What happened to Louisa May Alcott in Walpole?In the summer of 1855 the Alcott family, including 22-year-old Louisa May, were forced to move to Walpole, N.H., due to poverty — a kind family member’s charity gave them a rent-free home in the small rural town. Those few historical facts are nearly all that is known about Alcott’s life in Walpole…
Scott Button is one of a rare breed these days — he makes his living as a farrier. And what he does each day is almost exactly what “shoers” have done for many centuries. The only real difference between now and the time of the Crusades is that his forge is fired with gas instead of coal, and his horseshoes…
Life is Good. Three short words on a T-shirt, but there’s a long and amazing story behind the success of the two brothers, Bert and John Jacobs, who put them there. Both stay busy now, managing their $100 million privately held company, but Bert still likes to take his show on the road as a public speaker, offering words of…
Concord, N.H., hums with political power while tipping its hat to shoppers and sightseers. Stay-at-home moms grip strollers in the coffee shops behind representatives, senators and future presidents. It’s one of those rare towns where, on Main Street, pedestrians really rule.Call it a Tale of Two Cities. By day, during the week, Concord is definitely the seat of New Hampshire…
The results of two nationally-respected obesity studies are relatively flattering to New Hampshire. We are officially one of the least rotund states in the U.S.A., ranking 33rd (high numbers are healthier) in the 2009 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey and 39th in the Trust for America’s Health report sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Mississippi, Alabama and…
Family-centered care brings parents back into the fold.Maybe nine months of mental preparation just isn’t enough. Most of us do our best to smooth the path for baby’s birth and early days, hitting the stores for baby accoutrêments and keeping a close watch on mom’s health. But the little bundle of joy’s arrival can still hit like a ton of…
The Truthers are out there …In March 2010 people attended the annual meeting in the tiny Cheshire County town of Richmond. The town hall is idyllic: wood-paneled floors, wooden benches and a small stage. This year voters cut $63,000 from the town budget and rejected a motion to make the part-time town police chief position a full-time one. They also…
This classic dessert is easy and fun to make. It seems as though everyone loves brownies, but few can decide which is best. Is it the cocoa brownie, the fudge brownie or the cake brownie? Some recipes are a combination of all three. But we do know they are an American classic with New England roots. The first brownie recipe…
Spot the NewtNeed a good reason to spot the newt?This month’s lucky (and fearless) newt spotter will receive a Dead Sea Product Collection from Fields of Ambrosia: Bath, Body and Home (fieldsofambrosia.com). The gift basket will include a Dead Sea Mud Mask, a Dead Sea Mineral Facial Toner, Dead Sea Mud Grain Facial Scrub, Firming Facial Lotion and a Natural…
What can you learn about life out on the road? It’s really simple.For me, life can be as simple as a New Hampshire Sunday drive. No map, no itinerary, nobody’s business and readjusting the FM pre-sets with each passing mountain. When tuning-in outside the valleys, the playlist/reception is reduced to Allman Brothers anthems, country-fried heartaches, dead-but-won’t-lie-down Disco or public radio…
