New Hampshire - The Granite State
About New Hampshire:
Lakes and mountains dominate this picturesque state, which has 18 miles of seacoast and one photogenic village after
another. Most inhabitants are in the south, so there are miles of quiet lanes to explore. The White Mountains provide great
skiing and snowboarding in winter and fabulous hiking in summer and autumn. On vast Lake Winnipesaukee, you can paddle or
boat, fish or swim. Its pine-clad islands provide a retreat from everyday life. As for shopping there’s no state sales tax!
Similar to Rhode Island,
New Hampshire is a thin wedge
of a state, the sixth smallest in the US, but with surprisingly diverse terrain. The coastline is strewn with mellow, sun-drenched beaches and capped by
Portsmouth, a well-preserved
colonial town with a crop of excellent restaurants and stylish inns. Farther inland, there are over 1300 lakes to explore, the largest, LakeWinnipesauke, is ringed with both tourist resorts and quiet villages. To the
north, the splendor of the White Mountains spreads across the state, culminating in the highest peak in New England, the formidable Mount Washington. Quaint and relaxing
communities are scattered across the southern part of the state, connected by shaded, winding country roads and the enduring small-town pride of their residents.
These days most visitors go to New Hampshire for its outdoor activities. In
the warm summer months you can kayak, canoe, swim, fish, hike, climb, or bike, while during winter you can cross-country ski at tiny Jackson or downhill ski at the Franconia Notch
area or at a dozen other ski resorts. As with much of the rest of New
England, fall is a popular time to go, when the trees turn vibrant shades and the air temperature drops
refreshingly.
All of this makes New Hampshire a busy place, even by
New England standards. Much of the state is blanketed with beautiful rural scenery. The lakes, islands, and snowcapped peaks that define New Hampshire remain both resoundingly spectacular
and remote.
The Seacoast Region:
New Hampshire’s coastline stretches for eighteen miles. Its sandy length, filling up the area between HamptonBeach
on the south end and Portsmouth on the north, is well developed, but it’s not difficult to find sparsely
populated beaches.
HamptonBeach and around:
The favorite vacation spot of many thousands of East Coasters. It’s a
decidedly family-friendly resort, with enough arcades and water parks to keep youngsters happy for days. Continuing north, Rte-1A winds along a picturesque strip of rocky coastline that includes
“millionaire’s row” where a collection of stately homes greets the ocean from enormous bay windows. There’s a paved walking path along the water if you decide you’d like to take in the finely
restored private oceanfront mansions at a more leisurely pace. In RyeHarbor, at the State Marina, you can go whale-watching. Popular with surfers and families alike, JennessStateBeach, a little farther north along Rte-1A, is even more serene, with few buildings and a protected stretch of white
sand. Nearby WallisSandsStateBeach ($10 per car) is also a good bet for
swimming and sunning.
Portsmouth:
Attractive Portsmouth, off of I-95 at the mouth of
the PiscataquaRiver, blends small-town accessibility with the enthusiasm of a rejuvenated
city. Having endured the many cycles of prosperity and hardship typical of many New England colonial towns – including, most devastatingly, several major fires and the inevitable loss of its
prominence as a port – Portsmouth has found its most recent triumphs in the cultural arena. Artists musicians, writers, tourists, and notably, gourmet chefs, attracted by
Portsmouth’s affordability,
authentic colonial flavor, and youthful exuberance, have converged on the quaint seaside town in recent years. With an attractive town centre, a wealth of good restaurants, clean, uncongested
streets, an inviting riverside park, and an unusual abundance of well-preserved Colonial buildings, it certainly makes for pleasant exploration.
Arrival and information: Portsmouth’s city centre is huddled along the southern bank of
the PiscataquaRiver, at the mouth of one of the finest natural harbors on the East Coast, just
across from Kittery, Maine. Surrounded by water on three sides, the town is compact and easily manageable on foot. At its heart, Market Square is flanked by the
towering NorthChurch.
Eating: Portsmouth’s restaurants include both expensive highbrow bistros and cheap,
down-to-earth cafes. There is a particularly high concentration of places to eat along Ceres
Street and Bow Street, and you should treat yourself to at least one waterfront meal at one of
the outdoor patios or decks that line the PiscataquaRiver.
The City: Manchester’s main commercial drag, Elm Street, runs north to south along
the Merrimack River and doubles as US-3. The Amoskeag Mills are several blocks west along the banks of the river between Bridge and Granite streets. You can get a good look at the mills, the
Amoskeag Dam, and the city skyline from the Amoskeag Falls Scenic Overlook (daily: mid-April-Oct 8am-6.30pm, free), along the river north of
Bridge Street.
Alternatively, take a stroll along the Riverwalk, a pedestrian path on the River’s east bank, or visit the Manchester Historic Association’s recently opened Millyard Museum, Commercial Street,
at Pleasant (Tues-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm, $6), which has exhibits chronicling the town’s history, including looms from the mills and a re-creation of what Elm Street looked like back in the days
when Manchester was an economic player to be reckoned with.
As New Hampshire’s best fine arts museum, the Currier
Museum of Art, just north of Bridge Street between Union
and Beech Streets at 201
Myrtle Way, featuring works by such well-known European and American painters as Monet, O’Keeffe,
Hopper, Matisse, and Wyeth, is well worth the stop.
South of Manchester:
Alongside the Daniel Webster Highway (Rte-3)
in Merrimack, the massive Anheuser Busch Brewery, the largest beer brewer in the world, offers free tours of its beer-making facility – one of thirteen it operates nationwide. Afterwards,
you’re treated to complimentary tastings of several of its well-known (and lesser-known) products. Outside, you can wander over to see the Clydesdale stables, where the enormous horses
associated with the brewery are groomed, trained, and usually on display.
Concord and around:
Just twenty minutes north by car from Manchester along I-93 you will find New
Hampshire‘s state capital, Concord (pronounced “conquered”). Downtown, the highlights are the State House and the Museum of New Hampshire History, while the
nearby CanterburyShakerVillage, the area’s outstanding attraction is well worth a visit.
CanterburyShakerVillage:
About twenty minutes north of Concord, in Canterbury Center, Canterbury Shaker
Village, exit 18 off I-93, 288 Shaker Road (daily: mid-May to Oct 10am-5pm, Nov, Fri-Sun 10am-5pm $15) is New England’s premier museum of Shaker life, and perhaps the most fascinating tourist
destination in New Hampshire. The tranquil village, a collection of simple, box-like buildings, is beautifully spread out over a set of rolling hills, overlooking the greenery of the
countryside, and the site’s quiet isolation is soothing.
The Monadnock region:
Known as the “quiet corner”, the Monadnock region, which occupies the
southwestern portion of New Hampshire, encompassed deserted country roads and typically quaint church-spire-filled New England towns that center around the lonely 3165-foot peak of Mount
Monadnock. You can get a good feel for small-town New England
living at any of the region’s many picturesque villages, but several are worth highlighting. Keene, an amiable place with
a provincial disposition, is the area’s most populous community, Peterborough, along US-202, is the region’s – perhaps the state’s – artistic centre; Hillsborough was the birthplace of New
Hampshire’s only US president, Franklin Pierce: Jaffrey rests quietly at the base of Mount Monadnock next to the state park; and Fitzwilliam is a classic New England community, incorporated in
1773. Attractive places to stay, mainly of the bed-and-breakfast and country-inn variety, can also be found just about anywhere.
The Lakes Region:
The Lakes Region, occupying the state’s central corridor, east of I-93, almost
doubles its population between May and September, when visitors throng the area’s restaurants, hotels, lakefront cottages, beaches and crystal-clear waters. On warm summer weekends the lakes can
seem swamped with pleasure craft, all of which are available for rent at the many town marinas. Fishing, swimming, camping and relaxing on the beach are also popular and you can enjoy a view of
the lakes from afar after hiking to the top of one of the peaks that wrinkle the countryside.
There are literally hundreds of lakes, created by the snowmelt flowing south
from the White Mountains. The biggest by far is Lake
Winnipesaukee, at some 72 square miles the definitive center of the region. Long segments of the
shoreline, especially in the east, are carpeted with thick forests that sweep down from surrounding hills. The lake is dotted with 274 islands – most of which are privately owned – and its
irregular shape, a seemingly endless continuum of inlets and peninsulas, resembles a giant paint splatter. The eastern and western shores of Lake Winnipesaukee are quite distinct:
sophisticated Wolfeboro is the center of the sparsely populated and more upscale region to the east, while WeirsBeach is the most developed stretch of the crowded western shore. Farther north, the down-to-earth nineteenth-century towns around
beautiful SquamLake are some of the most inviting in the region.
The White Mountains:
Thanks to their accessibility from Boston, the
White Mountains have become a
year-round tourist destination, popular with summer hikers and winter skiers alike, and attracting over six million annual visitors. Mount Washington, the highest peak not only in the
range, but in the entire Northeast, can claim some of the severest weather in the world – conditions harsh enough to produce a timberline at four thousand feet, as compared to around ten thousand
feet in the Rockies. Holidaying in these mountains is not a new trend – this area has long been appreciated for its exquisite beauty.
Bretton Woods and around:
The ease with which US-302 now crosses the middle of the mountains belies the
effort that went into cutting a road through Crawford Notch, a twisty and beautiful pass halfway between the Franconia area near Vermont and
Conway,
near Maine. The main man-made attraction on the route is the magnificent Mount Washington Hotel, which stands in splendid isolation in the wide mountain
valley of Bretton Woods. A few miles east of the town of Bretton Woods is the Mount Washington Cog Railway, probably the most romantic way of getting to the summit
of Mount Washington.
Mount Washington:
The 6288-foot Mount Washington, the highest peak in the
north-eastern US, was named for George Washington before he even became president. Over the years, other mountains in this “Presidential Range” have taken the names of Madison, Jefferson, and
even Eisenhower – though it should be noted that MountNancy was called that long before the Reagans were
in the White House, and MountDeception just happens to be close
by.
Mount Washington Cog Railway:
It took a hundred men three years to build the Mount Washington Cog Railway, off of
Mount Clinton Road at the base
of Mount Washington. Completed in 1869, its rickety trains lumber up gradients as steep as 38 per cent – the second steepest railway in the world – while consuming a ton of coal and a thousand
gallons of water. It’s a truly momentous experience.
Driving and hiking to the summit: On a clear day, you can see all the way to the Atlantic and into Canada from the top of Mount Washington, once called the “second greatest show on earth” by P.T. Barnum, but the
real interest in making the ascent lies in the extraordinary severity of the weather up here. The wind exceeds hurricane strength on over a hundred days of the year, and in 1934 it reached the
highest speed ever recorded anywhere in the world – 231 mph.
On the way to the top, you pass through four distinct climate zones, with
century-old fir and ash trees so stunted as to be below waist height, before emerging amid Arctic tundra. The drive up the Mount Washington Auto Road, ascending eight miles up the east side of
the mountain from Rte-16 south of Gorham (early May to late Oct-weather permitting-7.30am-6pm in peak season), is not quite as hair-raising as you may expect, although the hairpin bends and lack of
guard-rails certainly keep you alert.
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