May - 2017

Granite State of Mind, #111: Kentucky Fried Chicken, Portsmouth

Joe Pace

May 31, 2017

Granite State of Mind, #111: Kentucky Fried Chicken, Portsmouth

Yes, I'm going to tell a story about KFC. I'm going to tell it because even to this day, almost thirty years later, I can't drive down Woodbury Avenue in Portsmouth without remembering it. Because it remains one of the most hilarious, endlessly retold, slightly shameful moments of my youth, and it belongs on this list. Back in the 80s and 90s there was a Kentucky Fried Chicken joint in Portsmouth where the Verizon place is now, right across Woodbury Ave from the Jiffy Lube. M

Granite State of Mind, #110: Exeter AREA Junior High School, Exeter

Joe Pace

May 30, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #110: Exeter AREA Junior High School, Exeter

With the sad news yesterday of the passing of Mr. Meehan, this seems an appropriate time to reflect on the school that only knew two principals in its thirty-year history. The doors of the junior high (a true junior high, not a middle school, with only classes 7 and 8 in attendance) on Linden Street opened in 1967. Frank Kozacka was the principal for the first ten years, followed for the next two decades by Mr. Thomas Meehan. In an age when school administrators in town seem

Granite State of Mind, #109: Gale Park, Exeter

Joe Pace

May 29, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #109: Gale Park, Exeter

On Memorial Day, we specifically honor those servicemen and women who gave what President Lincoln called "the last full measure of devotion" to our country. Living veterans and those currently in uniform are certainly appreciative of your expressions of gratitude, and these are always appropriate when sincere. And yet on this day, our thoughts and memories are given over to those who raised their hand or did not run when their name was called, and who died with our flag on th

Granite State of Mind, #108: Portsmouth Hospital, Portsmouth

Joe Pace

May 19, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #108: Portsmouth Hospital, Portsmouth

I wasn't born in Portsmouth Cottage Hospital, the elegant 1895 building in the picture accompanying this post. That was the city's medical center only until 1962. I wasn't born at the sprawling new complex on Borthwick Avenue, either, built in 1987. No, I was born in between, at the hospital facilities built adjacent to this grand old lady, forty-two years ago tomorrow. Yeah, even though a Stratham-Exeter kid, I was born in Portsmouth to Portsmouth parents. We only lived ther

Granite State of Mind, #107: Bowl-O-Rama and Scoreboard Sports Lounge, Portsmouth

Joe Pace

May 18, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #107: Bowl-O-Rama and Scoreboard Sports Lounge, Portsmouth

As any New Englander knows, candlepin is the only legitimate form of bowling. Candlepin is older, invented in 1880, before the standardization of tenpin in 1895 or the creation of duckpin in 1900. It's also harder. Balls and pins are both smaller than in the clumsier, more pedestrian version enjoyed elsewhere, and a perfect candlepin game has never been bowled in sanctioned play. The highest recorded score is 245. There is no argument that candlepin is better - and by a lot.

Granite State of Mind, #106: Hamilton Smith Chapel, Durham

Joe Pace

May 17, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #106: Hamilton Smith Chapel, Durham

Hamilton Smith was a Kentucky native who grew up in Durham in the mid-19th century and was one of the builders of the London Underground. The English building (and first library) on campus, built in 1907 with Andrew Carnegie money, was named after the engineer and philanthropist. This isn't about Ham Smith Hall. (I wasn't an English major, after all). This a ghost story. In the summer of 1995, following my sophomore year at UNH, I worked as a building manager in the under-ren

Granite State of Mind, #105: Pease AFB, Newington/Portsmouth

Joe Pace

May 16, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #105: Pease AFB, Newington/Portsmouth

I still call it Pease Air Force Base, even though it hasn't been that for more than a quarter century. As a kid growing up in Stratham along the Greenland border, I can vividly remember standing on my parents' porch, watching as the KC-135 refuelers and other huge military aircraft roared overhead, seemingly low enough to reach up and touch. Pease began in the 1930s as the commercial Portsmouth Municipal Airport before the US Navy began to use the facility during World War II

Granite State of Mind, #104: Lindt & Sprüngli Factory, Stratham

Joe Pace

May 15, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #104: Lindt & Sprüngli Factory, Stratham

In 1845, Zurich confectioner David Sprüngli-Schwartz opened a small chocolate shop. In 1876, fellow Swiss candymaker Rodolphe Lindt developed a groundbreaking technique in chocolate manufacture that produced delicate melting flavors. In 1899 the two enterprises combined, forming the Aktiengesellschaft Vereinigte Berne und Zürcher Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli, Whew. Lindt-Sprüngli began exporting to the United States in 1925, basing their operations in New York. In 1986,

Granite State of Mind, #103: The Bandstand, Exeter

Joe Pace

May 14, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #103: The Bandstand, Exeter

There are 234 towns and cities in New Hampshire, and none of them has as enduring and iconic a symbol as the Bandstand that graces the center of Exeter's picturesque downtown. The Bandstand has just embarked on its second century, having been constructed in 1916. Town benefactor Ambrose Swasey conceived of the project (sometimes known as Swasey's Pavilion), in consultation with fellow favorite son Daniel Chester French and French's friend Henry Bacon. French and Bacon, of cou

Granite State Challenge, #102: New Hampshire Public Television Studios, Durham

Joe Pace

May 13, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State Challenge, #102: New Hampshire Public Television Studios, Durham

Ah, Channel 11. Growing up, it was how we were introduced to British comedies like Monty Python and Fawlty Towers, or watched the endless nature shows my brother loved. But I think we all know that the highest and best use of the NHPTV studios adjacent to the UNH campus in Durham was and is the flimsy set of the high school quiz show, Granite State Challenge. GSC began in 1984, hosted during its premiere season by local impresario Tom Bergeron. Iconic host Jim Jeannotte took

Granite State of Mind, #101: Goldi's Deli, Portsmouth

Joe Pace

May 12, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #101: Goldi's Deli, Portsmouth

There used to be a place on Penhallow Street in the Port City, a brick joint next to Commercial Alley across from the federal building. It was there for 24 years, and it was a New York-style deli called Goldi's. It had the best bagels in town (as well as signage proclaiming the existential question: "if a seagull flies over the sea, what flies over the bay?"). They had a bagel burger that was fantastic, and all the usual menu delights one might associate with the type, some c

Granite State of Mind, #100: Merrymeeting Lake, New Durham

Joe Pace

May 11, 2017

Granite State of Mind

Granite State of Mind, #100: Merrymeeting Lake, New Durham

Celebrating 100 entries in the series with one of the most important places in all of New Hampshire. It hasn't been part of our family for the longest - my parents only acquired the Merrymeeting Lake property in 1999 - but it's rapidly become a fundamental thread in the fabric of our lives. It's the cleanest lake in New Hampshire, and one of the quietest, lingering unobtrusively off Route 11 in New Durham, south and east of bigger, busier cousin Winnipesaukee. The house itsel

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