#16 Thursday Thirteen, New Hampshire Naturally

With Summer just around the corner, I came up with 13 random facts about New Hampshire. It may be a small state, but we have a lot of hidden gems.

1. New Hampshire was first settled in 1632 by English settlers after Captain John Smith of England discovered the beauty of our coastline nine years earlier. The first towns, Rye and Dover were set up as fishing colonies.

2. According to the NH Government's almanac, New Hampshire was first called North Virginia, then New England and ended up with New Hampshire named after an English county.

3. How did we get the nickname Granite State? This refers to both our geology and to our tradition of self-sufficiency. Go ahead, try to get a NH person to beg, we just won't do it.

4. Speaking of begging, we don't have a sales tax or income tax, but boy, you should see our property tax bill. The whole school funding thing is an ongoing political battle in our state.

5. Live Free or Die- Kind of a scary saying on our license plates, don't you think? But we don't kill those who are not freely living. From Wikipedia, The phrase comes from a toast written by General John Stark on July 31, 1809. Poor health forced Stark, New Hampshire's most famous soldier of the American Revolutionary War, to decline an invitation to an anniversary reunion of the Battle of Bennington and to send his toast by letter:

Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.

6. The Old Man of the Mountain: is no more! Alas, the cement and wiring gave way and our famous profile came tumbling down the mountain in May 2003. The local station went into full mourning for this and it got a little too dramatic for us. The picture has the original face superimposed over the current view of the cliff.

7. The former Old Man is located in Franconia Notch up in Northern NH. The Notch is a spooky area, the weather is always slightly different from surrounding areas and my roommate from college who lived on the North side claimed that UFO's frequented the area. But the plain description of the area is: Franconia Notch State Park is located in the White Mountains in northern New Hampshire and straddles 8 miles of Interstate 93 as it passes through Franconia Notch, a mountain pass between the Kinsman Range and Franconia Range. Attractions in the state park include the Flume Gorge and visitor center, the Old Man of the Mountain historical site, fishing in Echo Lake and Profile Lake, and miles of hiking, biking and ski trails.

8. The coast line of our little state is only 18 miles. It is gorgeous with a combination of busy oceanside towns like Hampton which has a strip with a Casino (music hall), arcade, fried dough and teenagers cruising the strip to the stately cottages (mansions) of Rye. Rumor has is that Dan Brown ( DaVinci's Code has a cottage in Rye). I am guilty of being one of those cruising the beach in my younger days.

9. Lake Winnapesaukee is our largest lake at 21 miles long, and Winnapesaukee is Indian for either "smile of the Great Spirit" or "beautiful water in a high place". The lake is centrally located in the state and is surrounded by cottages. Once again, we have the small cottages that have been in families for years to the huge Mcmansions built by the Yuppies in the 1980's. The big event in the spring is the prediction of "ice out", lately we it's been a struggle to have the lake frozen in time for the winter fishing derby.

10. Rivers, boy, do we have rivers and then some, 40,000 miles to be exact! Manchester has the old brick mills along the river that they have updated to companies, a museum and condominiums. Better to see that than the abandoned ones in some of the poorer towns.

11. NH is the second-most forested state in the country. Much of our farmland became wooded when the farmers moved on states where the growing seasons were longer. There also used to be more logging in the southern part of the state, now we are becoming more suburban.

12. Want to see a presidential candidate up close? Come to NH we are the first in the nation primary. When I was a student at UNH I met a few, but haven't gotten out and about to meet any yet this year. There is still time though!

13. Why should you visit NH? We have lakes to swim in, rivers to kayak on, ponds to fish, woods to walk trails, mountains to climb, ski slopes to ski, and sandy beaches to explore.

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