New Hampshire’s Mooooo-la-la

Posted on 11 May, 2006 by Janice Brown

The premier source in New Hampshire for everything moootivating, at least in the bovine world has to be the Stonyfield Farm web site.

With web topics entitled, “What’s Moo [New],” “Have-A-Cow” (where you can actually sponsor a real dairy cow), “Celebrities in the Moos,” and a daily blog called “The Bovine Bugle,” I found myself “moooved” beyond my wildest expectations.

Burning questions such as “What the heck is a Pole Barn,” and “what is ketosis and drenching.” are questions posed by members of this online com”moo”nity to a real life farmer, who responds with practical answers.

If you worry about eating like a pig without looking like a cow [as Joanie does], did you know that eating yogurt actually helps you to lose weight? Eating yogurt may actually help turn up the body’s fat-burning ability.

Stonyfield Yogurt Inc. itself was “born and raised” in New Hampshire.  The venture began in 1978 in Wilton, New Hampshire, as Samuel and Louise Kaymen’s “Rural Education Center,” an organic farming school. In 1982 current President/CEO Gary Hirshberg was recruited as a board member. In 1983 they had seven dairy cows and a newly created yogurt recipe. In 1989 the company moved to Londonderry, New Hampshire where it is located today, selling its products of yogurt, yogurt smoothies, cultured soy, organic ice cream, frozen yogurt and milk nationwide, with annual sales of over $212 million (thats alot of moola). They donate 10% of pretax profits to environmental causes.

If only everyone could be as earth-centered!

If you get a chance, take a tour of this fascinating company. According to their web site Stonyfield tours have been temporarily suspected due to heavy construction going on (yes, they are growing again). 
Janice

PS: If you are wondering about the origin of the word “moola,” I have a pretty good theory.  The Gaelic word for million is “muillean,” pronounced “Moo-lin.”  Close enough.

Additional Reading–
– History of Yogurt in the United States –
– Things I Can’t Live Without: Gary Hirshberg –
– History of Stonyfield –

 

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Manchester, New Hampshire: Victory Monument and Park

Posted on 10 May, 2006 by Janice Brown

Victory Park of Manchester, New Hampshire is located between Concord and Amherst,

Victory Park Monument, Manchester, NH. Photograph by John Platek, used with his permission.

Victory Park Monument, Manchester, NH. Photograph by John Platek, used with his permission.

Pine and Chestnut streets. It was originally part of a larger park called Concord Square or Concord Common and it extended to Vine Street (that portion is now a parking garage).

On March 3, 1928 the City of Manchester decided that the site for the World War Soldiers Memorial was going to be at the location now known as Victory Park, and statue plans were finalized. A monument was to be constructed, and placed to face Chestnut Street. The memorial itself would recognize  Manchester heroes, both living and dead of the World War (This would be at first just World War I, because of course the city could not envision in 1928 that there would be another world war). Continue reading →

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New Hampshire’s "Live Free and Bobble"

Posted on 9 May, 2006 by Janice Brown

You can now have John Stark and Daniel Webster in your own home….

with oversized nodding heads, and their famous quotations printed on the pedestal at their feet.

Of course, what you are purchasing are “bobbleheads“. These types of dolls, also called “nodders” have been around since the 1920s. They had some popularity in the 1960s and 70s, but most recently became sports team memorabilia favorites in 1999.

Today’s bobbleheads mimic more than sports champions.  The famous, the infamous, the beautiful, the scary, and the common-everyday-in-between are becoming bobble objects.

From President Bush to Saddam Hussein, from a soldier or astronaut, to your mother-in-law, these always agreeable objects are gaining in popularity.

If you can’t locate a bobblehead that interests you, you can have one created for you.  There are several companies that will create a customized bobble head doll. All you have to do is select the body type, and provide a photograph of a person’s face.  They do the rest.

The New Hampshire Historical Society Store currently offers a Daniel Webster bobblehead doll, and will re-order John Stark (of “Live Free or Die” fame) if there are enough requests. They are considering making additional “characters” but they aren’t sure who those should be.

These are New Hampshire bobbleheads characters I would like to see….

– Molly Stark (Quote could be “Wife of the guy who said ‘Live Free or Die'”)
– Sylvester Roper (inventor of the motorcycle)
– Grace Metalious (Peyton Place author)
– Eleanor Hodgman Porter (Pollyanna author)
– “Doc” Daniel Lucius Adams (“Father of Baseball”)

Is there a New Hampshire bobblehead you’d like to see, and why?

Are there any famous or infamous New Hampshire people who should be “off limits” to becoming bobble-head dolls? Please let me know.

July 2008 Update: Additional bobbleheads added to the NH Historical Society offerings.

Janice

Additional Interesting Reading:
How Bobblheads are Made –
Origin of Bobbleheads –

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John Stark Bobblehead Doll

Posted on 9 May, 2006 by Janice Brown

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Francestown New Hampshire Motorcycle Inventor: Sylvester H. Roper (1823-1896)

Posted on 8 May, 2006 by Janice Brown

Sylvester Roper and his "steam carriage" made sometime before 1870. From The Smithsonian Institution [found at Wikipedia]

Sylvester Roper and his “steam carriage” made
sometime before 1870. From The Smithsonian
Institution [Photograph from Wikipedia, and
noted to be in the public domain]

The Smithsonian Museum defines a motorcycle as, “a self-propelled, engine-powered, two-wheeled vehicle.” That time-honored institution gives Sylvester H. Roper credit for creating the earliest known example. I believe them.

The first motorcycle was steam-driven (the “Roper Steam Velocipede“). Invented in 1867 by Francestown New Hampshire native, Sylvester Howard Roper, it was powered by coal.  The gas-propelled version, usually credited as being the first, was not invented until 1885 by Gottlieb Daimler. In 1902 the Indian Motorcycle Company began mass-producing vehicles in Springfield MA. A year later, William Harley and Arthur and Walter Davidson founded the Harley-Davidson. Continue reading →

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