Old Man of the Mountain “In Memoriam” from the 2003 Franconia NH Annual Report
“He the eldest son of Time, has not changed in form or place since the floods retired. Yet even he shall crumble away. But when the man of granite rock is dissolved, the men of granite soul shall stand “unhurt amid the war of elements, the wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds.”[1] Continue reading
Sketch of an alewife from book: Alewife and Blueback Herring, by by Earl L. Bozeman, Jr. and Michael Bozeman, Earl L.; Georgia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit
“Where, in many straggling group,
Gnarled and crooked willows
By a chaffing streamlet stoop,
And their yellow branches droop,
Tow’rd its tiny billows;
Near the banks are little whirls,–
Whirles of fretted water,–
And beneath those rings of pearls
Trout delicious caught are.” [1]
Continue reading
They opened the door to greet visitors. They cooked, served and cleaned up after the daily meals. They tidied the rooms and
Emma (Ryan) Fish and Nellie Ryan in servant’s uniforms, circa 1920; Manchester NH
changed the bed linens. They washed and ironed the family’s clothing. They provided transportation first in horse driven surreys and later in the earliest automobiles in New Hampshire. They moved quietly, and spoke in hushed tones. Although essential to the household, they were not family. They were invisible hands that always entered and left by the back door, not the front. They were maids, cooks, butlers, gardeners, and chauffeurs–hired servants of Manchester’s affluent. Continue reading
A modest base ball field bears his name at Steven’s Pond Park in Manchester, New Hampshire. Reportedly it is the “same field where he learned to play ball.” At Gill Stadium, a plaque near the entrance bears his name.
Thomas Francis Padden
On February 26, 1936, while he was catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, surrounded by a large crowd, tossed a silver dollar about 475 feet over the Merrimack River, and into a snow pile. He did this to emulate the feat of the great pitcher Walter Johnson, who did it to emulate the reported feat of George Washington (the President, not the baseball player). Continue reading
When we think about ‘Run-Aways’ of colonial times, what first comes to mind is often run-away slaves. In fact the majority of these
Etching: “The Family,” by Ostade. From “Etchings,” by Frederick Wedmore, page 14
http://archive.org/stream/etchings00wedm#page/14/mode/2up
‘errant’ individuals, at least in colonial New Hampshire, were either wives, apprentices or indentured servants.
Indentured Servants and often apprentices, were bound for a specific amount of time, by a legal contract or document, and masters of such runaways were supported strongly by local law enforcement. Continue reading
