By the time the 1980s arrived, New Hampshire was in the middle of a major transformation. Decades earlier, the state had relied on textile mills and shoe factories to keep its economy running. Those industries faded, and in their place came manufacturers of precision instruments, electrical products, and eventually computers and computer accessories. The shift worked. New Hampshire grew into one of the wealthiest states in the country, boasting the seventh-highest median household income in the nation alongside some of the lowest poverty, unemployment, and crime rates anywhere in the U.S.
Highland Cottages, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1984
A big reason for this growth was geography. Major highways connecting New Hampshire to Greater Boston turned towns throughout the state into bedroom communities — places where people lived but commuted south to work. The population nearly doubled between 1960 and 2000, making New Hampshire one of the fastest-growing states east of the Mississippi River. Weirs Beach on Lake Winnipesaukee became one of the most popular destinations for families looking to escape the city. Cottages, resorts, and lakeside attractions lined the shoreline throughout both decades.
The English Village, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1991Wentworth By-The-Sea, New Castle, New Hampshire, 1994
The White Mountains region drew tourists year after year. North Woodstock was a hub of activity, with themed resorts and roadside attractions pulling in visitors from across New England. Wentworth By-The-Sea in New Castle stood as one of the grandest old hotels in the state — a sprawling Victorian-era resort that defined a certain kind of New Hampshire elegance. These places weren’t just vacation spots. They were landmarks that shaped how people remembered the state.
Tin soldier, Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1981
For families with children, few places in New Hampshire carried more excitement than Santa’s Village in Jefferson. Sitting along Route 2 in the White Mountains, the park had been drawing kids since the 1950s, and by the 1980s it was a full-blown institution. Oversized holiday decorations, nativity scenes, and costumed characters filled the grounds. A giant tin soldier stood at the entrance, and a dinosaur crouched near the castle — details that seemed perfectly normal at a Christmas-themed park in the mountains.
Story Land, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1991Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1991
Story Land on Route 16 in Glen was another cornerstone of New Hampshire childhood. The park brought fairy tales to life with storybook buildings, rides, and themed areas that stretched across the property. Clark’s Trading Post in North Woodstock offered something different — a mix of live bear shows, steam train rides, and quirky Americana that made it unlike anything else in the state. Visitors returned to Clark’s again and again throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and the “Next Bear Show” sign became one of the most recognized sights along Route 3.
Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1996Plane view 2, Salute to the USA mini golf, Lake Winnipesaukee Pier, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1982
Mini golf was everywhere in New Hampshire during this era, and Weirs Beach had some of the most creative courses in the region. The Salute to the USA course at Lake Winnipesaukee Pier took a patriotic theme to its extreme — holes modeled after American landmarks, a giant Uncle Sam figure, an Alamo replica, and a to-scale USA map built right into the layout. Funspot on Route 3 offered its own mini golf experience, with a windmill hole, a covered bridge, a barn, and even a model of the cog railway that climbed Mount Washington.
Funspot mini golf, Route 3, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1983Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1989Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1981
Six Gun City, also on Route 2 in Jefferson, put a Wild West spin on the family attraction formula. The park featured Western storefronts, a tractor wagon ride, and costumed staff who staged shows for visitors. It sat right near Santa’s Village, making the stretch of Route 2 through Jefferson one of the most entertainment-dense roads in the state during summer months.
Six Gun City, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1995Dinosaur by castle, Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1991
Dining out in New Hampshire during the 1980s had its own character. Roadside diners, Chinese restaurants, and drive-ins dotted the state from Manchester to the Lakes Region. Jade Island Chinese Restaurant in Meredith stood out with its themed exterior near the lake. Porky’s Drive-In in Laconia had a sign that was hard to miss from the road. The Peterboro Diner in Peterborough and the Newport Diner on Main Street in Newport were the kinds of places where locals ate on a Tuesday and tourists stumbled in after a day of hiking.
Jade Island Chinese Restaurant, Meredith, New Hampshire, 1982Seven Gables Motel, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, 1985
Hampton Beach on the Atlantic coast was New Hampshire’s answer to the classic seaside resort strip. The Seven Gables Motel and the White Gables Motor Court both catered to beach-goers who came for the ocean and stayed for the arcades, seafood, and boardwalk atmosphere. Hampton Beach operated on a different energy than the mountain towns — louder, busier, and packed tight with visitors every summer.
Indian Head Resort, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1998
Plane view 1, Salute to the USA mini golf, Lake Winnipesaukee Pier, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1981
Windmill, Funspot mini golf, Route 3, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1985
Summer cottage, Funspot mini golf, Route 3, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1984Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1984Wentworth By-The-Sea, New Castle, New Hampshire, 1995
Motor courts and small roadside motels were a staple of New Hampshire travel in both decades. Places like the Piper Trail Motor Court in Albany, the Pemi Motor Court in North Woodstock, and the Mt. Jefferson Motel in Randolph offered simple, affordable stops for travelers moving through the White Mountains. These weren’t luxury accommodations — they were practical, clean, and usually within a short drive of whatever park or trail a family had planned for the next day.
Piper Trail Motor Court, Albany, New Hampshire, 1984Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1991Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1991Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1991Play the ball sign, Funspot mini golf, Route 3, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1983Wentworth By-The-Sea, New Castle, New Hampshire, 1991Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1997Santa’s Village parking lot sign, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1987Jade Island Chinese Restaurant, Meredith, New Hampshire, 1981Hearthside Village, Bethlehem, New Hampshire, 1983
Bethlehem, in Grafton County, had its own quiet charm. Hearthside Village there was one of several small cottage-style developments that gave the mountain town a laid-back, residential feel even during tourist season. Manchester, the state’s largest city, had its own slice of mid-century Americana — the Empire Theater on the main drag and the Creamland ice cream sign were two of the most recognizable sights in the city at the start of the decade.
Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1991White Gables Motor Court, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, 1981Story Land, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1994Mt. Jefferson Motel, Randolph, New Hampshire, 1983Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1997Hearthside Village, Bethlehem, New Hampshire, 1986Space Fantasy facade and rocket, Storyland, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1987His-hers sign, Funspot mini golf, Route 3, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1987Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1991Go-Go mini golf, Route 1A, pirate, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, 1982Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1998Wentworth By-The-Sea, New Castle, New Hampshire, 1998Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1998Story Land, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1991Hearthside Village, Bethlehem, New Hampshire, 1984Three kings nativity scene, Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1981Giant baseball hole, Salute to the USA mini golf, Lake Winnipesaukee Pier, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1981Wentworth By-The-Sea, New Castle, New Hampshire, 1994Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1991Mt. Jefferson Motel, Randolph, New Hampshire, 1983Wentworth By-The-Sea, New Castle, New Hampshire, 1995Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1996Ball on wrong green sign, Funspot mini golf, Route 3, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1981B and M Train, Funspot mini golf, Route 3, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1988Entrance, Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1996Plane view 3, Salute to the USA mini golf, Lake Winnipesaukee Pier, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1981Uncle Sam hole, Salute to the USA mini golf, Lake Winnipesaukee Pier, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1981Story Land, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1996Story Land, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1996Six Gun City, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1997Barn, Funspot mini golf, Route 3, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1981Seven Gables Motel, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, 1988Next Bear Show sign, Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1995Six Gun City, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1996Indian Head Resort, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1995Wentworth By-The-Sea, New Castle, New Hampshire, 1995Salute to the USA mini golf, USA map, Lake Winnipesaukee Pier, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1981Cog railway, Funspot mini golf, Route 3, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1982Six Gun City, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1996Six Gun City, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1996Overall, Storyland, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1995Story Land, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1981Wentworth By-The-Sea, New Castle, New Hampshire, 1994Covered bridge sign, Funspot mini golf, Route 3, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1981Snowman (vertical), Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1981Pemi Motor Court, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1994Creamland ice cream sign, Manchester, New Hampshire, 1980Peterboro Diner, Peterborough, New Hampshire, 1980Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1995Seven Gables Motel, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, 1984Pemi Motor Court, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1995Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1995Newport Diner, Main Street, Newport, New Hampshire, 1984Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1995Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1995Grand View Resort, Route 3, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1984White Gables Motor Court, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, 1984Story Land, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1984
Porky’s Drive-in sign, Laconia, New Hampshire, 1984
Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1997
Parking sign 2, Storyland, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1981Tractor wagon, Six Gun City, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1997West Alton Railroad Station, Funspot mini golf, Route 3, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1982Clark’s Trading Post, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1996Six Gun City, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1996Six Gun City, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1996Story Land, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1995Story Land, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1995Story Land, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1982Alamo hole, Salute to the USA mini golf, Lake Winnipesaukee Pier, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1997Weirs Superette, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1981Story Land, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1991Piper Trail Motor Court, Albany, New Hampshire, 1981Lighthouse observation tower, Randolph, New Hampshire, 1981Six Gun City, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1991Six Gun City, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1997Mt. Jefferson Motel, Randolph, New Hampshire, 1985Hearthside Village, Bethlehem, New Hampshire, 1985Entrance, Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire,1991Green Village Court, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1996Erin Wrinkle Moose sign, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1996Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1983Pemi Motor Court, diagonal view 1, Route 3, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, 1991Storefronts and wagon, Six Gun City, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1997Hearthside Village, Bethlehem, New Hampshire, 1985Wentworth Location Cemetery, Wentworth Location, New Hampshire, 1991Story Land, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1983Dinosaur by castle, Santa’s Village, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1997J.B. Scoops Ice Cream, Meredith, New Hampshire, 1981Story Land, Route 16, Glen, New Hampshire, 1997Six Gun City, Route 2, Jefferson, New Hampshire, 1997Wentworth By-The-Sea, New Castle, New Hampshire, 1997Seven Gables Motel, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, 1981Empire Theater, Manchester, New Hampshire, 1980Grand View Resort, Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, 1984
Of all the places mentioned, Clark’s Trading Post is the only one that is genuinely remarkable. Take a train ride, observe the bears, and relish old-fashioned amusement that everyone in the family can enjoy.
The pictures are lovely, but there’s too much repetition. Does anyone recall the name of the old general store that was situated near the Weirs Beach Drive-In just around the corner heading south? It was later demolished and replaced with condos. Thank you.
While much of the commercial activity remains in place, New Hampshire’s connectivity to the southern border was established via highways well before the 1980s. However, what has changed is the steady increase in automobile ownership and the consequent sprawl into the southern tier. Unfortunately, New Hampshire seems intent on emulating the rest of the US by introducing big-box stores and decimating downtown areas like Claremont, Manchester, and others through the construction of multi-lane suburban roads to accommodate the sprawl infrastructure. Since the late 70s, ABC New Hampshire has implemented this model to practically every roadway in the state, transforming most villages into traffic hubs that prioritize through traffic over the welfare of those who reside on the road. The effects are most apparent while crossing over into Vermont from New Hampshire. It’s ironic that New Hampshire is often portrayed as a quaint, idyllic, cow-filled state with charming villages at the border when the truth couldn’t be further from it. Development and automobile-centric engineering are the driving forces, with everything else being disregarded.
Some really great pictures, brings back my childhood. Only thing missed, which I’m shocked, is Heritage New Hampshire. Especially considering it’s neighbor was in many of these 🙂
Well I’ve seen the change from the ’50s especially in the southern tier of the state. There were once still farms, true agriculture and suburban sprawl n the bullshit we have today didn’t exist yet. Near Manchester was all farmland on the outside of the city from South Willow Street all the way to Bedford all the way to the river. Back River road which is now just another strip mall piece of crap was filled with historic homes and the old White horse tavern. It was one of the first buildings to be demolished when Jordan’s decided to build , But then rejected the site. The building was demolished for nothing. The great maple is still there if you know what you’re looking for near the highway and all the other garbage of today
Roads in general were narrower, the craziness of the federal dollars of the seventies widening everything extra large breakdown lanes and extra lanes in every little town and village destroyed the bucolic beauty that once was in every place. There is not a village that was not ruined with the process. You can see the difference that you cross into Vermont to Massachusetts the different standards that were adopted.
Londonderry was still sleepy but continued to build so the ’60s and the ’70s into the ’80s and of course derry
Because they’re beautiful ribbons of asphalt that take you through the countryside to where you want to be. You should go travel through Europe although Vermont has a fair amount of them as well. The New Hampshire has been so automobile centric that the beauty has been asphalted out of it.. It’s quite sad but especially in the village centers where everything has been widened to some 1970 standard.
I don’t have a problem with interstates of course or a secondary important road widened accordingly but in New Hampshire’s ridiculous. I looked at a house in Durham on the oyster River a couple of years ago. A beautiful location facing the Mill pond but you faced the main road into downtown Durham, the college campus. This ridiculous road which should have just been a simple two-lane road lined with elm trees was as if you could move the battle battalion’s of Red square in formation into the college town. What the fuck The Sea of asphalt in front of his house four lanes wide two travel lanes two huge huge breakdown lanes and then you get into the town itself And it’s an automobile engineering nightmare. Somebody went to work on there engineering desk about how many cars per minute for so many square feet or of however these rules are compiled and came up with this nightmare of asphalt wide Lanes in small side rocks in this little college town which is normally swamped with pedestrians.
But of course that’s just the poster child that came to mind but the same thing happens in just about any time you go to that accepted federal funds to vandalize the place
Go drive around Vermont on back roads or better yet go to Central Europe where the village abruptly ends and the fields begin. It doesn’t matter what kind of traffic is on it, the house s Don’t yield and the road snakes through the village. after all I was there first. In America that’s not the way it works. The far-flung suburbs, the strip malls the sprawl are all service by everybody coming and going and everybody along the way is just fucked like 114 going to goffstown. Just too bad you happen to have a house on the road oh well that’s the attitude
One could argue that roads ruined everything in the first place. It just depends on how far back in time you want to go with nostalgia.
I used to live in Durham and I’m pretty sure I know which house you’re talking about.
I can’t fully agree still. Pedestrian safety should take precedence over car capacity or asphalt beauty. No one has widened the main streets of Durham though. Some of those buildings have been there for centuries. If anything they’ve been narrowed again after route 4 bypassed the town. The crossings have been remade with bricks.
Durham is probably a good example of a town that is fighting against the things you’re upset about. It could be an industrial disaster with the near buyout from Onassis. Instead there’s a wagon and a park.
No I think you’re referring to the other side of the town but that’s a good example as well and that would have been a disaster had it gone what William Loeb pushed for in the ’70.
This is on the other side of the town directly on the old mill dam, almost bought the last remnant of one of the gristmills on the old dam but the road leading in was just so fucking ugly and only because it came off of engineering draw board as everything does in America but a specifically heavy-handed in New Hampshire. Automobiles first and their engineering need x amount of feet for the turn etc
To continue in that vein of automobile worship, in Manchester on Beech Street there was a magnificent 300-year-old white oak. It existed before the Manchester grid appeared in the 19th century and was undoubtedly a boundary marker on a old country road from the 18th century. Maybe the tree was even older than that. But at any rate it managed to just live on the side of Beach Street on the back of an industrial building and I always marveled at it that it survived. I go away in the winter these days and I came back and the fucking tree is gone. What did they replace it with. Somebody bought the building and the engineers got to work. So many square feet means x number of parking spots with no variants. They needed seven spots on this side of the building to complete the plan evidently and they cut the fucking tree down. You can see that somebody thought about it for 2 minutes because the concession was to plant two new trees 12 ft away. And guess what those fucking parking spots are absolutely never used. This is the kind of thinking that prevails.. And it’s an uphill battle to fight against it for everything.
If you live in a wealthy area more politically active and aesthetically conscious, historical district you can push back in there’s well heeled pockets willing to do it for their sake but everywhere else does it emanate from the state down, absolutely not Neanderthals. Or in this case the city of Manchester and the building department. And Manchester is filled with those kinds of road solutions traffic solutions that I speak about filled with them granite square, ex-mayor mongen’s pride. Ripped the soul out of the historic square demolished all the buildings so it looks like a piece of shit that could be in North St Louis or anywhere else garbage USA..
But yet when you enter the state is a welcome to New Hampshire sign with a cute little stylized village that we like to pretend it’s still cow Hampshire, rural lovely and so protected. Anything but unfortunately
I definitely agree that I’d love to see more old trees in the state. But again, if you go back far enough, you could argue that humans destroyed the entire place by clear cutting it for centuries!
I still think there are plenty of towns in NH that are just as you are envisioning. Orford. Rumney. Eaton. Hebron. They’re tucked away off the beaten path.
Well it’s sad because Manchester is the economic powerhouse and it’s an okay City I still live there but it shoots itself in the foot every chance it gets ripping away part of its heritage and take it away It’s beauty. If only saner minds had ruled in the 1960s.
The upper valley is indeed a little more sleepy and that’s where my Yankee family comes from the town of unity, / Acworth etc The old stomping ground
And Yes that’s a lovely copper beach on the side of the old carpenter house. When you’re viewing this tree do you have any knowledge of what used to be behind the viewer where the Brady Sullivan Tower now stands. This is the poster child of everything that I could complaining about. I can go into a long rant about this whole area and how it was simply geographically removed in 1969 by the building of that fucking bridge, the highway ramps, the complete annihilation on the other side of the river of the original Mill village a decade before that and the crowning Jewel that used to be about 50 ft higher with a parking lot is, the entire Indian bluff, burial ground that was crowned with the finest second empire house north of Boston. Yeah that’s kind of Manchester in the 20th century in a nutshell
Immediately recognized Six Gun City as the main thumbnail. My first job. Pretty normal starting point for a lot of high-schoolers in that area, but in hindsight, a very unique experience.
Was thinking the same, scrolled through every photo looking for any of those towns, and was very disappointed. Southern NH is so underrepresented whenever NH is mentioned, despite that being where the majority of people in the state live.
My whole childhood I wanted to stay in one. Finally did in the mid ’90s. Got one in Woodstock during the Highland Games, with my girlfriend at the time. I think it was the first time we took an overnight trip somewhere as a couple.
Poured that weekend; it was a nice room to get warm and dry in.
I think we should keep it to the travel agents; we will end up with less stanley cups, and straws in our streams and rivers; and maybe a few less people manifesting abundance and gratitude in the same place.
That’s a strange group of photos to capture New Hampshire in the ’80s and the ’90s in boy do I feel like a dinosaur. Since I would be capturing New Hampshire of the ’50s in the ’60s , before highways sliced and diced the state encouraging sprawl, before the advent of big blocks shit stores that are the same from Pasadena California right incidentally now sit lol two Manchester New Hampshire all the same crap. Pictures of South Willow Street in Manchester when there was nothing we are except trucking companies and the Mall of New Hampshire was farm or Bedford New Hampshire back of the road was simply a sleepy farm road to some of the most beautiful pristine farmland. The kind of thing you might still see in Europe when you leave the village of the town but not in America It’s swallowed up by parking lots and malls. Or urban renewal itself and how that destroyed huge swathes of inner city concord especially the rail yards and that lost opportunity, Manchester the destruction of the amoskeag milliard which might have been a UNESCO site. It was bantured about and long before Rowes wharf in Baltimore or Quincy market in Boston Made their appearances, and then poor Nashua. There’s certainly is a lot more money in the state these days for sure but everything can’t be measured in dollars and cents
My memere has a journal from the ’50s where she talks about her and my pepere going to that theater a lot when they were 15 years old. It opened in 1912.
Storyland, Santa’s Village, Clark’s Trading Post, Wentworth by the Sea. Over and over again… That’s it.
How can you forget Six Gun City
Of all the places mentioned, Clark’s Trading Post is the only one that is genuinely remarkable. Take a train ride, observe the bears, and relish old-fashioned amusement that everyone in the family can enjoy.
There’s nothing quite like a half-naked homeless man armed with a gun to provide the classic children’s entertainment.
“Scram, ya old goat”
The pictures are lovely, but there’s too much repetition. Does anyone recall the name of the old general store that was situated near the Weirs Beach Drive-In just around the corner heading south? It was later demolished and replaced with condos. Thank you.
Across from Karl’s?
While much of the commercial activity remains in place, New Hampshire’s connectivity to the southern border was established via highways well before the 1980s. However, what has changed is the steady increase in automobile ownership and the consequent sprawl into the southern tier. Unfortunately, New Hampshire seems intent on emulating the rest of the US by introducing big-box stores and decimating downtown areas like Claremont, Manchester, and others through the construction of multi-lane suburban roads to accommodate the sprawl infrastructure. Since the late 70s, ABC New Hampshire has implemented this model to practically every roadway in the state, transforming most villages into traffic hubs that prioritize through traffic over the welfare of those who reside on the road. The effects are most apparent while crossing over into Vermont from New Hampshire. It’s ironic that New Hampshire is often portrayed as a quaint, idyllic, cow-filled state with charming villages at the border when the truth couldn’t be further from it. Development and automobile-centric engineering are the driving forces, with everything else being disregarded.
Glad to see the Empire Theater in that collection!
It’s almost all just old Santa’s village pictures. As if that’s the only place that matters in NH. Where’s a pic of the old man?
The Weirs has remained relatively unchanged. However, with the massive condo complex coming up just above it, that could be subject to change
The state is thriving with all the young people moving in, but it was a special kind of nice back then.
However, times change as they always do. There is a special joy that comes with moving here, and I hope that those who do get it.
It’s a little bittersweet knowing people will never experience that again, but they’ll have their own memories.
Someone’s dad just tricked us into watching their vacation slide show.
I guess cameras didn’t exist in the western half of the state until the 90s.
The picture they chose for Story Land was… odd
Some really great pictures, brings back my childhood. Only thing missed, which I’m shocked, is Heritage New Hampshire. Especially considering it’s neighbor was in many of these 🙂
I was there. It’s the same as it is now, but the malls were crowded and people were still more pleasant.
Im sorry, but “new Hampshire” isn’t the sum of four family fun spots.
Wow, strange to think there were only like 4 places back then and I don’t remember any of them!
So .. our state was a gimmicky tourist trap back then.
Well I’ve seen the change from the ’50s especially in the southern tier of the state. There were once still farms, true agriculture and suburban sprawl n the bullshit we have today didn’t exist yet. Near Manchester was all farmland on the outside of the city from South Willow Street all the way to Bedford all the way to the river. Back River road which is now just another strip mall piece of crap was filled with historic homes and the old White horse tavern. It was one of the first buildings to be demolished when Jordan’s decided to build , But then rejected the site. The building was demolished for nothing. The great maple is still there if you know what you’re looking for near the highway and all the other garbage of today
Roads in general were narrower, the craziness of the federal dollars of the seventies widening everything extra large breakdown lanes and extra lanes in every little town and village destroyed the bucolic beauty that once was in every place. There is not a village that was not ruined with the process. You can see the difference that you cross into Vermont to Massachusetts the different standards that were adopted.
Londonderry was still sleepy but continued to build so the ’60s and the ’70s into the ’80s and of course derry
I don’t understand why everyone loves narrow roads honestly. If you haven’t seen any narrow roads in the state you need to get out of Derry imo
Because they’re beautiful ribbons of asphalt that take you through the countryside to where you want to be. You should go travel through Europe although Vermont has a fair amount of them as well. The New Hampshire has been so automobile centric that the beauty has been asphalted out of it.. It’s quite sad but especially in the village centers where everything has been widened to some 1970 standard.
I don’t have a problem with interstates of course or a secondary important road widened accordingly but in New Hampshire’s ridiculous. I looked at a house in Durham on the oyster River a couple of years ago. A beautiful location facing the Mill pond but you faced the main road into downtown Durham, the college campus. This ridiculous road which should have just been a simple two-lane road lined with elm trees was as if you could move the battle battalion’s of Red square in formation into the college town. What the fuck The Sea of asphalt in front of his house four lanes wide two travel lanes two huge huge breakdown lanes and then you get into the town itself And it’s an automobile engineering nightmare. Somebody went to work on there engineering desk about how many cars per minute for so many square feet or of however these rules are compiled and came up with this nightmare of asphalt wide Lanes in small side rocks in this little college town which is normally swamped with pedestrians.
But of course that’s just the poster child that came to mind but the same thing happens in just about any time you go to that accepted federal funds to vandalize the place
Go drive around Vermont on back roads or better yet go to Central Europe where the village abruptly ends and the fields begin. It doesn’t matter what kind of traffic is on it, the house s Don’t yield and the road snakes through the village. after all I was there first. In America that’s not the way it works. The far-flung suburbs, the strip malls the sprawl are all service by everybody coming and going and everybody along the way is just fucked like 114 going to goffstown. Just too bad you happen to have a house on the road oh well that’s the attitude
One could argue that roads ruined everything in the first place. It just depends on how far back in time you want to go with nostalgia.
I used to live in Durham and I’m pretty sure I know which house you’re talking about.
I can’t fully agree still. Pedestrian safety should take precedence over car capacity or asphalt beauty. No one has widened the main streets of Durham though. Some of those buildings have been there for centuries. If anything they’ve been narrowed again after route 4 bypassed the town. The crossings have been remade with bricks.
Durham is probably a good example of a town that is fighting against the things you’re upset about. It could be an industrial disaster with the near buyout from Onassis. Instead there’s a wagon and a park.
No I think you’re referring to the other side of the town but that’s a good example as well and that would have been a disaster had it gone what William Loeb pushed for in the ’70.
This is on the other side of the town directly on the old mill dam, almost bought the last remnant of one of the gristmills on the old dam but the road leading in was just so fucking ugly and only because it came off of engineering draw board as everything does in America but a specifically heavy-handed in New Hampshire. Automobiles first and their engineering need x amount of feet for the turn etc
To continue in that vein of automobile worship, in Manchester on Beech Street there was a magnificent 300-year-old white oak. It existed before the Manchester grid appeared in the 19th century and was undoubtedly a boundary marker on a old country road from the 18th century. Maybe the tree was even older than that. But at any rate it managed to just live on the side of Beach Street on the back of an industrial building and I always marveled at it that it survived. I go away in the winter these days and I came back and the fucking tree is gone. What did they replace it with. Somebody bought the building and the engineers got to work. So many square feet means x number of parking spots with no variants. They needed seven spots on this side of the building to complete the plan evidently and they cut the fucking tree down. You can see that somebody thought about it for 2 minutes because the concession was to plant two new trees 12 ft away. And guess what those fucking parking spots are absolutely never used. This is the kind of thinking that prevails.. And it’s an uphill battle to fight against it for everything.
If you live in a wealthy area more politically active and aesthetically conscious, historical district you can push back in there’s well heeled pockets willing to do it for their sake but everywhere else does it emanate from the state down, absolutely not Neanderthals. Or in this case the city of Manchester and the building department. And Manchester is filled with those kinds of road solutions traffic solutions that I speak about filled with them granite square, ex-mayor mongen’s pride. Ripped the soul out of the historic square demolished all the buildings so it looks like a piece of shit that could be in North St Louis or anywhere else garbage USA..
But yet when you enter the state is a welcome to New Hampshire sign with a cute little stylized village that we like to pretend it’s still cow Hampshire, rural lovely and so protected. Anything but unfortunately
The stone one where they redid the yard/lot with the black mulch? Right next to the dam. I know the whole town pretty well.
Speaking of Manchester trees, there’s one next to the Brady Sullivan Tower that is by far my favorite tree in the state.
Just look at this beauty: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Kvmc9bmhT6ACU49V6
I definitely agree that I’d love to see more old trees in the state. But again, if you go back far enough, you could argue that humans destroyed the entire place by clear cutting it for centuries!
I still think there are plenty of towns in NH that are just as you are envisioning. Orford. Rumney. Eaton. Hebron. They’re tucked away off the beaten path.
FWIW, I don’t love Manchester either.
Well it’s sad because Manchester is the economic powerhouse and it’s an okay City I still live there but it shoots itself in the foot every chance it gets ripping away part of its heritage and take it away It’s beauty. If only saner minds had ruled in the 1960s.
The upper valley is indeed a little more sleepy and that’s where my Yankee family comes from the town of unity, / Acworth etc The old stomping ground
And Yes that’s a lovely copper beach on the side of the old carpenter house. When you’re viewing this tree do you have any knowledge of what used to be behind the viewer where the Brady Sullivan Tower now stands. This is the poster child of everything that I could complaining about. I can go into a long rant about this whole area and how it was simply geographically removed in 1969 by the building of that fucking bridge, the highway ramps, the complete annihilation on the other side of the river of the original Mill village a decade before that and the crowning Jewel that used to be about 50 ft higher with a parking lot is, the entire Indian bluff, burial ground that was crowned with the finest second empire house north of Boston. Yeah that’s kind of Manchester in the 20th century in a nutshell
Phew… Was worried someone took a picture of me passed out in the toilet of the Elvis Room in 1997.
Immediately recognized Six Gun City as the main thumbnail. My first job. Pretty normal starting point for a lot of high-schoolers in that area, but in hindsight, a very unique experience.
Too much north. Show me some old school Manchester/Nashua/Salem/Derry.
Was thinking the same, scrolled through every photo looking for any of those towns, and was very disappointed. Southern NH is so underrepresented whenever NH is mentioned, despite that being where the majority of people in the state live.
Num 13 I don’t think is in Meredith, it’s in gilford
Not one picture of the natural beauty of the state
Man, those cabins look Cozy.
My whole childhood I wanted to stay in one. Finally did in the mid ’90s. Got one in Woodstock during the Highland Games, with my girlfriend at the time. I think it was the first time we took an overnight trip somewhere as a couple.
Poured that weekend; it was a nice room to get warm and dry in.
I think we should keep it to the travel agents; we will end up with less stanley cups, and straws in our streams and rivers; and maybe a few less people manifesting abundance and gratitude in the same place.
Back when things were cheap, simple and fun. Massachusetts transplants ruined all of it.
Epping was your standard one-horse town. More gas stations than traffic lights
It’s amazing how much has changed in Epping. Used to just be Cumbys and that’s even gone.
Six Gun City was awesome back in the day.
It really was a great place to take my son and his cousin.
That’s a strange group of photos to capture New Hampshire in the ’80s and the ’90s in boy do I feel like a dinosaur. Since I would be capturing New Hampshire of the ’50s in the ’60s , before highways sliced and diced the state encouraging sprawl, before the advent of big blocks shit stores that are the same from Pasadena California right incidentally now sit lol two Manchester New Hampshire all the same crap. Pictures of South Willow Street in Manchester when there was nothing we are except trucking companies and the Mall of New Hampshire was farm or Bedford New Hampshire back of the road was simply a sleepy farm road to some of the most beautiful pristine farmland. The kind of thing you might still see in Europe when you leave the village of the town but not in America It’s swallowed up by parking lots and malls. Or urban renewal itself and how that destroyed huge swathes of inner city concord especially the rail yards and that lost opportunity, Manchester the destruction of the amoskeag milliard which might have been a UNESCO site. It was bantured about and long before Rowes wharf in Baltimore or Quincy market in Boston Made their appearances, and then poor Nashua. There’s certainly is a lot more money in the state these days for sure but everything can’t be measured in dollars and cents
God, Indian Head looks so pleasant.
Just imagine after a long summer at work, going to the resort and taking a load off.
A very melancholy feeling, seeing the photos of the Funspot minigolf course. I could easily insert the child me into the frame.
My memere has a journal from the ’50s where she talks about her and my pepere going to that theater a lot when they were 15 years old. It opened in 1912.
Wasn’t Newport Diner where Kurt Russel’s parents met?
What the same shitty tourist traps in and around Lake Winnipesaukee and the White Mountains looked like in the 1980s and 1990s. What a waste of time.
What an ass, this shit is still nostalgia central. Get fucked.
You’re fun.
You aren’t.