February - 2017

Granite State of Mind, #28: The Kancamagus Highway, Lincoln to Conway

Joe Pace

Feb 28, 2017

Granite State of Mind, #28: The Kancamagus Highway, Lincoln to Conway

NH Route 112 opened in 1959 (though it wouldn't be paved until 1964), connecting Bath in the west to Conway in the East, with Lincoln and US 93 North in between. From Lincoln to Conway the road winds and curves and bends through the White Mountains National Forest, accompanied for gorgeous stretches by the stony Swift River. This 34.5-mile stretch is called the Kancamagus Highway, known to affectionate locals as "The Kanc", and just as often mispronounced as the Kancamangus o

Granite State of Mind, #27: New England Center, Durham

Joe Pace

Feb 27, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #27: New England Center, Durham

With some of the places on this list, the relationship is fairly straightforward. With others, there are layers upon layers, and the unpacking takes some effort. One such place is the old New England Center at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, the university-owned and -operated conference center, hotel, and restaurant that still awaits reinvention almost seven years after being shuttered. (Though I understand the hotel portion has become student housing. Swanky.) The

Granite State of Mind, #26: Wentworth Lake, Wolfeboro

Joe Pace

Feb 26, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #26: Wentworth Lake, Wolfeboro

I've always been a lake guy instead of a beach guy when it comes to waterfront fun. Warmer water, less crowding, fewer things looking to sting you or bite you or swallow you whole. New Hampshire is blessed with lots of wonderful lakes, and my favorite will show up a little later on this list. For now, I want to profile the first NH lake I loved - Lake Wentworth. Just east of its big brother Winnipesaukee, Lake Wentworth is smaller, calmer, less glamorous, content to be a geta

Granite State of Mind, #25: The Country View Restaurant, Greenland

Joe Pace

Feb 25, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #25: The Country View Restaurant, Greenland

Is there anything better than a good local breakfast joint? A harried-yet-friendly middle-aged waitress in a red apron, the clink of cheap china collected by disinterested high school busboys, the informality, the low din of companionable voices, the warm smell of endless coffee (I've never been able to drink the stuff myself, but acknowledge its contribution to the ambience). A plate of scrambled eggs and bacon or a huge waffle or an improbably-high stack of pancakes is the

Granite State of Mind, #24: State House Steps, Concord

Joe Pace

Feb 24, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #24: State House Steps, Concord

First, I have to nod to Exeter as the Revolutionary-era capital of New Hampshire. But even I have to admit that Concord is more centrally-located to serve such a function (blasphemy!). The granite building constructed there to house the government of the young state is a beautiful, imposing Greek revivial-style structure complete with Doric and Corinthian columns and the iconic golden dome topped by an eagle. Inmates from the state prison did most of the labor, and the whole

Granite State of Mind, #23: Old Firehouse, Stratham

Joe Pace

Feb 23, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #23: Old Firehouse, Stratham

In the last year or two my own boys have gotten involved in Cub Scouts, and I've found myself drawn inexorably into a pack leadership role, sentenced to a stint as treasurer. Watching them put on those familiar blue uniforms, and donning that tan shirt myself, makes it impossible not to recall my own Scouting roots, back in Stratham's Pack and Troop 185. I remember earning Wolf and Bear and Webelos badges with John Sable and Jeff DiBartolomeo and Brian Wilkinson and others, p

Granite State of Mind, #22: Grandma and Grandpa Faulkner's House, Portsmouth

Joe Pace

Feb 22, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #22: Grandma and Grandpa Faulkner's House, Portsmouth

Both of my parents grew up in Portsmouth. My father's parents moved around a bit, and most of my recollections of my dad's mom involve her living in an apartment above the barn at our house in Stratham. My mom's folks lived in her childhood home for decades, that modest white house with green trim at the corner of Leavitt and McClintock, just off Peverly Hill Road in the sprawling neighborhood known as the Portsmouth Plains. Along with her five siblings, it was the only home

Granite State of Mind, #21: Appleseeds Day School, Exeter

Joe Pace

Feb 21, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #21: Appleseeds Day School, Exeter

On October 15, 2001, I was midway through my first term on the Board of Selectmen in Exeter. At our meeting that night, we heard a proposal from Warren Henderson and the Rockingham Economic Development Commission regarding a Community Development Block Grant from the state to help support the opening of a new child care center on Hampton Road. As a Board we endorsed the application for the roughly $300,000 grant that the REDC subsequently loaned to this startup enterprise. Ap

Granite State of Mind, #20: Alpine Slide, Attitash Mountain, Bartlett

Joe Pace

Feb 20, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #20: Alpine Slide, Attitash Mountain, Bartlett

I somehow managed to grow up in New Hampshire without really skiing or ice skating. I've done both, but neither well nor often. I know. It's like being from Seattle and not liking coffee, or understanding football. But it's something my home state knows about me, and we made our peace over it long ago. I make this observation in the interest of candid disclosure, and by way of explaining why there won't be much in the way of ski areas appearing on this list. Who knows, maybe

Granite State of Mind, #19: Chris' Comics, Seabrook

Joe Pace

Feb 19, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #19: Chris' Comics, Seabrook

Growing up as comic book guys, my brother Al and I were weekly visitors to The Comic Relief, a cramped little shop inhabiting a bright-yellow building on Bridge Street in Portsmouth. Our allowances were swiftly disbursed on piles of 60-cent (later 75-cent or even, scandalously, a full dollar) issues. It was like a tax or a tithe, each of us beholden to the titles that commanded our attention. I was an X-Men, Iron Man, West Coast Avengers guy, while his tastes ran more to Spid

Granite State of Mind, #18: Horton Social Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham

Joe Pace

Feb 18, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #18: Horton Social Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham

When I arrived at UNH in the fall of 1993, I knew I wanted to study political science and history. As a result, I spent a lot of time in Horton Hall (Horton Social Science Center, to be precise). The third floor was the lair of the political science faculty, and those of us in that program in the mid-1990s had the great good fortune to study under some truly gifted faculty - Trout, Siggelakis, Gordon, Reardon, and a couple of newcomers named Camobreco and Hubbard who were sur

Granite State of Mind, #17: Saltbox Farm, Stratham

Joe Pace

Feb 17, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #17: Saltbox Farm, Stratham

My first paid gig was the summer I was 12 or 13, in 1987 or 88. I would walk or ride my bike the tenth of a mile around the corner to the Saltbox Farm, and for five bucks an hour I would weed the vegetable gardens, lay plastic between the rows of strawberries, or generally do whatever I was told. The proprietor was Irma Goodrich, and never has there been a more perfect congruence between name and character. Mrs. Goodrich was (is, I should say - she's still there, when last I

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