it? The answer should be yes.

Is at least 50% of your practice devoted to estate planning? The answer should be yes.”

What are some of the drawbacks of online or “do-it-yourself” estate planning services?

Lorsbach: “The most common issues I see when I review documents prepared online are the misuse of legal terms, and documents that are not specific to the state of New Hampshire. The other issue I have frequently seen is that do-it-yourself documents, in particular the wills, are often not properly executed. State law requires certain procedures be followed for wills to be both valid and self-proving. If a will is not self-proving, the witnesses to the will have to attest to its validity, often by appearing in court. This step is not required for a self-proving will. If a will is not valid, the estate will be administered as if the will was never signed.”

Burnham: “There are many websites that offer free or low-cost options to create your own last will and testament, and while it may be tempting to write your own will in your pajamas in front of your computer, there are some very good reasons why it may be worth the trip to the lawyer’s office.

First, a will is not the same as an estate plan. It is a part of an estate plan. While everyone should have a last will and testament, a durable general power

of attorney and a power of attorney for health care with living will, there are also other documents you may want to consider, and you may not even know what you want until you speak with an attorney.

Second, are you sure you know exactly how to write the document so you are not misunderstood? An estate planning attorney has a lot of experience in choosing words, examples, ideas, and first-hand knowledge of problems that can arise, allowing your documents to do exactly what you want and eliminate misunderstandings.

Third, did you follow the laws in the state that you live in? The internet is not limited to one location and many do-it-yourself websites cover more than one state. If you make a mistake in writing, signing, or even with witnessing your will, the document could be invalid or result in accidentally disinheriting someone.

Fourth, it may not save you time and money to do it yourself. An estate planning attorney is going to assist you in finding potential issues that could cost your estate in legal fees, court costs and maybe even estate taxes. What about the value of your time? Sitting down with your computer and attempting to write your estate plan is going to

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take some time and it can be complex — handing it off to an experienced attorney will allow you to relax knowing it was done correctly.”

Brown: “In the age of Google, Nolo and Findlaw, many individuals try to draft their estate plans rather than picking up the phone and contacting a local attorney. Online estate planning seems like an enticing bargain at the outset, but often it is pennywise and pound foolish. Online legal form databases cannot modify and tailor your estate plan to address your family’s unique issues and concerns. If you do not truly understand the decisions going into the legal instrument, you may later be unable to avoid significant pitfalls and errors. Likewise, many individuals don’t understand the boilerplate legalese of the online forms and end up executing estate planning documents that do not distribute assets in the way that they intended. Sometimes, folks draft their wills but fail to have them adequately executed — rendering them unenforceable or costly to probate. Unfortunately, mistakes in estate planning documents are not generally realized until after incapacity strikes or the death of the individual drafting the documents — when it is too late to fix the mistakes.”

Waters: “Without a lawyer, you lack guarantees that your estate planning documents will achieve your goals for your incapacity or after your death. First, there is no guarantee that online documents comply with current New Hampshire law. Imagine signing a durable power of attorney for healthcare, only for your family to learn at the hospital that it is not valid. Lawyers also supervise the execution of wills and trusts. When wills and trusts aren’t properly notarized and witnessed, it may require an expensive proceeding in the probate court to prove that the document is valid. Online estate planning documents aren’t one-size-fits-all. Do you want to avoid probate, be eligible for Medicaid, plan for a non-traditional or blended family, or leave assets for a spouse or child with special needs? These estate planning goals require customized plans. Worse, online documents may make choices you do not want.

One online ‘standard New Hampshire will’ creates a testamentary trust for minor children, while families might prefer the creation of a revocable trust or the nomination of a custodian under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act. Finally, estate plans are more than just a will. A lawyer looks at the entire picture of an individual or a family and uses tools such as beneficiary designations, payable-on-death designations, and joint titling alongside legal instruments like wills and trusts to achieve his/her client’s goals.”

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• • • • •

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1855 ElmStreet Manchester, NH 03104 603-668-2222 www.hagehodes.com nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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“Cinema is a matter of what’s in the frame and what’s out.” – Martin Scorsese

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Photo by David J. Murray/cleareyephoto.com

Event Listing 78 Health 84 Local Dish 86 How To 88 Dine Out 90 Ayuh 96

Telluride by the Sea

Famous film festival comes to New Hampshire Do you ever wish you could partake in the fun of seeing the films screened at the Telluride Film Festival? Now is your chance.

Nine films fresh from the famous festival will come to the Seacoast for a weekend of excellent cinema September 20-22.

This intimate experience treats audience members to an exclusive peek into the Telluride experience, including a weekend packed with films, private parties, music, food and conversations with fellow cinephiles. $20-$220. Times vary, The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth.

(603) 436-2400; themusichall.org nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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OUR FAVORITE EVENTS FOR SEPTEMBER 2019

White Mountain Storytelling Festival Spin a yarn or hear a tale at this celebration of storytelling arts. Festivities spread across the weekend include themed story-swapping sessions, family programs and special performances from notable storytellers. $10-$25. Plymouth State University, 17 High St., Plymouth. nhstorytelling.org

9/20-9/22

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NH Highland Games & Festival Heading north for this beloved fest, you could almost convince yourself that the mountains on the horizon are the rolling hills of the Scottish Highlands-and once you hear the bagpipes and spot the sea of tartan on the festival grounds, you’ll really start believing it. Heavy athletics, dancing, music and arts are all on the docket this year, as are other fun festival activities. Prices vary. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, Loon Mountain Ski Resort, 60 Loon Mountain Rd., Lincoln. (603) 229-1975; nhscot.org

9/21

Claremont Brewfest: Battle of the Brews This is a combo brewfest and 5K race held by the Kiwanis Club of Claremont. Sample beers from more than 30 New England breweries and vote for your favorite. Tickets are $30 and $50 for the VIP hour.

Designated driver tickets are available for $10. The VIP hour is from 12-1 p.m. with general admission from 1-4 p.m. Visitor Center Green, 14 North St., Claremont. claremontbrewfest.com

9/27-9/29

Capital Arts Fest The League of NH Craftsmen invites you to this juried craft fair on Main Street in the Arts District of Concord. The event features juried members of the League and invited artisans from around New England, craft demonstrations, exhibition galleries, local music and delicious food. Free. Fri 5-8 p.m. Sat 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sun 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., South Main St., Concord. (603) 224-3375; nhcrafts.org

9/28-9/29

9/21 Fall Equinox Fest Celebrate the final days of summer and welcome in the first days of fall with this fun festival. It takes place at Swasey Parkway, and features some of the Seacoast’s finest artistic and musical talent, as well as cultural exhibits and local food. There will also be yoga, dance performances, activities for kids and hooping. $10.

8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Swasey Parkway, Exeter. (603) 512-8396; teamexeter.com

Fairs & Festivals 8/31-9/1

Railfans’ Weekend If you’ve ever wished for the bygone era when trains took the place of highway travel and stuffy airplanes, then this is the weekend for you. The Conway Scenic Railroad will offer extra journeys and special routes throughout this fest, including a “through the Notch and beyond” trek to Whitefield Diamond offered only on Sunday. Other festivities include a nighttime locomotive photo shoot, special demos and sophisticated dining car offerings. Prices and times vary.

Conway Scenic Railroad, 38 Norcross Cir., North Conway. (603) 356-5251; conwayscenic.com

8/31-9/1

UFO Festival Did you know that there was a UFO sighting in this quintessential New England town in 1965? The Incident at Exeter inspired this

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festival, which is both an educational experience for believers and skeptics and a fun time for family and friends. There will be activities for your little ones and, for adults, a lecture series featuring a panel of experts. $5-$20. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Exeter Town Hall, 9 Front Street, Exeter. exeterufofestival.org

9/6-9/8

30th Annual Hampton Beach Seafood Festival Close out your summer with the granddaddy of all Granite State food fests. You likely know the drill at this legendary ode to oceanside eats, but if you need a reminder, here’s the gist: 60 Seacoast restaurants offering up lobster, fried clams and other surf and turf favorites, plus skydiving demos, fireworks, a lobster roll-eating contest and three full days of season-ending boardwalk adventures.

Fri 1 to 9 p.m., Sat 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sun 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Ocean Blvd., Hampton Beach. (603) 9268718; seafoodfestivalnh.com

Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival Join dozens of folk and sea music performers as they bring maritime folk music and song to downtown Portsmouth. This festival showcases music from the United States, British Isles and Canada at venues in the Market Square area. Past performers have included The Johnson Girls, Anayis Wright, Craig Edwards, David Jones and many more. Free. Sat 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sun 1 to 5:30 p.m., Market Square, Portsmouth. pmffest.org

Sports & Recreation 9/2

Fun Run at Story Land Your little ones can meet their favorite characters and break a no-pressure sweat at this race around the North Country’s favorite theme park. There’s also a book swap in the morning. $10. 9 a.m., Story Land, 850 NH-16, Glen. believeinbooks.org

9/2

Labor Day Fun Run/Walk Participants will start at the Lower Gatehouse on Route 171, traverse up the scenic road past “The Pebble,” skirt along the waterfalls, travel past the Carriage House Restaurant and wind up the trolley road to the Castle in the Clouds mansion. $8-$10. 8 a.m., Castle in the Clouds, Rte. 171, 455 Old Mountain Rd., Moultonborough. (603) 475-5900; castleintheclouds.org

9/7-9/28

Yoga With a View All summer on Saturdays, Mount Sunapee Resort has held what might be

photo by raya on assignment

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the state’s most scenic yoga classes at the top of their namesake mountain. Hit the peak by lift or on foot and get ready to ohm. $20. 10:30 a.m., Mount Sunapee, 1398 Route 103, Newbury. (603) 763-3500; mountsunapee.com

9/7

costumes. Bikes will be provided and helmets are required. Registration opens at 11 a.m. and race time is 12 p.m., with awards ceremony following at the Red Parka Steakhouse & Pub in nearby Glen.

The entry fee is $25 per racer or $80 for a team of four. 11 a.m., Attitash Mountain Resort/Bear Peak, 775 Route 302, Bartlett. redparkapub.com

Fox Point Sunset Road Race Runners who love to race but hate the break-of-dawn start times, this one’s for you. A 5-mile course winding through Newington Village and around Great Bay, this Seacoast Road Race Series event is designed to align with the sunset — no 6 a.m. registration table in sight. Stick around after you’ve crossed the finish line, where a free post-race BBQ will be waiting to replenish those calories you just burned off. $25-$30. 5 to 7 p.m., Newington Old Town Hall, 338 Nimble Hill Rd., Newington.

(603) 834-3177; foxpoint5miler.org

9/14

9/13-9/14

Seacoast Cancer 5K Join more than 2,000 participants for a morning of family fun benefiting cancer care and services at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital.

The course starts at the hospital and winds through Dover. Runners and walkers are invited to partake in this event, and there will be pre- and post-race activities like food, entertainment, kids’ activities and more. $30-$35. 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, 789 Central Ave., Dover. (603) 740-2687; seacoastcancer5K.org

Reach the Beach If spectating is your sport of choice, then you’re in luck. This 203-mile relay takes teams of six or 12 runners from Bretton Woods all the way to Hampton Beach and, while registration is closed for participants, the fun part’s still to come; the race’s Tour de Watch from your yard or your neighborhood park, or sign up to volunteer — they need helpers at all hours of the day. Times and locations vary. runragnar.com

9/15

The World Championship High Performance Tricycle Grand Prix Race This 2019 Best of NH Editor’s Pick in the fun and adventure category is truly a sight to behold. In this event, racers ride down a course on steel tricycles similar to Big Wheels. Forming a team is encouraged, as are

Metallak Adventure Race Formerly known as the North Country Endurance Race, this eighthour sufferfest calls on participants to navigate, trail-run, bike and paddle through challenging but stunning Coös County terrain. Only the super-fit need apply, but there are some concessions: The mere mortals among us can opt for the four-hour route or participation as a relay team. $55-$130.

1478 Route 26, Colebrook. metallakrace.com

9/22

Miscellaneous 9/1

Labor Day Weekend Fireworks End your Labor Day weekend festivities with a fireworks show at Hampton Beach. Walk the boardwalk, enjoy some Blink’s fried dough, bring a blanket and

experience the magic of the night sky lit up by a beautiful fireworks display. Free. 9:30 p.m., Hampton Beach, Hampton. hamptonbeach.org

9/2

Rail Trail Ramble Walk, bike, run or even stroll at this annual event. Proceeds will benefit Headrest, an organization that helps address the substance abuse and rising suicide rates in the Granite State. $5. 8:30 a.m., trailhead across from CCBA Witherell Center, Lebanon. headrest.org

9/7

Calef’s Country Store 150th Anniversary Celebration Calef’s Country Store marks its 150th anniversary with a family-friendly event offering food, fun and plenty of surprises. Learn more about this New Hampshire historic icon on page 12. 11-2 p.m., Calef’s Country Store, 606 Franklin Pierce Hwy., Barrington. (800) 462-2118; calefs.com

9/7

Wings of Hope Butterfly Release This unique, memorable experience provides a special occasion for families, friends and the community as we come together to honor lost loved ones. It brings people together, whether part of the grieving process or a time to share happy memories with others who have endured similar feelings of loss. The program includes special readings, music and a powerful butterfly release. Free. 1 to 3 p.m., Colburn Park, 51 N Park St., Lebanon. (888) 300-8853; vnhcare.org/wingsofhope

9/7-9/8

River Valley Artisans Art and Wine Tour This annual event allows you to enjoy delicious wine and stroll among displays of various paintings by

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local artists. Poocham and Summit wineries have joined the River Valley Artisans for this weekend of art, fun, wine and food. There will be oil paintings, watercolors, pastels, photography, jewelry, fiber art and woodware among other handmade items. Free. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Summit Winery, Route 12, Westmoreland. rivervalleyartisans.com

9/15

10th Annual Gosport Regatta All are invited to this open sailing race from Portsmouth Harbor to Gosport Harbor at the Isles of Shoals. Spectators are welcome to enjoy the sailing competition from the deck of M/V Thomas Laighton, Isles of Shoals Steamship Company. There will also be festivities after the race for the whole family, such as an award ceremony, delicious barbecue, music, kite festival and games and activities for children. Prices vary. 9:45 a.m. to 8 p.m., Star Island, Isles of Shoals, Rye. (603) 4306272; starisland.org/regatta

9/21

Hogwarts Homecoming A celebration of magical fun and merriment for wizards and muggles alike.

Offerings include Owls 101 (get up close and personal with live owls), flying lessons with New England Circus Arts, the snakes of Slytherin, Quiddich, a horcrux scavenger hunt and so much more. Take a stroll down Diagon Alley and sample treats from Honeydukes, try out new wands, experiment with potions, joke around at Weasley’s, and hobnob with Hogwarts professors. Don’t forget to wear your house colors. $10. 1 to 4 p.m., Court Street Arts, 75 Court St., Haverhill. courtstreetarts.org

9/21

BioBlitz! A daylong species scavenger hunt in Odiorne Point State Park, where families explore

swasey parkway, exeter nh Underwriter:

alongside scientists and field experts to find and record data on as many species as possible. It is a great way for children to get excited about science. Exploration teams will be birding, looking for insects, snakes and amphibians, exploring fresh water ponds, tracking mammals and so much more. $10-$30. 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., Seacoast Science Center, 570 Ocean Blvd., Rye. (603) 4368043; seacoastsciencecenter.org

9/27

Tinseltown Inventor: The Most Beautiful Woman in the World: Hedy Lamarr During this live performance, History At Play introduces us to a smoldering actress clouded in a fantasy world that only Tinseltown could create. Watch as this young Viennese refugee transforms to become The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, all the while inventing technology that would become the forerunner to GPS, Wi-Fi and all wireless telecommunications using spread spectrum technology. Price is by donation. 7 p.m., Warner Town Hall, 2 East Main Street, Warner. (603) 456-2234; nhtelephonemuseum.org

Performing Arts 9/13-10/6

“The Wizard of Oz” We’re off to see the wizard!

This masterpiece contains all of your favorite characters and beloved songs from the Oscar-winning movie score like “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” and “We’re Off to See the Wizard.”

Follow Dorothy and Toto over the rainbow to Oz in this musical adventure for the whole family. $25-$46. Times vary, The Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester. (603) 668-5588; palacetheatre.org

9/13-10/12

“Once” This emotionally captivating musical is the only show to have music that won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Olivier Award and a Tony Award. Winner of seven additional Tony Awards including Best Musical, this is an unforgettable story that reminds us of the importance of going for our dreams and the power of music to connect us all. Tickets and times vary, Seacoast Repertory Theatre, 125 Bow St., Portsmouth. seacoastrep.org

Music 9/1

Miranda Lambert This iconic American country music singer and songwriter is coming to the Granite State for one night of unforgettable music. She will also be joined by Lori McKenna and Fairground Saints. $50-$119. 7 p.m., Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, 72 Meadowbrook Ln., Gilford. (603) 293-4700; banknhpavilion.com

9/8

Vance Gilbert Gilbert burst into the music scene in the early ’90s and is known for his storytelling sensibilities of acoustic folk music. Gilbert’s compositions, while frequently employing sophisticated melodies and harmonies that attest to his jazz roots, remain sublime attestations to the storyteller’s craft. $25. 6 p.m., The Farmstand B&B, 1118 Page Hill Rd., Chocorua. (603) 3236169; thefarmstand.net

9/13

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue PartJimi Hendrix, part James Brown and all New Orleans, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews is the

october 5, 2019 11 am-4 pm Samples from over 65 breweries along with chili from many local restaurants at the only familyfriendly brew fest in the area!

Sponsors:

TICKETS AND INFO: POWDERKEGBEERFEST.COM

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9/7 Auburn Day & 27th Annual Duck Race Each September, thousands of people gather in beautiful Auburn to enjoy a family-friendly and fun-filled day to benefit the Auburn Historical Association. The cornerstone for this annual event is the famous duck race, which awards cash prizes for the 10 fastest ducks, including $1,000 for first place. Other event highlights include: the Salmon Falls apple pie-baking contest, the pretty chicken contest, Duckling Dash 5k road race, plenty of New Hampshire artisans and vendors, music by Peabody’s Coal Train, food and more. Free to attend.

10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Auburn Village, Hooksett Rd., Auburn. auburnday.com bandleader and frontman of Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. He has gained international acclaim for his trombone and trumpet virtuosity, his songwriting, and his ability to blend traditional New Orleans styles with rock, funk, soul and hip-hop. Don’t miss the opportunity to see this must-see act. $45-$68. 8 p.m., The Colonial Theatre, 95 Main St., Keene. (603) 352-2033; thecolonial.org

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Carolina Eyck This German-Sorbian musician and composer is largely recognized as the world’s leading theremin virtuoso. Employing loops and a variety of sound effects, she develops whole choirs onstage and extends the theremin’s color palette. $15-$18. 8 p.m., Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 South Main St., Concord.

(603) 225-1111; ccanh.com

10/5-10/6

Kalia Conducts Brahms & Tchaikovsky We’re giving you a heads-up for this event as it’s likely tickets will sell out. The new Symphony NH conductor, Roger Kalia, will lead the symphony in Chris Rogerson’s “Luminosity,” Brahams’ “Violin Concerto” and Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 4, F Minor.” October 5, 7:30 p.m., Keefe Center for

SYMPHONYNH ROGER KALIA, MUSIC DIRECTOR 96th Season FALL CONCERTS 10 Guest Artists | 3 Cities One Incredible Season

2019-2020 Opening Concerts Oct 5 | Nashua* Oct 6 | Concord▲ Kalia Conducts Brahms & Tchaikovsky Tereza Stanislav, violin | Roger Kalia, conductor Oct 19 | Nashua* From La Bohème to Les Mis: Opera & Broadway’s Greatest Hits Meredith Hansen, soprano | Neal Ferreira, tenor Peacock Players | James Orent, conductor Nov 9 | Nashua* Nov 10 | Lowell◊ Bach & Purcell Maryse Carlin, harpsichord | Tiffany Lu, conductor *Keefe Center for the Arts | ▲Concord City Auditorium ◊Durgin Hall, UMass Lowell

TICKETS: 603-595-9156 or SYMPHONYNH.ORG nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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CALENDAR the Arts, 117 Elm St., Nashua; October 6, 3 p.m., Concord City Auditorium, 2 Prince St., Concord.

(603) 595-9156; symphonynh.org This is a sponsored event.

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Visual Arts 9/1-9/9

9/1-9/22

9/20-9/22 Seacoast Century Bicycle Weekend At this beloved biking tradition, pick routes from 25-miles to the full 100-mile century that traverse such New Hampshire and Maine seacoast sights as the Nubble Lighthouse and historic downtown Portsmouth. $35-$65. 1 Ocean Blvd., Hampton Beach State Park, Hampton Beach. granitestatewheelmen.org

“Medieval to Metal: The Art and Evolution of the Guitar” Highlighting the single most enduring icon in American history, this exhibit explores all aspects of the world’s most popular instrument. Visitors will experience the artistry, history, design and cultural influence of the guitar. Along with 40 distinct instruments that showcase the rare and antique to the wildly popular and innovative, this exhibit includes dozens of photographs and illustrations that depict significant musicians and instruments of the last century. Currier Museum, 150 Ash St., Manchester. (603) 669-6144; currier.org

9/14

Canterbury Artisan Festival Pay homage to the artistic traditions of the Shakers with this cele-

Bringing You Nearer to Nature

nhnature.org | 603-968-7194 | Holderness, NH

Make a day of it!

Walk on the wild side to see live animals and enjoy a cruise on Squam Lake.

D

urs a s o in

Save $3 on trail admission

v e !gh September a ly i Limit two. Cannot be combined with any other offer. throu Expires 11/1/19. NHM Jul

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courtesy photo

“Celebrating 20 Years of the Prison Outreach Program” The exhibition features works by inmates participating in the Furniture Masters’ Prison Outreach Programs in the New Hampshire and Maine state prisons. A variety of handcrafted fine furniture will be on display, including jewelry boxes, tables and desks, a bookcase and Shaker boxes. Free. 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., NH Furniture Masters Gallery, 49 South Main St., Concord. (603) 228-0836; furnituremasters.org

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bration of all things artisan. On the craft side, a juried fair will feature sellers of fabrics, jewelry and woodworking, while on the foodie side, a farmers market will offer produce and prepared food alongside handcrafted soaps, candles and oils. Don’t miss the demonstrations showing off traditional art and agricultural practices-including some featuring live-and-cuddly farm animals. $6-$12. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Canterbury Shaker Village, 288 Shaker Rd., Canterbury.

(603) 783-9511; shakers.org

9/21

Smithsonian Museum Day Live This annual “celebration of boundless curiosity” sponsored

by Smithsonian magazine invites cultural institutions around the country to open their doors for the day, and five New Hampshire museums have opted in for 2019. Head to the event’s website to find the local no-fee museums nearest you. Free. Times and locations vary. smithsonianmag.com/museumday

Food & Drink 9/6

Mini BrewFest You are invited to “Live Free and Drink!” where you will be able to enjoy beer, cider, meads and more at the Palace’s new event venue, the Spotlight Room at the Palace.

There will be music by Ryan Williamson, salty snacks provided by Port City Pretzels, and the Prime Time Grilled Cheese Food Truck will be parked outside the venue for anyone who needs a cheesy sandwich. $20-$25. 6 p.m., Spotlight Room at the Palace, 96 Hanover St., Manchester. palacetheatre.org

9/7 Vintage & Vine Whether you’ve skated on their wintertime rink or sent a kid off on a class field trip, you’ve probably benefited from Strawbery Banke over the years, so here’s your chance to return the favor. This foodie fundraiser features eats from nearly 30 local restaurants and bevvies from more than a dozen wineries and distributors from near and far. Don’t miss the silent auction: Prizes in years past have included a week-long South African safari and a gundalow cruise on the Piscataqua for you and 44 of your closest friends. $30-$120. 5 to 7:30 p.m., Strawbery Banke Museum, 14 Hancock St., Portsmouth. (603) 433-1100; strawberybanke.org

9/7

Wingzilla Head north for this annual food and fun fest, featuring a chicken wing cook-off and a Hawaiian-themed ATV poker run, among other festivities. If you’re up for a particular brand of torture, sign on for Killazilla, a competition to see who can snarf down the most blazing hot wings. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., androscogginvalleychamber.com/wingzilla

9/14

Passport Craft Beer & Food Pairing Tour Savor local flavor at this craft beer and food pairing event. Enjoy an unforgettable evening of local brews and food from area chefs outdoors on the grounds of the beautiful Strawbery Banke Museum. Music will be provided once again by local band Martin England and the Reconstructed. This is a fundraiser for New Hampshire PBS. VIP admission begins at 4 p.m., with general admission at 5 p.m.

Strawbery Banke, 14 Hancock St., Portsmouth. nhpbs.org/passport

9/21

4th Annual Southern NH Food Truck Festival Are you really a millennial if you don’t buy your meals out of a truck? This fest, fittingly, is put on

by Nashua’s young professionals network, iUGO, but welcomes mobile food lovers of all ages.

Nearly 20 trucks from around New England will be on hand, serving up everything from Chilean BBQ to egg rolls to poutine. $5-$50. 1 to 6 p.m., Holman Stadium, 67 Amherst St., Nashua. (603) 881-8333; iugonashua.com

9/22

20th Annual Lake Sunapee Chowder/Chili Challenge This Sunapee PTA fundraiser used to be a solely chowder-based enterprise, but it added chili in the last couple of years and now splits the competition between both dishes. Taste the offerings from local pros (past contestants include Suna and Peter Christian’s Tavern) and cast your vote — People’s Choice and Kids’ Choice honors are awarded in addition to the judges’ picks. $10.

12 to 3 p.m., 1 Lake Ave., Sunapee.

Find additional events at nhmagazine.com/ calendar. Submit events eight weeks in advance to Emily Heidt at eheidt@nhmagazine.com or enter your own at nhmagazine. com/calendar. Not all events are guaranteed to be published either online or in the print calendar. Event submissions will be reviewed and, if deemed appropriate, approved by a New Hampshire Magazine editor.

Savor local flavor.

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

FINAL CALL FOR TICKETS! A BENEFIT FOR

JOIN US ON SEPTEMBER 14, 2019 nhpbs.org/passport

nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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HEALTH

“People who are socially anxious are inside their heads the whole time.”

Social Struggle

Social anxiety can range from relatively mild to extreme and consuming

BY KAREN A. JAMROG

D

oes the thought of giving a speech or presentation in front of a crowd give you the heebie-jeebies? Maybe you fret about saying the wrong thing in a work meeting or committing a faux pas at an elegant dinner party.

Many of us worry now and then about embarrassing ourselves or being negatively judged by others, but for some, social anxiety reaches the level of a psychological disorder as it creates a level of distress so consuming that it interferes with daily functioning at school, work or other activities.

“Everybody has anxiety,” says Elizabeth Ellis Ohr, PsyD, a licensed psychologist in private practice in Portsmouth. “Social

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anxiety is one of the most common anxiety disorders that we have.” About 12% of US adults will experience social anxiety disorder at some point in their lives, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Anxiety of any kind can make us want to avoid or escape what we fear, says Dominic Candido, PhD, a clinical psychologist at Enhance Health in Lebanon. In the socially anxious, this sort of strategy might include “something as subtle as avoiding eye contact,” Candido says, “or showing very little emotion, kind of slinking through parties or gatherings [and] avoiding conversation.”

Escape and avoidance typically only reinforce the fear, however, because the

behaviors lead to missed opportunities “to learn that the thing you’re worried about is pretty unlikely,” Ohr says. “And you also miss environmental cues that tell you that you really don’t have to be worried.”

People with social anxiety disorder commonly script out conversations in their mind ahead of time and think about what they’re going to say next while another person is still talking. They believe they are socially undesirable and inept. They might ruminate prior to a social engagement as they worry about what’s going to happen, Candido says — “predicting the worst, overestimating how likely that is to happen, and underestimating their ability to deal with it.

“They put a lot of pressure on themselves,” he notes. “They have to be witty and charming and engaging when in fact [their anxiety] restricts their range of topics, so they end up not being that way. Unfortunately, through all these avoidances, they actually generate the very world that they fear — because people do pull back away from them because they’re not that engaging; they’re very withheld.”

“People who are socially anxious are inside their heads the whole time,” Ohr says.

“They’re working so hard in that social situation to make sure they come across in a certain way and to make sure that what they’re saying is correct, they are completely missing out on all of the environmental cues that tell them, ‘People are listening to you, people are interested in you, people do

illustration by aaron cooper

– Elizabeth Ellis Ohr, PsyD

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like you, there’s nothing wrong with your clothes, you’re fine the way you are. And you know what?

Other people also do and say things too that aren’t great.’”

Cognitive behavioral therapy can provide effective treatment for social anxiety disorder, and often includes careful and gradual exposure to feared situations so that individuals can learn that their fears are unfounded.

For example, Ohr sometimes accompanies socially anxious patients on visits to shops in Portsmouth, where the patient can practice making small talk with store clerks and can look people in the eye to see that not only do people not sneer in response, some even smile back. It teaches the anxious “that the thing that they’re afraid of is very unlikely,” Ohr says.

Indeed, when it comes to anxiety, typically the best approach is to gradually face it and deal with it rather than ignore it. “The more [that people] can step into the anxiety as opposed to away from it, the better they’re going to do,” Candido says. “The important concept there is readiness. They have to have a sense of whether they’re ready to face the anxiety that they’re choosing to face. If they’re not ready yet, that’s OK. They should work to be ready to do that. It’s very hard for them to face those fears, so that’s why therapy is often necessary.” NH

Take a break from anxiety

If you suffer from anxiety, you might find that you spend a lot of time absorbed in your own worry-related thoughts.

You can help yourself feel better and break the rumination habit by taking 10-minute “outward-focused walks” each day to practice shifting your mental focus “from internal and what’s happening with you, to external,” says Elizabeth Ellis Ohr, PsyD, a licensed psychologist in private practice in Portsmouth.

To give it a try, leave the earbuds at home and head outside, walking slowly as you notice sensations such as the breeze on your face, the smells and sounds around you, and the feel of the walking surface under your feet. Such mindfulness is typically a part of all anxiety treatment, Ohr says: “It doesn’t necessarily have to look like yoga or meditation, but it is about being aware of what your thoughts are and being able to shift your focus.”

For more information about social anxiety, see the National Institute of Mental Health nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/social-anxiety-disorder-more-than-just-shyness/index. shtml, and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies abct.org/Information/?fa=fs_SHYNESS.

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Tilton, NH Coming Soon! www.ccmdcenters.com nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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LOCAL DISH

An Ode to the Apple September is the season for great apples

— Susan Laughlin

Gala apples are available at DeMeritt Hill farm in Lee, among other area orchards. They are ready to pick in mid-September and are both sweet and crisp.

Bourbon Apple Shortcake 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup granulated sugar 4 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 10 tablespoons butter, melted 1 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup sour cream 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract Coarse sugar

For the Fruit Topping 6 tart apples, such as Gala or Fuji 3 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons light brown sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 3 tablespoons bourbon Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for serving

“America: The Cookbook” is published by Phaidon, edited by Gabrielle Langholtz, and contains at least 20 other apple-related recipes.

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For the shortcakes: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour,

granulated sugar, baking powder and salt.

Add the butter and stir together until the mixture resembles crumbs, with some pieces as big as peas. In a small bowl, whisk together the cream, sour cream and vanilla. Stir into the dry ingredients just until the mixture is moistened. It should look a little rough, with bits and chucks of buttery crumbs.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and pat into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Halve the rectangle lengthwise, then in four crosswise, so you have eight pieces. It is not important that they be perfect squares, just even in thickness and size.

Arrange the pieces on the baking sheet and sprinkle liberally with coarse sugar. Bake until lightly golden and just slightly springyfirm, 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, for the fruit topping, peel, core and cut the apples into ¼-inch thick slices. In a large frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and apples, and cook until the apples are tender, about 8 minutes. Add the bourbon and stir to combine.

To serve, slit the shortcakes horizontally, and top with the apples and whipped creamed cream or ice cream. Enjoy warm.

photo by susan laughlin

I was asked a few years ago to contribute a food essay about the culinary heritage of New Hampshire for Phaidon’s “America: The Cookbook.” I wrote about my experiences with poutine, which is representative of the state’s French-Canadian heritage. Meanwhile, they asked Alison Ladman from Crust and Crumb Baking Company in Concord to contribute classic New Hampshire recipes. She offered a traditional turkey recipe and this shortcake recipe using apples, one of the state’s largest agricultural crops. The cookbook offers more than 800 recipes and guest essays garnered from 100 contributors. It’s the home cook’s guide to a culinary adventure across our vast nation.

You can start in New Hampshire.

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Entry materials are due November 1, 2019, and will be judged by an independent jury of design professionals from out of state.

The awards ceremony will be held Wednesday, January 22, 2020 (snow date: Monday, January 27) at the Manchester Country Club. Mark your calendar now— we look forward to seeing you there!

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The Last Straw

How to use less plastic in your everyday life

BY EMILY HEIDT

I

n August 2015, marine biologist Christine Figgener filmed her team removing a plastic straw from a turtle’s nose. It’s been four years, and the viral video still resonates with people around the world, partly inspiring a larger movement to eliminate plastic straws from our day-to-day lives.

There has been a wave of corporate plastic straw bans and increased public awareness of the impact that single-use plastics (like straws) can have on the environment.

While choosing paper or reusable metal helps cut down on the 500 million plastic straws we use a day, plastic pollution is bigger than opting not to use a straw with your morning iced coffee. The goal is to use the plastic straw discussion as a first step to start tackling the plastic pollution problem in a sustainable way. We spoke with Dr. Gabriela Bradt, fisheries state specialist at the UNH

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Cooperative Extension, and asked her about the environmental impact of using plastics, curbing plastic habits, and tips on where to begin when creating a plastic-free home.

Her first suggestion — do your research and be more plastic conscious.

Education If you walk down Hampton Beach in the summer, you might find plastic cups, rope, bottle caps or plastic bags. More alarming than the amount of debris on our beaches is the lack of education surrounding the impact of plastics on our environment.

“We are dealing with a massive plastic addiction in our society,” says Bradt, which is fueled by the desire for convenience and a throwaway mentality.

Though general public opinion is antistraw and -plastic bag, Bradt says there’s still

courtesy photo

HOW TO

pushback. “When you say, ‘no more plastic bags or straws,’ people respond with ‘don’t tell me what to do’ instead of thinking about the global reason as to why we are banning them in the first place,” she says.

Still, this is a step in the right direction.

But, says Brandt, it’s one relatively tiny step of many. The real culprits are in plain sight right in your own home, as that plastic you chuck in your recycling bin might not end up where you think.

A big part of curbing plastic habits and getting out of “convenience mode” is understanding plastic pollution. “Once your trash can is emptied, it’s out of sight, out of mind,” says Bradt. “You aren’t necessarily aware that it could likely be making its way into the environment or the ocean.” And that’s the real problem, she says.

“One of the biggest environmental challenges that we are facing is marine plastic debris,” says Bradt. “Plastic degrades, but it isn’t biodegradable. Most plastics are photodegradable, which means it breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces when exposed to sunlight instead of decomposing completely.”

Plastic debris that is less than five milli-

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them in your car. Instead of buying packmeters long is called “microplastic.” Microplastics are now being recognized as a major aged fruit, buy your items piecemeal when you can, and utilize local farmers markets. threat to wildlife and human health.

“I always tell people in New England to eat “You have the primary microplastics, which are purposefully manufactured at that with the seasons,” says Brandt. Plus, there’s the added bonus of supporting local farmers size, such as the little plastic beads used in and businesses, she adds. face washes or cosmetics, and secondary When you’re done with your food items, microplastics, which are those broken down don’t forget to compost. “By minimizing pieces from larger plastic items such as milk your waste in general, you end up using less jugs or water bottles that result from weathering or turbulence in the ocean,” says Bradt. garbage bags and have less trash to take out every week,” says Brandt.

“Both are bad because, at that size, they are accessible to all marine life — everyThink Outside the Box — Literally thing from a tiny crustacean to blue whales Once you get through your kitchen, start will come along and eat them,” she explains. thinking beyond replacing the plastic box of This creates plastic build-up in their stomlettuce in your fridge. achs, which can lead to emaciation or death.

“Most kids’ products, like plates, cups, When plastics break down, they also lunchboxes and silverware, are made leach out damaging chemicals that can of plastic,” says Bradt. “I like to make affect not only wildlife, but humans as well. my own snacks in Mason jars instead of “Plastics are made to be strong and duindividual snacks in plastic wrapping, and rable, so when they break down, chemicals I will also make my own silverware kits like PCBs, BPA and PFOAs leach out into for the week from our silverware at home the environment and ocean,” says Bradt. and we have many metal water bottles for These chemicals have been shown to them.” When you are wrapping up lunches mess with human hormones and interfere or dinner, use beeswax or soy wrapping with the delicate systems that keep our strips instead of plastic wrap. bodies in homeostasis.

When it comes to other household prod“People don’t realize that it isn’t just plastic ucts, Bradt suggests you buy boxes instead of straws that are affecting our environment, bottles. Products like laundry detergent come it is plastic as a whole,” says Bradt. “The in cardboard, which is more easily recycled negative impacts are everywhere, from our than plastic. Do your best to also go with reoceans to wildlife to the food that we eat fills instead of buying new products, and look and even the air that we breathe. Once we for ways to fill up the old bottle again. You understand that, we can focus on starting can also use bar soaps instead of pump soaps, with cutting the flow of single-use plastics bamboo toothbrushes instead of plastic and and demanding the use of other alternatives.” reusable razors instead of disposables.

Start Small When it comes to using less plastic and reducing your plastic footprint, Brandt It can be overwhelming when you take a says it’s important to remember that your step back and look at the amount of plastic efforts don’t end with cutting out plastic that you use, but it doesn’t have to be.

“It’s too hard to change everything at once,” straws from your daily routine. It’s about trading convenience for sustainability, and says Bradt. “Make your end goal to be as putting some thought behind what you plastic-free as possible, and then take baby are buying and consuming. steps to work up to that goal.” Bradt recommends tackling the hardest part first: your Bradt also has ways to reduce plastic kitchen. “Most of our food comes in plastic while you’re on the go. Make yourself a kit because it is the cheapest for packaging, that you can leave in your car that has a buying and storage,” notes Bradt. reusable coffee mug, water bottle, silverware, “Skip buying prepackaged food and opt metal straw, and reusable bag — that way, for buying in bulk. If you like almonds, go if you need to use a drive-through, you can to a dispenser and fill up an old glass sauce ask them to fill your containers instead of jar for the week.” Look around your kitchen using their products. and see what plastics you can switch out for Choosing reusable bags instead of plastic jars that you can save and reuse. might seem like a small change in the Another tip? Skip the plastic bags. A singrand scheme of our plastic epidemic, but gle plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to you can’t make a change without starting degrade, so buy the reusable bags and leave somewhere. NH

Reduce, reuse, recycle with these extra tips Useful Resources World Oceans Day worldoceansday.com Plastic Oceans plasticoceans.org Zero Waste Grocery Guide: New Hampshire litterless.com NH Plastic Pollution Alliance nhplasticpollutionalliance.org NE Grassroots Environment Fund grassrootsfund.org Wildlife over Waste environmentnewhampshire.org

4Ocean

4ocean.com Each product purchased removes trash from the ocean and coastlines one pound at a time.

Sustainable Products

Purifyou Premium Reusable Mesh/ Produce Bags purifyou.com Bee’s Wrap Reusable Food Wraps beeswrap.com Stasher Reusable Bags stasherbag.com Collapsible Straw finalstraw.com Hydro Flask Stainless Steel Water Bottle hydroflask.com Unni 100% Compostable Bags unni.world

Marine Conservation Events

Beach Cleanup at Jenness Beach in Rye, September 14 blueoceansociety.org Save the Seals River Cruise in Rye September 28 seacoastsciencecenter.org

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DINE OUT

Good Eats OUR GUIDE TO FINE DINING

Riverside Barbeque Company

photo by jenn bakos

53 Main St., Nashua riversidebarbeque.com (603) 204-5110

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NH Stories_DG DINE OUT

Our restaurant listings include Best of NH winners and advertisers along with others compiled by the New Hampshire Magazine editorial department. Listings are subject to change from month to month based on space availability. Expanded and highlighted listings denote advertisers. For additional and more detailed listings, visit nhmagazine.com.

H Best of NH

2019 Editor’s Picks

H Best of NH

2019 Reader’s Poll

$$$$ Entrées cost more than $25 $$$ Entrées cost

between $18 and $25

than $12

B Breakfast L Lunch D Dinner b Brunch ( Reservations recommended

$$ Entrées cost between New – Open for one year or less $12 and $18 $ Entrées cost less

MERRIMACK VALLEY

Angelina’s Ristorante Italiano

ITALIAN 11 Depot St., Concord; (603) 228-3313; angelinasrestaurant.com; $$–$$$ L D (

The Bedford Village Inn H

AMERICAN/TAVERN 2 Olde Bedford Way, Bedford; (603) 472-2001; bedfordvillageinn.com; $$–$$$$ L D(

The Birch on Elm H

NEW AMERICAN/TAPAS 931 Elm St., Manchester; (603) 782-5365; Facebook; $–$$ L D

Buckley’s Great Steaks H

STEAKHOUSE 438 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack; (603) 424-0995; buckleysgreatsteaks.com; $–$$$$ D ( $$–$$$ LD (

Campo Enoteca

33 The Oaks, Henniker; (603) 428-3281 colbyhillinn.com; $$–$$$$ D (

Hanover St. Chophouse H

STEAKHOUSE 149 Hanover Street, Manchester; (603) 6442467; hanoverstreetchophouse. com; $$$–$$$$ L D (

Madear's H

CAJUN/CREOLE/TAPAS 175 Hanover St., Manchester; (603) 206-5827; madears603.com; $-$$ D

Mint Bistro

FUSION/JAPANESE 1105 Elm St., Manchester; (603) 625-6468; mintbistronh.com; $$–$$$ L D b (

MT’s Local Kitchen & Wine Bar

AMERICAN 212 Main St., Nashua; (603) 595-9334; mtslocal. com; $–$$$ L D

Noodz H

RAMEN/ASIAN 968 Elm St., Manchester; (603) 836-5878; Facebook; $-$$ L D

North End Bistro

ITALIAN 1361 Elm St., Manchester; (603) 232-3527; Facebook; $-$$$ L D (

O Steaks & Seafood

STEAKHOUSE/SEAFOOD 11 South Main St., Concord; (603) 856-7925; 62 Doris Ray Court, Lakeport; (603) 524-9373; magicfoodsrestaurantgroup. com; $$–$$$ L D

Republic H

MEDITERRANEAN 1069 Elm St., Manchester; (603) 666-3723; republiccafe.com; $–$$$ L D

Revival Kitchen and Bar

ITALIAN/MEDITERRANEAN 969 Elm St., Manchester; (603) 625-0256; campoenoteca.com; $$–$$$ L D

AMERICAN 11 Depot St., Concord; (603) 715-5723; revivalkitchennh.com; $$–$$$ D (

The Copper Door H

Stella Blu

AMERICAN 15 Leavy Dr., Bedford; (603) 488-2677; 41 S Broadway, Salem; (603) 458-2033; copperdoorrestaurant.com; $$–$$$ L D (

TAPAS 70 East Pearl St., Nashua; (603) 578-5557; stellablu-nh. com; $$–$$$ D

Cotton H

SEAFOOD 207 Main St., Nashua; (603) 595-9293; 99 Bow St., Portsmouth; (603) 334-9855; surfseafood.com; $$–$$$$ D b

AMERICAN 75 Arms St., Manchester; (603) 622-5488; cottonfood. com; $$–$$$$ L D (

Cucina Toscana

ITALIAN 427 Amherst St., Nashua; (603) 821-7356; cucinatoscananashua.com; $ L D (

The Foundry

AMERICAN/FARM-TO-TABLE 50 Commercial St., Manchester; (603) 836-1925; foundrynh.com; $$-$$$ D b

Giorgio’s Ristorante

MEDITERRANEAN 707 Milford Rd., Merrimack; (603) 883-7333; 524 Nashua St., Milford; (603) 6733939; 270 Granite St., Manchester; (603) 232-3323; giorgios.com; $$–$$$ L D (

Granite Restaurant and Bar

NEW AMERICAN 96 Pleasant St., Concord; (603) 227-9000; graniterestaurant.com; $$–$$$$ B L D b (

Grazing Room

FARM-TO-TABLE/NEW AMERICAN

Surf Restaurant H

Trattoria Amalfi

ITALIAN 385 S Broadway, Salem; (603) 893-5773; tamalfi.com; $–$$ D (

Tuscan Kitchen

ITALIAN 67 Main St., Salem; (603) 952-4875; 581 Lafayette Rd., Portsmouth; (603) 5703600; tuscan-kitchen.com; $$–$$$ L D b

SEACOAST Atlantic Grill

7/29/05

10:01 AM

Page 1

Botanica Restaurant & Gin Bar

NEW AMERICAN 110 Brewery Ln., Ste. 5, Portsmouth; (603) 3730979; Facebook; $$-$$$$ D

CAVA

TAPAS 10 Commercial Alley, Portsmouth; (603) 319-1575; cavatapasandwinebar.com; $–$$$ L D

Chapel+Main

NEW AMERICAN 83 Main St., Dover; (603) 842-5170; chapelandmain.com; $$–$$$ D (

CR’s the Restaurant

NEW AMERICAN 287 Exeter Rd., Hampton; (603) 929-7972; crstherestaurant.com;. $$-$$$ LDb(

Cure

NEW AMERICAN 189 State St., Portsmouth; (603) 427-8258; curerestaurantportsmouth.com; $$-$$$ L D (

Franklin Oyster House

SEAFOOD 148 Fleet St., Portsmouth; (603) 373-8500; franklinoysterhouse.com; $-$$$ D

Green Elephant H

VEGETARIAN 35 Portwalk Place, Portsmouth; (603) 4278344; greenelephantnh.com; $–$$ L D

Visit www.nhmade.com for a list of the state’s finest specialty foods

Jumpin’ Jay’s Fish Café

SEAFOOD 150 Congress St., Portsmouth; (603) 766-3474; jumpinjays.com; $$$–$$$$ D (

Lure Bar and Kitchen

TAPAS/SEAFOOD 100 Market St., Portsmouth; (603) 3730535; lureportsmouth.com; $$–$$$ D

Martingale Wharf

AMERICAN/SEAFOOD 99 Bow St., Portsmouth; (603) 4310901; martingalewharf.com; $$–$$$ L D

Mombo

INTERNATIONAL 66 Marcy St., Portsmouth; (603) 433-2340; momborestaurant.com; $$–$$$ LD(

www.hamptonbeach.org • www.hamptonchamber.com Hampton Area Chamber of Commerce 47 Winnacunnet Road, Hampton, NH 03842

Moxy

TAPAS 106 Penhallow St., Portsmouth; (603) 319-8178; moxyrestaurant.com; $$–$$$ D(

Oak House

AMERICAN 110 Main St., Newmarket; (603) 292-5893; oakhousenewmarket.com; $–$$ LDb

Otis

NEW AMERICAN 4 Front St., Exeter; (603) 580-1705; otisrestaurant.com; $$–$$$ D (

Paty B's H

SEAFOOD 5 Pioneer Rd., Rye; (603) 433-3000; theatlanticgrill. com; $$-$$$ L D

ITALIAN 34 Dover Point Rd., Dover; (603) 749-4181; pattybs. com; $–$$$ L D

Black Trumpet Bistro

Raleigh Wine Bar + Eatery H

INTERNATIONAL 29 Ceres St., Portsmouth; (603) 431-0887; blacktrumpetbistro.com; $$–$$$$ D (

Take Pride in N.H.

NEW AMERICAN 67 State St.,Portsmouth; (603) 4278459; raleighwinebar.com; $$–$$$ D b (

Visit our website or contact us at 603-926-8717 for a free Vacation Guide or relocation information. www.hamptonbeach.org www.hamptonchamber.com Hampton Area Chamber of Commerce 47 Winnacunnet Road, Hampton NH 03842 nhmagazine.com | September 2019

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603 LIVING

DINE OUT

Revolution Taproom and Grill

GASTRO PUB 61 North Main St., Rochester; (603) 244-3022; revolutiontaproomandgrill.com; $-$$ L D

Ristorante Massimo

ITALIAN 59 Penhallow St., Portsmouth; (603) 436-4000; ristorantemassimo. com; $$-$$$ D (

Row 34

SEAFOOD 5 Portwalk Place, Portsmouth; (603) 319-5011; row34nh. com; $-$$$ L D b (

Sonny’s Tavern

NEW AMERICAN 328 Central Ave., Dover; (603) 343-4332; sonnystaverndover.com; $–$$ D b

Surf Seafood H

SEAFOOD 99 Bow St., Portsmouth; (603) 334-9855; surfseafood.com; $$–$$$$ D

Vino e Vino

ITALIAN 163 Water St., Exeter; (603) 580-4268; vinoevivo.com; $$–$$$ D(

LAKES Burnt Timber Tavern

restaurantgroup.com/canoe-restaurant-and-tavern; $$-$$$ L D (

Corner House Inn

AMERICAN 22 Main St., Center Sandwich; (603) 284-6219; cornerhouseinn.com; $$ L D b (

Crystal Quail

AMERICAN 202 Pitman Rd., Center Barnstead; (603) 269-4151; crystalquail.com; $$$–$$$$ D (

Garwood’s

AMERICAN 6 North Main St., Wolfeboro; (603) 569-7788; garwoodsrestaurant.com; $–$$ L D (

Tavern 27

ASIAN 64 Whittier Hwy., Moultonborough; (603) 253-8100; lemongrassnh.net; $–$$ L D

TAPAS/PIZZA 2075 Parade Rd., Laconia; (603) 528-3057; tavern27. com; $–$$ L D (

Local Eatery

Wolfe’s Tavern

FARM-TO-TABLE 17 Veterans Square, Laconia; (603) 527-8007; laconialocaleatery.com; $$–$$$ D (

Mise en Place

Hobbs Tavern & Brewing Co.

BREWPUB 2415 White Mountain Hwy., West Ossipee; (603) 5392000; hobbstavern.com; $–$$ L D

MONADNOCK

The New Woodshed

ITALIAN 79 Antrim Rd., Bennington; (603) 588-6512; albertosnh.com; $–$$ D (

Alberto’s Restaurant

Bantam Grill

ITALIAN 1 Jaffrey Rd., Peterborough; (603) 924-6633; bantam-peterborough.com; $$–$$$ D (

O Bistro at the Inn on Main

AMERICAN 200 North Main St., Wolfeboro; (603) 515-1003; innnewhampshire.com/our-bistro; $$–$$$ D

Inn Kitchen + Bar

AMERICAN/FARM-TO-TABLE 28 Shepard Hill Rd., Holderness; (603) 968-4417; innkitchen.com; $–$$$ D (

Kathleen's Irish Pub

IRISH PUB 90 Lake St., Bristol; (603) 744-6336; kathleensirishpub.com; $–$$ L D

Kettlehead Brewing H

BREWPUB 407 West Main St., Tilton; (603) 286-8100; kettleheadbrewing. com; $–$$ L D

Canoe Restaurant and Tavern

Lakehouse

AMERICAN 281 Daniel Webster Hwy., Meredith; (603) 279-5221; thecman. com; $–$$ B L D b

NEW ENGLAND TAVERN 90 N. Main St., Wolfeboro; (603) 569-3016; wolfestavern.com; $$–$$$ B L D b (

ITALIAN/AMERICAN 96 Lehner St., Wolfeboro; (603) 569-5788; miseenplacenh.com; $$-$$$$ L D ( AMERICAN 128 Lee Rd., Moultonborough; (603) 476-2700; newwoodshed.com; $–$$$ D

BREWPUB/TAVERN 96 Lehner St., Wolfeboro; (603) 630-4186; burnttimbertavern.com; $–$$ L D AMERICAN 232 Whittier Hwy., Center Harbor; (603) 253-4762; 216 S. River Rd., Bedford; 935-8070; magicfoods-

Lemongrass

Bellows Walpole Inn Pub

NEW AMERICAN 297 Main St., Walpole; (603) 756-3320; bellowswalpoleinn.com; $$ L D (

O Steaks & Seafood

STEAKHOUSE/SEAFOOD 11 South Main St., Concord; (603) 856-7925; 62 Doris Ray Court, Lakeport; (603) 524-9373; magicfoodsrestaurantgroup.com; $$–$$$ L D

Chesterfield Inn

AMERICAN 20 Cross Rd., West Chesterfield; (603) 256-3211; chesterfieldinn.com; $$-$$$ D (

Osteria Poggio

Cooper’s Hill Public House

ITALIAN 18 Main St., Center Harbor; (603) 250-8007; osteriapoggio.com; $$–$$$ D (

Pasquaney Restaurant

PUB 6 School St., Peterborough; (603) 371-9036; coopershillpublichouse.com; $-$$$ L D

AMERICAN Inn on New Found Lake, 1030 Mayhew Turnpike, Bridgewater; (603) 744-9111; newfoundlake.com/ restaurant-tavern; $$–$$$ D (

Del Rossi’s Trattoria

ITALIAN Rte. 137, Dublin; (603) 563-7195; delrossis.com $$–$$$ D (

The ORIGINAL extreme sport is coming back to Merrimack!

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Watch the top 70+ athletes from the United States and Canada compete head-to-head in twelve exciting events.

Order tickets at merrimackchamber.org/events

BREWERY & TAPROOM

126B HALL ST., CONCORD, NH

TAPROOM HOURS:

WED-FRI 4-8 P.M. SAT 12-8 P.M. SUN 12-4 P.M. Also available for functions

OMIC AT TREE SERVICE

Friday, September 27 • Saturday, September 28 Anheuser-Busch Brewery, Merrimack, NH 92

nhmagazine.com | September 2019

lithermans.beer (603) 219-0784

603 LIVING

DINE OUT

Elm City Brewing H

Parker's Maple Barn H

BREW PUB 222 West St., Keene; (603) 355-3335; elmcitybrewing.com; $–$$ L D

BREAKFAST 1316 Brookline Rd., Mason; (603) 878-2308; parkersmaplebarn.com; $ B L

Fireworks

Pearl Restaurant & Oyster Bar

PIZZERIA 22 Main St., Keene; (603) 903-1410; fireworksrestaurant.net; $–$$ D (

Fox Tavern

TAVERN 33 Main St., Hancock; (603) 525-3318; hancockinn.com; $-$$$ L D (

ASIAN 1 Jaffrey Rd., Peterbrough; (603) 924-5225; pearl-peterborough. com $$–$$$ D (

Pickity Place

AMERICAN 33 Main St., Hancock; (603) 525-3318; hancockinn.com; Prix fixe, $48.; $$–$$$$ D (

FARM-TO-TABLE 248 Nutting Hill Rd., Mason; (603) 878-1151; pickityplace.com — A historic place to lunch located in a quaint, 1786 red cottage that Elizabeth Orton Jones used as inspiration for her "Little Red Riding Hood" illustrations. Fresh, local ingredients are used, including herbs grown in the onsite gardens. There are three seatings at 11:30 a.m., 12:40 p.m. and 2 p.m. Reservations needed. $$ L (

The Hungry Diner

Piedra Fina

The Grove

AMERICAN The Woodbound Inn 247 Woodbound Rd., Rindge; (603) 532-4949; woodbound.com; $$–$$$ BLDb(

The Hancock Inn

Inn, 379 Main St., Jaffrey; (603) 532-7800; monadnockinn.com; $–$$$ D (

Grantham; (603) 863-9355; farmerstablecafe.com; $–$$ L D

Waterhouse

BREW PUB 40 Andover Rd., New London; (603) 526-6899; flyinggoose.com; $–$$ L D

AMERICAN 18 Water St., Peterborough; (603) 924-4001; waterhousenh.com; $-$$$ L D b (

FARM-TO-TABLE 44 Main St., Hanover; (603) 676-7996; markettablenh.com; $–$$ B L D b

Bistro Nouveau

AMERICAN 74 Newport Rd., New London; (603) 526-4201; 74mainrestaurant.com; $–$$ L D b

NEPALESE 3 Lebanon St., Hanover; (603) 643-2007; basecampcafenh. com; $-$$ L D

Restaurant at Burdick’s

Candela Tapas Lounge

ITALIAN/MEDITERRANEAN 9 Monadnock Hwy., Keene; (603) 3529400; papagallos.com; $–$$ L D (

Market Table

Base Camp Café

Nicola’s Trattoria H

Papagallos Restaurant

Little Brother Burger Co.

BURGERS 420 Main St., New London; (603) 877-0196; Facebook; $–$$ L D

AMERICAN 63 High St., Bradford; (603) 938-2100; appleseedrestaurant.com $-$$ D

AMERICAN The Center at Eastman, 6 Clubhouse Lane, Grantham; (603) 863-8000; bistronouveau.com; $–$$$$ L D (

NEW AMERICAN 30 Main St., Newport; (603) 863-8360; eatatthecourthouse. com; $$–$$$ L D b (

TAVERN 9 Main St., Lyme; (603) 795-9995; lathamhousetavern.com; $–$$ L D

Appleseed Restaurant

LATIN 288 Main St., Marlborough; (603) 876-5012; piedrafina.com; $–$$ L D (

The Old Courthouse

Latham House Tavern

DARTMOUTH/ LAKE SUNAPEE

FARM-TO-TABLE 9 Edwards Ln., Walpole; (603) 756-3444; hungrydinerwalpole.com; $–$$ B L D ITALIAN 51 Railroad St., Keene; (603) 355-5242; Facebook; $$$–$$$$ D

Flying Goose Brew Pub H

Millstone at 74 Main

Oak & Grain H

FRENCH 47 Main Street, Walpole; (603) 756-9058; burdickchocolate. com; $–$$$ L D b (

TAPAS 15 Lebanon St., Hanover; (603) 277-9094; candelatapas.com; $$-$$$ D(

The Stage H

Coach House

AMERICAN 30 Central Sq., Keene; (603) 357-8389; thestagerestaurant. com; $-$$ L D

Thorndike’s & Parson’s Pub

AMERICAN/PUB The Monadnock

AMERICAN 353 Main St., New London; (603) 526-2791; thenewlondoninn.com/the-coach-houserestaurant;$ $–$$$$ D (

Farmer’s Table Café

FARM-TO-TABLE 249 Rte. 10,

PRIX FIXE Inn at Pleasant Lake, 853 Pleasant St., New London; (603) 526-6271; innatpleasantlake. com — Take in the gorgeous lake views while enjoying elevated New England cuisine with global inspirations using fresh, local ingredients, which come from local partners and even their own onsite herb garden and maple sugar stand. Reservations required. Prix fixe menu. D (

The Old Courthouse

AMERICAN 30 Main St., Newport; (603) 863-8360; eatatthecourthouse.com; $-$$$ L D b (

Pickity Place

M aso n, N H • ( 6 03 ) 8 7 8-1151 • p ickityplace.com

A hidden

gem

You will find our hilltop hideaway at the end of a winding dirt road.

Our five-course, creative herbal cuisine draws guests from New England and beyond. Pickity Place is a sensory treat — well worth the trip. Enjoy one of our three private seatings: 11:30, 12:45 or 2:00. pri Reservations by phone.

Have a Pickity Day! nhmagazine.com | September 2019

93

603 LIVING Peter Christian's Tavern

DINE OUT

The Burg H

AMERICAN/TAVERN 195 Main St., New London; (603) 526-2964; peterchristiansnh.com; $-$$ L D

PIZZA 8 Back Lake Rd,. Pittsburg; (603) 538-7400; Facebook; $ D

PINE at the Hanover Inn

THAI 77 Main St., Littleton; (603) 444-8810; changthaicafe.com; $-$$ L D

AMERICAN 2 South Main St., Hanover; (603) 643-4300; hanoverinn. com/dining.aspx; $$$–$$$$ B L D b (

Revolution Cantina

CUBAN AND MEXICAN 38 Opera House Square, Claremont; (603) 504-6310; Facebook; $-$$ L D b

Suna

AMERICAN 6 Brook Rd., Sunapee; (603) 843-8998; magicfoodsrestaurantgroup.com; $$–$$$ D (

Taverne on the Square

AMERICAN 2 Pleasant St., Claremont; (603) 287-4416; claremonttaverne. com; $–$$$ L D

NORTH COUNTRY Bailiwicks

AMERICAN 106 Main St., Littleton; (603) 444-7717; bailiwicksfinerestaurant.com; $-$$$ L D (

Barley & Salt Tap House

Chang Thai Café

Chef’s Bistro

NEW AMERICAN 2724 White Mountain Hwy., North Conway; (603) 3564747; chefsbistronh.com; $-$$ L D

Conway Scenic Railroad

DINNER TRAIN 38 Norcross Circle, North Conway; (603) 356-5251; conwayscenic.com/dining — Relive the golden days of railroad and enjoy lunch or dinner while taking in the outstanding views.

Deacon Street Martini & Whiskey Bar

AMERICAN 32 Seavey St., Conway; (603) 356-9231; deaconst.com; $$–$$$ D

Gypsy Café

INTERNATIONAL 111 Main St., Lincoln; (603) 745-4395; gypsycaferestaurant.com; $–$$ L D

Horsefeathers

Jonathon’s Seafood

SEAFOOD/AMERICAN 280 East Side Rd., North Conway; (603) 447-3838; jonathonsseafood.com; $–$$$ L D (

The Last Chair

AMERICAN/BREW PUB 5 Rte. 25,Plymouth; (603) 238-9077; thelastchairnh.com; $-$$ L D

Libby’s Bistro & SAaLT Pub

NEW AMERICAN 115 Main Street on Rte. 2, Gorham; (603) 466-5330; libbysbistro.org; $$–$$$ L D (

Littleton Freehouse Taproom & Eatery

NEW AMERICAN 28 Cottage St., Littleton; (603) 575-5410; littletonfreehouse.com; $-$$$ L D

Moat Mountain Smokehouse H

BREW PUB 3378 White Mountain Hwy., North Conway; (603) 356-6381; moatmountain.com; $–$$ L D (

Rainbow Grille & Tavern H

AMERICAN/TAVERN 609 Beach Rd., Pittsburg; (603) 538-9556; rainbowgrille.com — Serving a variety of comfort food from seafood to ribs.

The tavern serves appetizers, hearthbaked pizzas and more. $–$$ D (

GASTROPUB/INTERNATIONAL 1699 White Mountain Hwy., North Conway; (603) 307-1037; barleyandsalt.com; $-$$$ L D

AMERICAN 2679 White Mountain Hwy., North Conway; (603) 3562687; horsefeathers.com; $–$$ L D

STEAKHOUSE 3 Station St., Glen; (603) 383-4344; redparkapub.com; $–$$ L D

The Beal House Inn

Iron Furnace Brewing

Rek'•lis Brewing

PUB 2 W. Main St., Littleton; (603) 444-2661; thebealhouseinn.com; $$-$$$ D

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nhmagazine.com | September 2019

BREWPUB 115 Main St., Bethlehem; (603) 823-2119; ironfurnacebrewing. com; $ L D

Red Parka Steakhouse

BREWPUB 2085 Main St., Bethlehem; (603) 869-9696; redparkapub.com; $–$$ L D

Schilling Beer Co.

BREW PUB/PIZZERIA 18 Mill St., Littleton; (603) 444-4800; (603) 4444800; schillingbeer.com; $-$$ L D

Shovel Handle Pub

PUB 357 Black Mountain Rd., Jackson; (603) 383-8916; shovelhandlepub.com; $-$$ L D

Table + Tonic

NEW AMERICAN/FARM-TO-TALBE 3358 White Mountain Hwy., North Conway; (603) 356-6068; tableandtonic.com; $-$$$ B L D (

Thompson House Eatery

AMERICAN/FARM-TO-TABLE 139 Main St., Jackson; (603) 383-9341; thompsonhouseatery.com; $$-$$$ LD(

Tony’s Italian Grille

ITALIAN 3674 Rte. 3, Thornton; (603) 745-3133; $$ L D (

Vito Marcello’s Italian Bistro

ITALIAN 45 Seavey St., North Conway; (603) 356-7000; vitomarcellositalianbistro.com; $$-$$$ D

Woodstock Brewery H

BREW PUB Rte. 3, North Woodstock; (603) 745-3951; woodstockinnnh. com; $–$$ L

Visit nhmagazine.com/food for more listings, food and drink features or to sign up for the monthly Cuisine E-Buzz.

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nhmagazine.com | September 2019

95

illustration by brad fitzpatrick

603 LIVING

Don’t Quote Me

If it’s said off the record, did it even happen?

O

h, the things they “never said.”

Was Michigan governor George Romney in New Hampshire when he said he had been brainwashed in Vietnam? I don’t know, but he was on the roster of candidates in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary of 1968 when he said it. And then the avalanche came. Rarely, if ever, has a presidential hopeful been subject to such ridicule and abuse. We have since learned of campaign money being laundered, but not the candidate’s brain. Sen. Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota, who was opposing President Lyndon Johnson in the Democratic primary that year, made the unkindest cut of all when, in reference to Romney’s brain he surmised that “a light rinse would do.”

But Romney had already shown what conservative and notoriously polysyllabic firebrand William F. Buckley Jr. identified as a tendency toward “tergiversation.” Buckley’s magazine, National Review, produced a cover that had Romney saying, “I never said that I never said that. I just said that I never said I said it. I want to make that clear.” Or as

96

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BY JACK KENNY President Nixon used to say, “perfectly clear.”

Well, I’m not a big-time political reporter, and I have only been to Washington a few times and then only as a tourist. But I have heard people say in private things they, of course, never said as far as the public knows. One was the coach of a youth baseball team who told me that after being married for nearly two decades, his wife decided that the time he was spending with his team had become too much. So she gave him an ultimatum.

He would have to choose between her and baseball. “And you know, Mr. Kenny,” he told me, “I chose baseball.”

“Oh, boy!” I thought. “How that line will liven up the story.” But when I asked, “May I quote you on that?”, you might have thought I had asked if I might drag him before the Holy Inquisition.

“Oh, Christ, no!” he said. “The last thing I need is for my ex-wife to see that in the paper.”

And then there was the man who owned a building that had been designated as a historic landmark, and he had something of a chip on his shoulder about the local heritage

commission telling him what he may and may not do with said historic treasure. If they valued the structure that much, he said, they could buy it from him.

“Your mouth shouldn’t write a check your ass can’t cash!” said the eloquent entrepreneur. Naturally, I asked if I might quote that.

“Oh, God, no!” he said. (People get very religious when they’ve said things they never said.) “I don’t want that in the paper.”

And then there was the former influential member of the New Hampshire Senate whom I was interviewing about something not terribly controversial. In a casual aside, I mentioned that I thought some legislators would almost sell their souls for low-number license plates. I thought I was engaging in hyperbole.

“I know,” the former senator said. “I’ve been there, done that.” The governor needed his vote on something and he wanted low-number plates, which some believe is a sign of well-connected influence in Concord. So the deal was made. At least that’s the man told me.

But I’m sure he never said that. NH

WINNER

WINNER

WINNER

WINNER

WINNER

WINNER

WINNER

Readers’ Choice Readers’ Choice Readers’ Choice Readers’ Choice Readers’ Choice Readers’ Choice Readers’ Choice

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

TOP DOCTORS AND COUNTING We’re proud of the 112 doctors from across the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System featured on this year’s New Hampshire Magazine’s Top Doctors list.

Thank you for your expert knowledge and compassionate care, and for helping us have more top doctors than any other health system or hospital in New Hampshire.

Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital, Cheshire Medical Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center, New London Hospital, Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire, Dartmouth-Hitchcock practice sites at more than 24 locations throughout the region. dartmouth-hitchcock.org

Denise Aaron MD Stacey Abbis MD William Abdu MD MS Daniel Albert MD Bruce Andrus MD MS Bradley Arrick MD PhD Emily Baker MD Perry Ball MD James Bartels MD Richard Barth Jr. MD Joan Crane Barthold MD Barbara Bates MD John Batsis MD David Bauer MD Valerie Bell MD John-Erik Bell MD Elizabeth Bengtson MD Paul Bettinger MD William Bihrle III MD Brian Binczewski MD William Black MD Annika Brown MD Jack Bueno MD Christopher Burns MD Mark Carney MD Samuel Casella MD Mary Chamberlin MD M. Shane Chapman MD Jeffrey Cohen MD Phillip Collins MD Richard Comi MD James DeVries MD Todd Dombrowski MD MS Konstantin Dragnev MD Richard I. Enelow MD Elisabeth Erekson MD MPH David Finley MD Timothy Fisher MD MS Evelyn Fleming MD Naomi Gauthier MD Marc Gautier MD Jennifer Glatz MD Patricia Glowa MD Philip Goodney MD MS Stuart Gordon MD E. Ann Gormley MD Benoit Gosselin MD James Gray MD MS Sherry Guardiano DO Matthew Hand DO Jeffrey Harnsberger MD Cherie Holmes MD MSC Paul Holtzheimer MD Joseph Hou MD Kathyryn Hourdequin MD

John Jayne MD Scott Jaynes MD Barbara Jobst MD J. Gilliam Johnston II MD Julie Kim MD PhD Alan Kono MD Stacey Kopp MD Kevin Kwaku MD PhD William Laycock MD Gregory Leather MD Lisa Leinau MD Stephen Liu MD MPH Keith Loud MD MS Harold Manning MD Heather Marks MD M.T. Charisse Marquez MD Keith McAvoy MD Jock McCullough MD Kenneth Meehan MD John Moeschler MD Patrick Morhun MD Srikrishna Nagri MD Catherine Pipas MD Emil Pollak JR. MD Richard Powell MD Anthony Presutti MD Brian Remillard MD William Rigby MD Steven Ringer MD PhD Lara Ronan MD Kari Rosenkranz MD Richard Rothstein MD Nina Sand-Loud MD Andrew Schuman MD Gary Schwartz MD Keisuke Shirai MD MSC Corey Siegel MD MS Mark Silbey MD Nathan Simmons MD Lijun Song MD PhD Andrew Spector MD David Stone MD Arief Suriawinata MD Vijay Thadani MD PhD Andrew Trembley MD Vijaya Upadrasta MD Dale Vidal MD Adam Weinstein MD Wendy Wells MD Loyd West MD Brent White MD Jill Winslow MD Jan Wollack MD PhD Alicia Zbehlik MD