NY, NH – Oct 2023

Welcome to fall in New England!  It’s early Oct and the leaves are changing.  I took this picture in Milford, NH from the Swing Bridge that crosses the Souhegan River.  This is a pretty typical picturesque NH tree-lined babbling brook – one of many in the state.  It’s been a little over two years since I’ve been back to NH, and even much longer to have been here during leaf peeping season.  It was definitely cooler than I’m used to, but it was nice to see the changing colors again.  As long as I get out of here before freezing temperatures and snowfall, I’ll be fine.

Waterloo, NY

This was a medium length visit to this small town, spending five nights here at the KOA.  Situated at the top of the finger lakes nestled between Seneca and Cayuga, there was a surprising number of things to see and do in the area.  Alas, no rest for the travel weary!  Among its claims to fame, Waterloo, NY has the distinction as being the birthplace of Memorial Day.  Despite many other cities both north and south claiming themselves as the birthplace of this holiday, it was the 1966 declaration by Congress and then President Lyndon Johnson that officially gave that honor to Waterloo.  A small town park has a monument and plaque acknowledging its place in Memorial Day history, along with a small downtown museum (that was actually closed on a day in which it was supposed to be opened – argh).  Also in Waterloo is a canal lock along the Seneca River which forms the Cayuga Seneca Canal linking the finger lakes of the same names.  In fact, this canal and other waterways eventually leads to access to the Erie Canal – providing all sorts of shipping and commerce opportunities throughout all the Finger Lakes.  Lastly, in nearby Seneca Falls, I viewed the bridge (at left, bottom right)  that supposedly inspired the scene with Jimmy Stewart in the Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  In fact, the entire town of Seneca Falls claims that it was the foundation upon which the fictional town of the movie’s Bedford Falls was based.  Despite the entire movie having been filmed in movie lots in California, the similarities taken from Seneca Falls are noteworthy.  Further, Frank Capra was said to be visiting Seneca Falls in late 1945 while working on the movie script.  Coincidence?  Despite Capra having never directly stating that Seneca Falls was the inspiration for Bedford Falls, each year the town of Seneca Falls celebrates It’s a Wonderful Life with a large festival that takes place over several days in Dec.  So for this small town, it’s a done deal.

The other fun thing I did while here was to take an early evening 90-minute bus tour of the Seneca Army Depot.  This 17 square mile facility was established in 1941, along with 3 other depots across the country, to store and manage vast quantities of munitions during WWII.  After the complex was secured with 25 miles of barbed wire fencing, construction of the over 500 concrete igloos began.   With a force of just over 3,000 people, they completed one structure per day.  As time went on, the threat of war was becoming more imminent, and the team was expanded to over 8,600 in the spring of 1941.  With the expanded manpower and extended funding, they were able to produce 11 igloos per day, and wrapped up the last one in mid November – just three weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor.  From the outside they may appear small, but in fact, they are quite large – 20 feet across, 60 to 80 feet deep, and 15 feet high at their peak covered in soil and grass to help with climate control and to improve concealment from above.  There were grids of roads created, with rows upon rows of these ammo vaults.  The tour stopped at one so we could get an up close and inside look – truly awesome.  The complex was part of the 1995 BRAC commission report of base closings, and the entire facility was emptied and shutdown by 2000.  Access in and out of the facility included several railroad lines, and an airfield and runway.  Also, despite the government having never confirmed the presence of nuclear weapons at Seneca, there was an area known as “Q-Area” that had additional perimeter fencing including one that was electrified with 4,800 volts (twice the amount used in an electric chair).  This area was believed to have held a large quantity of nuclear weapons.  Also scattered throughout the complex were these supposed personnel bunkers (at right, center and bottom right).  I’m not sure how they were intended to protect personnel as they were simply small, open concrete hide aways.  Very strange!

So after the final cleanup and closing of the facility in 2000, much of the land was returned to Seneca County.  A state prison, a county jail,  and a sheriff’s office have all since been built within the one-time depot.  There is also reported to be some high security fiber optics and data storage company that leases the secure Q-Area.  Lastly, in 2016, the county auctioned off thousands of acres to get the property back on the tax rolls.  A tough sell with 500 concrete igloos, lots of environmental restrictions, and a lack of overall infrastructure.  There was also one additional catch – the requirement to have a plan to preserve and protect the rare and world’s largest herd of pure white deer that happens to reside here.  Earl Martin was the winning bidder.  Though he did not necessarily produce the highest bid, he did include detailed plans to preserve and protect this rare herd.  That included the formation of a 3,000 acre preserve known as Deer Haven Park – responsible for the care of the deer and other wildlife in the area.  It was this park that offered the bus tour through the facility to not only see the depot, but to hopefully catch a glimpse of these rare white deer.  We had several sightings during our 90 minute ride, one of which that was kind enough to stand still and even give us a few poses so we could grab some pictures.  Truly incredible creatures!  Apparently, there are also beavers on the property and we took a short walk from the road to a nearby stream to visit a beaver damn that had been built.  That is the first one of these that I’ve ever seen up close!  Too cool!  There is actually way more history about this depot than I can cover here, including over 100 families that lost their homes and farm land to the government to make up the depot, the years of protests by those apposed to the presence of nuclear materials, and the positive and negative economic impact to the local communities.  If you are interested, a recent documentary does a great job of filling in all the details I’ve left out.  Watch it HERE.

Austerlitz, NY

My next stop, and final in the state of NY, takes me to the town of Austerlitz.  The town sits on the far eastern edge of NY – a mere 3 miles from the Massachusetts boarder.  It’s a small town, with just over 1,600 residents according to the 2020 census.  There was not much to see in the town, so I ventured a but further south then east into MA to take in a few Roadside areas of interest.  In the southern part of town was a place called Circle Park (right, top).  It was actually a yard filled with various homemade junk art pieces.  It was someone’s private yard and there were no signs inviting visitors to walk around and explore, so I played it safe and stayed outside the bounds of the property and snapped a few pictures from the road.  Further south in Hillsdale, NY at the Roeliff Jansen Community Library is this giant comfy chair.  This green overstuffed living room variety was created by artist Leon Smith in 2010 and sits at the entrance to the library.  But don’t let its comfy appearance fool you – it’s made of concrete and has lots of pointy spiky things to give the impression of fabric.  Truly not comfortable at all!  Next I ventured to Great Barrington, MA to check out the world’s oldest paperboy statue.  This statue was dedicated on Oct 10, 1895 as a tribute to the now mostly extinct role as a paperboy.  Colonel William Brown, a local resident who was also part owner of the New York Daily News, commissioned the statue by sculptor David Richards.  The accompanying fountain served as a drinking trough for passing by horses.  The fountain is also embellished with fountain heads featuring a cat, a dog, a lion, and devil’s head.  Definitely a strange combination.

As I continued my trek deeper into MA, I found myself at Wahconah Park in Pittsfield, MA (left, top and center).  This park, recognized in the National Register of Historic Places, is one of the few remaining ballparks in the US with a wooden grandstand.  The park was built in 1919, and seats 4,500 attendees.  The stadium is currently home to the Pittsfield Suns, an expansion franchise of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, since 2012. Interestingly, from 2010 to 2011, the park was home to the Can-Am League team New Hampshire American Defenders (formally named Nashua Pride) – again renamed to the Pittsfield Colonials when they were relocated here from their Nashua, NH home base, Holman Stadium.  Apparently the city of Nashua evicted them from Holman  in 2009, and had a tractor parked on home plate refusing to move it or let the team back into the park until the $45,000 in back rent and property taxes were repaid to the city.  Well, it would appear they instead decided to skip town.  Too funny!  Outside the park is an art piece titled “Elements of the Game” created by landscape designer Jerod Hohn.  A 25-foot metal bat, a ball made of rocks, and a glove formed from finger-like shrubbery make up this very interesting piece.  Next I visited this crazy house in Lee, MA belonging to Bob DuPont.  Bob is a professional painter, and when his wife Rosemarie passed away in 2009, Bob decided to create this colorful memorial in her honor.  So, he painted his house with lots of colors, and left this message on the side of his garage.  Despite all my research, I could not find any information about why she was referred to as Wonder Woman – perhaps something to represent her life.  Anyway, besides the crazy paint, the yard is filled with decorations from all seasons (Halloween, Christmas, etc.) and apparently remain there all year round – also a part of the tribute.  Definitely a crazy house!  Last up was a trip to Tyringham, MA to visit another crazy house – the Santarella, or as it is also known as, the Gingerbread House.  This was the life’s work of Sir Henry Hudson Kitson – a sculptor responsible for the Lexington Minuteman and Plymouth Rock Maiden statues.  He wanted to create this fairy tale building as a studio, converting his existing barn.  He would spend the last 25 years of his life and his entire life’s savings on this project which resulted in this crazy house and him in poverty.  It was once being used as a wedding venue and eventual B&B.  But apparently those ventures were likely not sufficient to keep up with the maintenance.  As it looks today, it’s doubtful it is used at all.  The grounds were overgrown, and the crazy 100 year old roof appeared to have several holes in it – likely causing severe damage to the underlying building.  I read that the property was purchased in 2020 for a cool $1.2M, and recently a go-fund-me was started by its new owners to help pay for the $600k needed for the roof repair. Sad that this one-time beauty has succumbed to bad times and neglect. Hopefully the restoration will take place.

On one of my Roadside adventure days, I happened to run across this beautiful landscape in South Lee, MA.  I like to capture scenes like these to perhaps use as the featured image at the top of my blogs.  While I didn’t choose this one for that purpose, I did notice something very peculiar about it that warranted this little write up.  I actually took two pictures of this landscape, just about 5 seconds or less apart.  Besides the interesting landscape, the first photo had nothing special about it.  But this second one taken shortly thereafter had captured something in the sky.  I didn’t see it at the time I took the picture, but rather noticed it later when I was reviewing the pictures on my iPad.  Zooming in, it doesn’t resemble anything like an airplane or helicopter or any known flying aircraft that I’m aware of.  There was no sound at the time, jet engine or otherwise.  So, best I can tell and call me crazy, but I think I might have just captured a UFO that was zooming across the sky at the time.  I wish I had better resolution when fully zoomed in, but this is the best I’ve got with this three generations old iPhone.  So who knows what this actually is, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Brookline, NH

Ah, there’s nothing better than being back to your childhood home town.  June of 2021 was the last time I was here, so it was certainly time for a new visit.  I booked a two-week stay at Field & Stream Campground in Brookline – which is only about 20 minutes away from my hometown of Nashua.  It was a very nice campground, and despite there not being a pull-thru site, the back-in was not too bad, and the site was extra large and very nice.  So, the accommodations were excellent.

There were lots of friends and family to catch up with here in NH, so my calendar quickly got filled up with visits.  I went to visit my longtime friends John and Janet back in my old neighborhood.  We chatted for a while and they happened to mention they were going out for lobster rolls later in the week.  That is one of my all-time favorite foods, so I got myself invited to join them.  It was a terrific meal, with terrific friends (at left, bottom).  I even got to see and spend a bit of time with their adorable granddaughter Kacey.  Thanks John and Jan for letting me tag along.  Next, I took a drive up to Manchester to visit with my niece Becky, her husband Russell, and boys Jackson and Lewis (left, top right).  It was great seeing them again, despite doing so while also watching the Patriots getting whooped by the Saints.  Better luck next time Becky!  Next, I had a great lunch meeting with my deer friend Laura and her significant other Cindy.  Laura recently retired, and Cindy was off for the day, so we spent several hours at the restaurant chatting and catching up, and also dabbling a bit into politics.  So great to see you both again!  (Go Desantis 😂)  Lastly, I had a nice lunch get together with my brother Dick and sister-in-law Kathi at a really nice restaurant.  The food was so good and so plentiful, we all took home leftovers to enjoy for dinner.  I know I enjoyed mine.

After lunch with my brother, I met him at Ripano, a family owned business he once ran, for an updated tour.  There, I also met up with my nephew Matt, Dick’s son, who has taken over and now runs the Ripano operation.  The company has been in business since 1987 and fabricates countertops from a variety of materials including natural stone such as granite and marble, as well as manufactured products made from quartz.  They do custom work for both residential and commercial customers, and have the distinction of having been chosen as Fabricator of the Year by Stone World Magazine, and the only fabricator in NH accredited by the Natural Stone Institute.  They have an expansive showroom that showcases many of their products, while also maintaining a vast inventory of stone slabs that can be viewed and selected by prospective customers.  Once a customer has been booked, they use digital laser templating tools to get accurate job measurements, then transfer those specs to computerized automated cutting and edging equipment to produce the final deliverable product.  Finishing touches are done by hand, as is the delivery and installation of the completed project.  They are also very environmentally conscious and have a closed loop water recycling system that saves upwards of 30,000 gallons of water per day. It is quite the operation, and the many decades of happy customers is certainly a testament to their hard work and excellent craftsmanship.  Thanks for the tour!

After my visit to Ripano, my brother and I headed over to visit with his mother-in-law Rahrie.  Always great to catch up with her!  My sister-in-law’s sister Paula was also there, and I got a nice picture of her and Rahrie (at left, bottom right). While visiting there, my niece Zibby and her daughter Katie (at left, bottom left) arrived, so I got to see them as well.  It was great catching up.  I also got to visit with my sister-in-law’s brother Curt who also came to visit Rahrie, though I neglected to get a picture (sorry Curt!).  It had been quite some time since I’d last visited with him, and it was nice catching up.  So all in all, the visit to Rahrie netted several other great visits along the way.  Nice to see you all again, and I hope to catch up with you again in Florida over the winter.  The next day, I met up with my cousin Lucy in Milford, where we had a great lunch together.  She brought along a couple wonderful photo albums to share with me, which were really great.  I look forward to seeing her again when she takes a trip to FL.  Hopefully, I can get together with her, and her sister-in-law Denise sometime during the winter.  Till then, take care and thanks again for lunch!

Besides visiting with lots of friends and family, I did chase down some Roadside item here in my home state.  Specifically, there were several listed in Manchester so I took the opportunity to check them out.  Many were art pieces including this Old Man of the Mountain (at right, bottom right) that lives in front of a storage facility.  This is a replica of a historic NH landmark and was nicely done.  Next, along the shores of the Merrimack River in Arms Park is a bronze of Ralph Baer sitting on a bench overlooking the river (at right, bottom left).  Ralph was a NH nerd and in 1961 jotted down some notes on a piece of paper dealing with interacting with a TV.  Seven years later, while working for a NH defense contractor, he and a team developed the “Brown Box” – a device connected to a TV that could move dots around the screen.  In 1972 it became Magnavox Odyssey – the first home video game console.  Thus, Ralph Baer is credited with inventing the video game.  Next I visited the Grieving Gold Star Mother statue that sits in a small park across from Veteran’s Memorial Park.  Designed by Andrew Chernak, this is the second statue in the series (the first is located in Carmel, NY), with plans to produce more across the country.  This art piece depicts a grieving mom who just received notice that her son had been killed in action in the military.  It was a very nicely done piece.  Last up was a visit to the Merci Train.  This turned out to be a very interesting and historical visit.  Back in 1947, American newspaper columnist Drew Pearson conceived the idea of sending a train across America, collecting donated goods of food, clothing, medical items, and other necessities, to send to Europe which had been devastated from the wars.  Known as the Friendship Train, it left CA on Nov 7, 1947 with eight empty boxcars, and arrived 11 days later in NY with 700 cars filled with donated goods – valued at a whopping $40M.  These goods were then loaded onto ships and sent to Europe, with France and Italy as the major recipients.  France was so thankful that in 1949 they collected 49 WWI era rail cars, and filled them with donated gifts including toys, art, clothing, antiques, and so much more. Called the Merci Train (Merci is Thank You in French), these cars were then shipped to the US – where one car and its contents would ultimately be delivered to each of the then 48 states, with the 49th car to be shared between Washington DC and the territory of Hawaii.  So, protected from the elements by having its own dedicated building to reside in, the rail car that was delivered to NH back in 1949 lives here in Manchester.  Anyway, I knew nothing about this exchange of railroad cars of stuff between France and the US, and I found this whole story really interesting.  A man named Earl Bennett Sr spent many years of his life visiting and documenting each and every one of the cars across the country, and developed an amazingly resourceful website that has details on all the cars and much of their contents (HERE).  According to his list, 43 of the original 49 cars remain in existence located in each of their delivery states.  So, now I have to add these to my list of things to see as I travel from state-to-state.

On Oct 5th, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, FL putting Starlink group 6-21 into low earth orbit. When these satellites are initially released, the batch of 22 of them run orbits around the earth in a line, one behind the other, in what is often referred to as a Starlink Train. They run in this formation for upwards of a week after launch while they climb to their 340 mile operating elevation, and eventually disperse to their permanent position. The train paths vary all over the country, and are generally visible only in areas along that path. As luck would have it, the path associated with this particular launch was running directly overhead in southern NH – right where I was. Using an iPhone app that provides specific date and times for viewing the roughly 3 to 4 minute show as they pass, I went outside the RV at the prescribed time, looked west, and watched the train as it flew directly overhead towards to the east. It was spectacular!  I’ve actually seen the train once before on accident, but this was the first time I was prepared and got a picture of it. What a special treat!

Fifty years in the making!  It was the fall of 1965 when about 40 kids from Crown Hill and south Nashua areas started first grade at Holy Infant Jesus School (at right, top left).  Middle school or Jr High did not exist back then, so we would be together for the next 8 years of elementary school before heading off to various high schools.  50 years ago that group of kids graduated from 8th grade, and went on to bigger and better things.  Having been together for those eight years, we were a very close class – often spending time together outside of the school day.  Many of us remained in touch over the years, and a few of us put together this 50th anniversary get together.  It was great seeing many of my old friends again – some of which I’ve seen over the years, while others I’ve not seen since graduation a half century ago.  Many of us travelled from afar to be here – including Nashville, Pittsburgh, and me from Lake Wales.  It was an absolutely wonderful evening of comaraderie and fellowship, reminiscing about our old elementary school days.  For me personally, this group of people mean way more to me than my high school graduation class.  So, it was a no-brainer to be here with them to celebrate this milestone occasion.  I can only hope that we can remain connected, and occasionally get together with each other while time permits.  Cheers to the HIJ class of ‘73!

Once a year, the Nashua Rotary Club has their big fundraiser involving the release of thousands of rubber ducks into the Nashua River, where they then race to the finish line.  In the past, each duck was numbered and you could make a donation to then get a corresponding selection of ducks in hopes that your number would win the race.  I hear this practice became too complicated, so this year you could still sponsor ducks for donations, but the winners would be randomly selected in lieu of the results of the actual duck race.  My nephew Matt is a member of the Rotary Club, and has been actively involved with this fundraiser.  The duck launch was scheduled to happen on a nice brisk Saturday afternoon, so I figured I’d drop by to watch it in action.  Once the ducks are let go, they meander down the river, sometimes those in the back of the pack getingt a little assistance by the cleanup folks paddling around in kayaks.  There is a barricade stretched across the far end of the river to keep the ducks from escaping, and once the race is complete, the folks in their kayaks collect them into baskets so they live to race again.  It was a fun event and those in attendance certainly had a great time.  I took some videos during the event and stitched several together into a little overview of the day.  Enjoy!

As I wrap up my stay here in my home state, I figured I was up for one more trip out for a lobster roll, and to check out a couple of really cool murals in downtown Nashua.  My brother recommended Temple Street Diner as having noteworthy lobster rolls, so I figured I’d give it a try.  Wow – what an outstanding recommendation!  I absolutely OD’d on lobster here.  I started with a cup of lobster bisque which, with its large chunks of lobster meat, was absolutely the best I’ve ever had.  Then a 10oz loaded lobster roll fulfilled the afternoon’s seafood quota, with plenty of leftovers to have more for dinner later.  What a great way to end a visit!  Thanks Dick for the excellent suggestion.  Then on Main Street in downtown Nashua just north of E Pearl St is this really cool mural that pays tribute to the old downtown movie theater that was built in 1917.  The mural depicts the evolution of the theater, and pays tribute to many of the classic movies that were played there – including none other than the Three Stooges!  It was a really cool mural, but in all honesty, the likeness of the Stooges came up a bit short in my opinion.  I also visited the brand new mural that was painted recently on the side of the defense contractor BAE building.  An excellent war fighter representation featuring F-15 and F-35 aircraft with a high tech pilot featured in the center.  At either end is an homage to Nashua Manufacturing Company – a large cotton textile mill that operated from 1823 to 1945, and who is often credited with helping create what has become the city of Nashua. What a beautiful mural!

Final Thoughts

Wow, what an exceptional time I had back in my home state visiting with family and friends.  It was a quick two weeks that was filled with lots of gatherings – not the least of which was reconnecting with several of my elementary school classmates from 50 years ago.  I’ll be starting my trek to the south now, which is certainly much anticipated as it is getting too cold for me up here in the north.  I’ll have an extended stay in MD with my daughters and grandkids which I’m truly looking forward to.  Then I’ll go deeper to the south where I expect the weather will start to warm up along the way.  I’ve got a few more folks to visit with along the way, and certainly look forward to that as well.  I hope everyone has a wonderful fall season, and enjoy Halloween 🎃.  Until next time, safe travels!

I only show a sampling of my adventure pictures here in the blog, and do so mostly in collage format for brevity and ease of reading. If you want to view an album containing individual full fidelity and hi-res images of all my travel pictures related to this specific blog, click the image below. Enjoy!